Background: Stress, sleep deprivation, and infectious diseases are important seizure-precipitating factors in human epilepsy patients. However, these factors have not been thoroughly studied in epileptic dogs.
Objective: Seizure-precipitating factors are common in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy and the occurrence of these factors associate with the dogs' signalment, personality, and epilepsy-related factors.
Animals: Fifty dogs with diagnosed idiopathic epilepsy from the hospital populations of University Veterinary Teaching Hospital of University of Helsinki and Referral Animal Hospital Aisti.
Methods: In a retrospective cross-sectional observational study, owners were interviewed about their dogs' possible seizure-precipitating factors according to a predefined questionnaire. The dogs were identified and selected by searching the medical records of the participating animal hospitals.
Results: The prevalence of seizure-precipitating factors in the study population was 74% (37/50). The most frequently reported factors included stress-related situations, sleep deprivation, weather, and hormonal factors. In dogs with focal onset seizures, the number of precipitating factors was 1.9 (95% CI 1.1-3.4) times higher compared to dogs with generalized seizures.
Conclusions and clinical importance: Seizure-precipitating factors are common in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy, and the nature of these factors is consistent with those of human patients. Aside from antiepileptic medication, acknowledging and avoiding seizure-precipitating factors could help veterinarians achieve better treatment outcomes.
Keywords: canine epilepsy; reflex seizures; seizure-precipitating factors; triggering factors.
© 2018 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.