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What Can Trigger A Seizure In Dogs?
Pay attention to environmental factors that trigger your dogs’ seizures. Once you make the connection, you can reduce his exposure to these triggers.
Triggers can be things like products you use around the house, foods, medications and stress. The full moon can even be a factor!
Avoid using chemical products in your home and yard.
Caution: Avoid pharmaceutical flea and tick or heartworm preventives. These drugs work by paralyzing the parasites nervous systems … which means they can also affect your dog’s nervous system.
Correct nutrition plays an important role in managing idiopathic epilepsy in dogs.
If your dog has idiopathic epilepsy, it’s vital to feed him an all-natural, fresh raw diet. Whenever possible, use free-range, organic ingredients. Your dog’s diet should consist of …
It’s not just that a fresh, whole food raw diet is better for your dog’s overall health. There’s a substance in many foods … that can aggravate your dog’s tendency to have seizures.
That substance is glutamate. It’s an amino acid that’s in many foods. It’s also a neurotransmitter that’s naturally produced in the body. Glutamate is important for brain development and memory. But high levels of glutamate are associated with diseases like Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
Recent studies indicate that seizures draw glutamate out of the brain tissue cells, damaging the cells.
This means that reducing and avoiding foods rich in glutamate may improve seizures and reduce their frequency. This can be especially helpful in idiopathic epilepsy – when there’s no underlying medical problem.
So, which foods should you avoid to help manage your dog’s seizures?
Meats And Organs From Grain Fed Animals
Always choose grass fed meat sources.
These meats have high glutamate amino acid content. The best choice of meat for your epileptic dog is lamb. It has the lowest glutamate content.
Preservatives, taste enhancers, palatability factors, chemical antioxidants and colorants. Try to choose all natural and fresh foods. Even some pre-made raw diets have synthetic vitamins and minerals … look for additive-free foods instead.
As though the seizures weren’t bad enough, Cheyenne had also developed some bad “hot spots.” These were places she would lick continuously until they became red and raw. Ladybird was also licking herself, especially her paws, for hours at a time.
When the blood work results came back I was told she had a liver shunt. This meant that one of the veins that carry blood to her liver was “incomplete” or not properly connected. Depending on where the shunt was it might or might not be operable.
I called the vet, of course. He advised me to keep an eye on her and see if it happened again before we took any corrective action.
California Natural also makes treats from the same ingredients as the dry food, and both my dogs love them. I still have to be very careful about giving Cheyenne anything else, however. Recently I started Ladybird on a supplement with glucosamine, yeast, biotin, bee pollen, and bovine cartilage to help her aging joints. I gave them to Cheyenne, too, and within a week she had “hot spots” again. It was probably the yeast that did it. So even “good” things may be bad for her. But now that I know how sensitive she is to what she eats, I can quickly alter her diet to keep her healthy.
Ladybird was thrilled to have her treats back. So was Cheyenne, but 24 hours after her first treats, she was licking brand-new “hot spots.” The treats went into the trash.
FAQ
Can some dog foods cause seizures?
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Can a food allergy cause seizures in dogs?