Confirming Idiopathic Epilepsy

Once all other potential causes of seizures have been ruled out, your veterinarian will diagnose idiopathic epilepsy. While this might seem like a frustrating conclusion—since there's no identifiable cause for the seizures—it's actually a common diagnosis in dogs, especially certain breeds. The good news is that idiopathic epilepsy can often be effectively managed with medication. Your veterinarian will work with you to develop a treatment plan that reduces the frequency and severity of seizures while keeping your dog's quality of life in mind.

Now, you may be asking, what if we can't afford or aren't interested in pursuing these advanced diagnostics. Veterinarians can use the International Task Force on Epilepsy recommendations to assign different tiers of confidence from 1 to 3, with different tiers having different requirements. Often history, clinical signs and blood work represent Tier 1 confidence. Use of MRI and CSF increases confidence to tier 2, and EEG is associated with Tier 3 level confidence. It is uncommon for dogs to reach tier 3 confidence. This means that your veterinarian can work within your limitations to help identify as much evidence as possible for a presumptive diagnosis.