subtitled An Owner’s Guide to Living with and Without Seizures

This is quite a tome, much is taken up with the biochemistry and structure of the dog, but the sections on living with an epileptic dog will be of value.

Living with epilepsy is like dealing with the spirit word, things happen unseen within the brain and have consequences, mild episodes with twitching or dramatic with major fitting and roaching, or just about anything in between. It is a huge subject and only ever so slightly understood within humans let alone with the world of canines.

One thing is evident from reading this book, although probably not made enough of, there are fits and there is epilepsy. Not all fits are epileptic, and not all epilepsy is expressed as fits. On the light side, while I musing over how to tackle this review, it crossed my mind, that I see lots of dog exhibitors (that haven’t won when they believed they would) ‘fit’ and alas it is sad to say lots of judges who try to ‘fit’ in with the winning desires of some of their exhibitors. Back to real life, epilepsy can and does occur in dogs, and from the way this book is presented I suspect the prevalence of epilepsy in dogs is more related to the environment and congenital problems than to any major issue with genetics. That said, epilepsy is said to occur fairly commonly in a small number of breeds.

Having read the book from cover to cover, and past the fascinating Suppliers and Resources section I cam across a much needed item, the Glossary, but be warned, it is a shallow glossary, for in my reading I know I passed over the definition of SAMe but it wasn’t in the glossary either, the index took me back to what I needed to know about it.

Does the volume have the ‘answer’, no of course not and it wasn’t intended to do so, but the book does a magnificent job in giving owners information on current diagnostic techniques and drug therapies in north America and also sound advice on drug administration and how to cope with a seizure and the aftermath. It is also a good introduction into the way the dog’s body functions and how diet can affect the health of your dog. =