Can additives cause epileptic seizures (fits) in dogs?
[922] 635: Epileptic seizures in a dog due to flavour enhancer (June 2010) My Jack Russell (Eddie) had epileptic fits as a puppy and I noticed that they always seemed to occur after giving him scraps from junk food we were eating. McDonalds food in particular seemed to cause him to have fits. The vet dismissed my theory and offered to give my dog a highly toxic barbiturate epilepsy medication. I refused the medication and adopted a wait-and-see approach. I researched the relationship between food additives and epilepsy in children because there was not much information about dogs. Based on this, I banned all artificial colours/flavours and preservatives and my dog went from severely fitting to having no fits at all for the past 4 years. When I told my vet he dismissed my theory that food additives were the cause of my dog’s epileptic fits and stated he had simply ‘grown out of it’. About 2 weeks ago I let my dog lick a cup from which I had just finished drinking instant soup. As I was
