What is Epilepsy and what causes it?
While epilepsy refers to any seizure disorder, there are actually two kinds of epilepsy. Symptomatic epilepsy, which is also called “secondary” epilepsy, is the diagnosis for seizures that are a symptom of another identifiable health problem, like a brain tumor or a stroke. Then there is idiopathic epilepsy, which is also called “primary” epilepsy and describes seizures with no known cause (the definition of idiopathic). Idiopathic epilepsy, the type we are truly concerned about here, has been called a disease without a diagnosis. Brain tumors may cause seizures. A poisoned dog may have seizures. But if a dog is having seizures, and the vet can find no reason for those seizures, that dog will be diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. A dog may have five seizures per year, five per month or five per week — if there is no identifiable cause for those seizures, then we should consider that dog to have idiopathic epilepsy. Is Idiopathic Epilepsy inherited? Hereditary idiopathic epilepsy has
