Malka, go and have a cold shower immediately
I know there is a particular line of collies that is epileptic but excel at flyball and people are queueing up for them, they don't care they are epileptic, just that they are good at flyball, that rather goes against my morals actually, but there you go. Also I have heard of gundogs with the same problem, but because they are excellent workers no one bothers.

Laurent Garosi was the neurologist who saw Loki when he was first diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. He did the MRI and spinal tap.

Can it June! Just 'cos he is oh so attractive and had oh such a gorgeous accent... I do not need a cold shower! Yes, it is known that certain breeds are prone to be epi and that some breeders just do not care. As an example, in the US Aussies are gradually being destroyed because known epi breeders refuse to accept it and carry on breeding.

Pereg is a mutt of no known origin but she is epileptic. On the epi List the same breeds come up time after time after time, and when I have difficulty coping with a now 16.6kg dog having a Grand Mal, how on earth do people cope with epi Great Danes?

I frequently wonder whether Pereg was "sent" to me for a reason, and whether she would be the Pereg I love so much if she was not epi. I guess I will never know the answers to either of them.

But I love her so very very much.

Oh Wow - and here is me drooling over him! As I said, I do not think he taught me anything I did not already know, but he explained things so very well and I am sure the webinar will have helped many other epi owners.

I will be getting a link to the full webinar so will forward it to you if you would like.

The main thing that reassured me in a way was how he explained that Idiopathic Epilepsy quite often just "is" - and there is nothing you can do do stop it - it cannot be cured - and you just have to accept it.

Of course that does not make it easier, does it, and I hate this disease so much.

But Dr Laurent did make me feel that I am not so alone. And I would like to know if he is as nice in person as he was on the webinar last evening.

It's a long time ago now, Loki wasn't even two years old. Laurent Garosi was fine, very patient and explained things well. Yes, I agree with you, we pretty much knew the stuff he was telling us ... he was quite honest and explained that it's a balance between the effects of too many fits and the side effects of the drugs, plus the tolerance issue.

It was just such an awful time because Loki had suffered a dreadful amount of fits in such a short time and had spent the night at our vets, sedated on a drip. Then we took him to see the neurologist the following morning, after the vets found out we had insurance and referred us , and after talking to him, we agreed to have him put under to do the tests. In retrospect, I wouldn't go down that route now, but I was so desperate to find a cause and then a cure - as ya do.

I won't tell you how much that little visit cost us. Oh okay, it was just short of £2000. Our insurers have clawed it back in recent years.

My word Malka, you're completely smitten. Must google this guy, see for myself!

They'll get there, Malcolm is already getting a hang of it and is starting to think about taking himself off when he gets freaked out.

Scooby has quiet days, he's normally loud in his kennel at certain times of day but he when he's not right he goes quiet. It doesn't necessarily mean something is going to happen just that I should keep a closer eye on him.

You've had a good streak once and it will happen again.

Thanks for the pic. Can see you're point,he is very handsome!

The Webinar was live - Laurent obviously had a script from which he was reading because there were a number of sketches/pictures of certain parts of the brain which can be affected and he discussed each one. And there were certain clips shown with warnings that if you did not want to see them, then do not watch. And on a few occasions the Webinar was lost so someone came on and said they would get it back as soon as they could.

I was also able to ask a few questions - and get answers - not from Laurent as he was still talking, but from whoever it was who was running the Webinar.

Much as I did not want to watch any of the clips I did, and, it was interesting to see the difference between the different types of seizures, and the types that are specific to certain breeds, as an example Canine Epileptoid Cramping Syndrome [CECS] being a recently recognized canine health problem and hereditary canine disease in Border Terriers.

There is also a type of epileptic activity in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels known as Episodic Falling which is neurological but the dog does not lose consciousness during the episode.

The only clips I did not want to watch were those of dogs having full blown Grand Mal seizures - because I have seen more than enough of them. But I still watched them even though it hurt to do so.

So I guess I did learn a lot about other types of what are canine epilepsy but yet are not what is considered to be the normal/regular epilepsy. And I learned to accept Pereg as what she is - epileptic - and love her as I do and always have done.

My Pereg. My girl.