If you are a pet owner, you know how you would feel if your pet was sick and there was nothing you could do. For pet owners of dogs that have canine epilepsy, this is a reality, and it can happen frequently, and is one of the worst things that a pet owner can see when it comes to their pet. Canine epilepsy is usually marked by having seizures, but dogs may have seizures without actually have canine epilepsy.

Canine epilepsy is caused by a brain disorder. When an electrical impulse travels through the brain abnormally, it can cause parts of the body that you respond. For instance, you may have seen a dog having a seizure jerk or kick his or her legs, or look as if they were trying to swim in midair. This si because the nerve impulses get scrambled up.

Many things can cause a dog to have seizures and in fact, most of the things aren't even known to experts. There is a name for seizures that don't have a known cause. They are called idiopathic canine seizures, or primary epilepsy. Researchers are still trying to find a known cause for many of the seizures that happen in these cases.

The other category, which covers a rather broad range of conditions, is known as symptomatic epilepsy, and many experts suspect that genetics has a lot to do with it, particularly in certain breeds of dogs.

Generally, seizures in dogs can be divided into two different types. The first is the generalized seizure, and this is the scariest of them. The Grand Mal seizure falls into this category and it is this one that most people are aware of, or have seen in their pet.

The other type of seizure is known as a partial seizure, because it may only affect part of the brain, and therefore may only present in certain parts of the dog's body. For instance, rather than a complete jerking motion and a full blown seizure, the dog may have other, less identifiable symptoms.

Researchers and other experts have renamed Grand Mal seizures to tonic-clonic seizures. They are characterized by the dog falling into unconsciousness and laying on his or her side. Then, the dog's head will go back and the muscles with contract, with the legs sticking out. You may also notice facial ticks or twitching or even whimpering. This is involuntary, and does not mean the dog is in pain or is experiencing any discomfort.

Those dogs that are only experiencing focal or partial seizures may exhibit completely different symptoms than what are named here, or they may only exhibit one or two symptoms. The focal seizure can present much differently than normal canine epilepsy, so you must watch carefully and make sure that you talk to your veterinarian about anything that you think could be a seizure, either generalizes or partial, and get treatment as soon as possible.

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