The Dog Epilepsy Diet

Epilepsy can be caused by deficiencies or allergies to certain proteins in a dog's diet. A proper diet can help minimize seizures and keep your dog healthy. An epileptic dog have seizures that last for 30 seconds to five minutes. These seizures can be focal seizures, affecting one area of a dog's, or they can be tonic-clonic seizures that affect the entire body. The dog may or may not lose consciousness during a seizure and will tremble and jerk uncontrollably. Drooling and disorientation may also occur.

  1. Importance of Diet

    • A proper diet is vital to the health of an epileptic dog. A healthy diet will have minimal allergens, such as grain and fruit or vegetable proteins, according to Canine Epilepsy.com's expert, Chris Alderson. Look for dog food without chicken or beef. Use pork or bison protein instead. The food should avoid preservatives, BHT and BHA in particular, as they have been known to cause seizures.

    Nutritional Deficiencies

    • An epileptic dog may lack certain nutrients in his diet, which causes the seizures. Processed dog food often uses proteins from various sources, not all of which are animal proteins. A lack in necessary animal proteins and can cause seizures because many dogs' digestive systems cannot process proteins from grains or vegetables. Proteins and vitamins can be destroyed or damaged during processing if the food is heated too high.

    Grains Cause Seizures

    • Dogs may be observed eating nuts, berries and grasses in nature, but the dog still may not be able to process the proteins in the foods. An allergy to the specific protein in the grain can inhibit the absorption of vitamins and minerals. An epileptic dog should be placed on a wheat/gluten-free diet and observed for any seizure activity changes, Alderson said.

    BARF and Holistic Diets

    • Biologically Accurate Raw Foods (BARF) is a type of holistic diet. BARF details raw foods that are healthy for specific breeds. Raw food is not processed or cooked, which ensures that the nutrients are fully intact. Other holistic diets are minimally processed foods that are made without the use of grains and other allergens. The holistic and raw food diets are typically more expensive than supermarket brand foods, but they contain more vitamins, minerals and animal proteins.

    Veterinarian Discussion

    • Always discuss a potential food change with your veterinarian. Some medications may react differently to a sudden food changes, potentially making the dog more sick. The medications may react with new food and lower the dog's gastrointestinal tolerance, causing vomiting, diarrhea and lack of appetite.