This anecdotal study reviewed below should promote
keeping a closer eye on your pet dog’s behavior prior to a seizure. Perhaps you
have already noted your dog’s altered behavior before your seizures, but you
weren’t sure the behavior was meaningful. Read on. Learn of the compelling
evidence that the behavior is meaningful but you weren’t sure of its
significance.
The online epilepsy magazine, Epilepsy Today
September 30, 2021, reviewed a new study from Queen’s University Belfast
published in the journal MDPI (Molecular Diversity Preservation
International) in July 2021. The study concluded that dogs could detect
some unidentified odor that seems to be specifically associated with your
seizures.1
The research was led by Dr. Neil Powell. These
anecdotal accounts from 19 epilepsy patients report their pet dogs give them
warnings by trying to connect with their masters before their seizures occur.
The researchers evaluated the dogs’ reactions to seizure-related and
non-seizure-related odors. They employed a special tool called the Remote Odor
Delivery Mechanism. The odors reflected three separate phases of a seizure:
before, during and after. The researchers collected sweat pads from armpits
from seizure patients and from non-seizure controls. The dogs reacted to the
odors from seizure-patients other than their owners, too.
All 19 dogs showed a change in behavior related to
seizures. They tried to connect with their owner because of some unidentified
seizure-related odors compared with the non-seizure-related ones. Dr. Powell
said our findings clearly showed that all dogs reacted to the
seizure-associated odor through making eye contact by staring at their owner,
touching their owner by nudging or pawing, crying or barking,”
This study was on dogs who had no prior training. The
researchers concluded that if dogs can be trained to communicate that a seizure
will soon occur this can improve the owner’s safety and quality of life. A
program of targeted training for seizure prediction is being developed.
1)
Powell
NA. Ruffell A. et.al.The Untrained Response of Pet Dogs to Human Epileptic
Seizures. Animals 2021, 11(8),
2267; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082267 21 July 2021
Lance Fogan, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His hard-hitting emotional family medical drama, “DINGS”, is told from a mother’s point of view. “DINGS” is his first novel. It teaches epilepsy, now available in eBook, audiobook, and soft and hard cover editions.
