What causes pet seizures? Is idiopathic epilepsy genetic or a disease?

That sounds scary! Tripp needs to be examined by his veterinarian today if possible. Pets can have seizures for many reasons including liver disease, idiopathic, electrolyte imbalance, infections, inner ear problems, cancer or epilepsy. He will need a physical exam and bloodwork to begin to narrow down and appropriately address the cause. Seizures are serious and are best addressed early. You need to stop breeding Tripp as well. With the puppy having seizures and now him having seizures, you should not pass on his genetics. Have him neutered to make sure this doesn't happen. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

The most common cause of seizure is epilepsy, which is basically seizure from unknown origin, it's usually treated successfully with anti seizure meds. other possibilities include intoxication, brain tumor and head trauma.

If not infective (an infection that involves the central nervous system) in origin, not it is not transmittable. Primary epilepsy can be genetic though (this origin has been demonstrated in certain breeds like Labradors).

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that Taino has seizures; these can be scary for both him and whoever sees them. The lighting is not a cause of seizures in dogs. Seizures can be caused by things within the head itself (tumor, stroke, infection or inflammation), or from other systemic causes such as liver disease, kidney disease, certain toxins, etc. When all of these possible causes have been ruled out by diagnostics (bloodwork, MRI, cerebrospinal fluid analysis), it may be determined that a dog has idiopathic epilepsy. I recommend keeping a log of Taino's seizures to note when exactly they happen, how long they last, what they look like, etc. Definitely keep your veterinarian updated whenever he has a seizure, because he may soon require treatment with anti-seizure medication if they become more frequent or severe. I hope this is helpful - best of luck with Taino!

It is possible it may be food related - certain liver issues such as shunts can cause build up of chemicals in the blood causing seizures after food. This would need specific liver blood tests and possibly ultrasound to identify and if present can be managed with diet and medication for the most part although some may require surgery. Certain chemicals and molds in food can also trigger seizures

I am sorry to hear of your loss - it is very upsetting to have to put a dog to sleep following such a traumatic illness. There are unfortunately many potential causes of seizures including parasitic, inflammatory and viral infection of the brain, tumours and birth defects. A full post mortem exam would be required in order to determine the exact cause. There are blood tests for diseases such as toxoplasma and neospora but be aware that you could test for multiple possibilities and still not find the cause or could indeed have a sample test positive for exposure to a disease which had no influence on the condition

Potentially seizures or seizures like episodes can be caused by a variety of causes and certainly lack of oxygenation and heart disease or cardiovascular disease. Heat and increase body temperature can cause seizures as well even though it is quite unlikely (temperature must be persistently quite high). Work up for cardiac diseases must be performed as well to rule out this possibility. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.