Background
Lagotto Romagnolo (
LR) dogs with benign juvenile epilepsy syndrome often experience spontaneous remission of seizures. The long‐term outcome in these dogs currently is unknown. In humans, behavioral and psychiatric comorbidities have been reported in pediatric and adult‐onset epilepsies.
Hypothesis/Objectives
The objectives of this study were to investigate possible neurobehavioral comorbidities in
LR with a history of benign familial juvenile epilepsy (
BFJE) and to assess the occurrence of seizures after the remission of seizures in puppyhood.
Animals
A total of 25
LR with a history of
BFJE and 91 control dogs of the same breed.
Methods
Owners of the
LR dogs in the
BFJE and control groups completed an online questionnaire about each dog''s activity, impulsivity, and inattention. Principal component analysis (
PCA) served to extract behavioral factors from the data. We then compared the scores of these factors between the 2 groups in a retrospective case–control study. We also interviewed all dog owners in the
BFJE group by telephone to inquire specifically about possible seizures or other neurological problems after remission of seizures as a puppy.
Results
Lagotto Romagnolo dogs with
BFJE showed significantly higher scores on the factors
Inattention and
Excitability/Impulsivity than did the control group (
P = .003;
P = .021, respectively). Only 1 of the 25
BFJE LR exhibited seizures after remission of epilepsy in puppyhood.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
Although the long‐term seizure outcome in
BFJE LR seems to be good, the dogs exhibit behavioral abnormalities resembling attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (
ADHD) in humans, thus suggesting neurobehavioral comorbidities with epilepsy.
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