Gunfield Breeders

Epilepsy is a medical condition that causes seizures.

A seizure occurs when there is abnormal electrical activity in the brain which leads to sudden but short-lived changes in a dog's behaviour and/or movement.

Unfortunately the Vizsla is a breed that historically has an association with idiopathic epilepsy.

It is a lot less common nowadays than it was when we first entered the breed in the late 90s a presumption could be made this is because inbreeding has reduced since then and breeders have taken steps to tackle it.

Unfortunately there are no pre breeding tests for epilepsy so it can only be prevented by breeders removing breeding stock that are affected from their breeding programs.

This is of course hampered by a few issues such as-

First incidents of seizures may be when the dog is age 3 years or above meaning that the dog likely has Offspring on the ground before they are diagnosed.
The ability for people to recognise a seizure initially can also pose a problem we are all familiar with a grand mal seizure and how that looks but often seizures present as actions such as catching invisible flies or simply vacant moments.
Sharing of knowledge not all owners report back to breeders that they’ve experienced problems likewise not all breeders own up to having seen epilepsy in their breeding program.