11 Vital Facts about Dog Epilepsy: causes, treatment life expectancy — Our Pet's Health

Idiopathic Epilepsy in Dogs

Idiopathic epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions we diagnose in young adult dogs. It refers to recurrent seizures in an otherwise healthy dog, where bloodwork, MRI scans, and physical exams all come back normal. In these dogs, the brain itself looks normal — there’s no tumor, infection, trauma, or structural change — but the neurons are overreactive, firing in sudden bursts that lead to seizures. The term idiopathic simply means that there’s no identifiable medical trigger,