Veterinarians are increasingly becoming concerned with measurement of quality of life in animals. One of the concerns is that vets may perceive quality of life in their patients differently from how owners perceive it in their pets.

In the most recent poll of veterinary surgeons we posed the question of how epilepsy affected quality of life for canine patients. In dogs where medication was used to control seizures 60% of respondents felt that the quality of life achieved was slightly impaired (but still good) and a further 25% felt that life quality was normal in their well controlled epileptic patients. This compares well with the results of the same poll taken across pet owners in which 48% felt their pet’s quality of life was impaired but good and 40% felt that their epileptic dog had a normal life.

An increasing number of new anticonvulsants are appearing to sit alongside the standard medications of phenobarbital and bromide. These are generally reserved for those patients who respond poorly to standard medication either from lack of response or intolerable side effects.  In this poll we are trying to assess how these novel treatments are used.