The RVCalso provides animal owners and the veterinary profession with access to expert veterinary care and advice through its teaching hospitals; the Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital in central London, the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (Europe's largest small animal referral centre), the Equine Referral Hospital, and the Farm Animal Clinical Centre located at the Hertfordshire campus.

Research from the RVC canine epilepsy clinic leads to the development of the first and only diet to help nutritionally manage dogs with idiopathic epilepsy as an adjunct to veterinary therapy. The diet, Purina® Pro Plan® Veterinary Diets NC NeuroCare™, will be available to those with a veterinary prescription in the USA starting in March. The team at the RVC demonstrated this in a study that showed a diet rich in medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) can help control seizures 1. The study was a six-month randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blinded crossover study conducted in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy that were also being administered AEDs. It demonstrated for the first time that a test diet with MCT oil can have positive effects on reduction of seizure frequency when fed as an adjunct to veterinary therapy (71% of dogs showed a reduction in seizure frequency, 48% of dogs showed a 50% or greater reduction in seizure frequency and 14% of dogs achieved complete seizure freedom).c. plus 1/4 c. for each 10 lb. of body weight over 100 lb. (483 g plus 26 g for each 4.5 kg of body weight over 45.4 kg) Adjustments must be made for environmental conditions, activity level, body condition and breed size. As reflected in the feeding tables, smaller breed dogs can require 15% to 25% more kilocalories per pound of body weight than larger breed dogs. Provide fresh water in a clean container daily.

b. Any communications line failure, regardless of cause, with regards to any equipment, systems, networks, lines, satellites, servers, computers or providers utilised in any aspect of this promotion; These Terms and Conditions prevail in the event of any conflict or inconsistency with any other communications, including advertising or promotional materials. Entry instructions are deemed to form part of these Terms and Conditions and by participating all participants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by them. Participants should retain a copy for their information.Porsche D, Loscher W, Frey H. Therapeutic Efficacy of Phenobarbital and Primidone in Canine Epilepsy: A Comparison. J Vet Pharmacol Ther. 1985;8:113-119. Hozzájárul az agyi anyagcseréhez: EPA/DHA omega-3 zsírsavak, B-vitaminok, szelén és arginin forrása, támogathatja az agy természetes anyagcseréjét By entering the Promotion, entrants confirm that they have read and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions and by the decisions of the Promoter. Follow-up visits were performed at day 28, 56 and 84. At each follow up visit, a clinical examination (including BCS, BW, rectal temperature and general health status evaluation) was performed, as well as the ASD dose administered and its possible side effects were recorded. The owners also evaluated the dog’s QoL, ataxia, sedation and diet consumption, as well as frequency and severity of seizures along with global evaluation of the diet’s efficacy and tolerance each month as described previously. 27 Throughout the study, owners were also asked to record days when their dog experienced a seizure and number and duration of seizures experienced during that day. Similar to day 0 visit, dogs being treated with phenobarbital and/or KBr had blood collection five hours after the ASD administration to monitor serum drug concentrations.

Our new formula was inspired by this study conducted in dogs with epilepsy at the Royal Veterinary College, and in partnership with Purina. Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets NC NeuroCare is the first and only diet to help nutritionally manage dogs with epilepsy as an adjunct to veterinary therapy,” says Jason Gagné, DVM, Dipl. ACVN and Director, Veterinary Technical Marketing at Purina, “NeuroCare is enhanced with MCT oil, plus a unique blend of nutrients, including arginine, EPA + DHA, antioxidants and B vitamins to help support a dog’s cognitive health.” Holger added, “We hope this new diet makes a difference and brings new hope to owners of dogs with epilepsy. It will not be the magic wand for all patients with epilepsy. It will need to be given under the guidance of a veterinarian and should be given as an adjunct to veterinary therapy.” By participating in this promotion, participants are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions. The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) is the UK's largest and longest established independent veterinary school and is a constituent College of the University of London. The RVC offers undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD programmes in veterinary medicine, veterinary nursing and biological sciences, being ranked in the top 10 universities nationally for biosciences degrees. It is currently the only veterinary school in the world to hold full accreditation from AVMA, EAEVE, RCVS and AVBC. Contributors: BZ, CJ-P, LC and JM designed the study with input from HAV. BZ, LC, JM and HAV handled and analysed the data. CdlF, MAW, AS, EL, BW-R, PM, GG, MM, JCR, AV and AF recruited pets and conducted study. All authors reviewed final dataset, then reviewed and participated in drafting manuscript. JM and BZ submitted manuscript.

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As a result of feeding the diet for 84 days, the mean seizure day rate significantly declined (P=0.002) by 42 per cent (1.4 seizure days/month; median=1.0) compared with the baseline (2.5 days/month; median=2.0) ( table 3). At baseline, seizure days/month ranged from a minimum of one to a maximum of six, whereas after the diet phase it ranged from 0 to a maximum of 3.67 days/month. Of the 21 dogs, 9.5 per cent (2 of 21 dogs) became seizure free, 42.9 per cent of dogs (9 of 21 dogs) had ≥50 per cent reduction in seizure days and 33.3 per cent (7 of 21 dogs) had <50 per cent reduction. In addition, three dogs (14.2 per cent) had no change, whereas two dogs (9.5 per cent) had an increase in seizure days. Overall, 16 of 21 dogs (76.2 per cent) experienced fewer seizure days with the test diet.

These anecdotal observations kindled the idea of looking closer at the effect of diet on dogs with epilepsy. Holger emphasised the importance of giving a consistent diet, which can be extremely difficult in a real world situation, because one of the effects of epilepsy drugs is to stimulate appetite and so these dogs will always be looking for food. Giving leftovers from human meals can further add to the challenge of looking after a pet with epilepsy because ingredients, such as high salt levels in many human foods, can interfere with how dogs process some of the AEDs. It is not just the amount of food that matters, the individual nutrients are also important. Support your dog's brain function with this clinically proven dry dog food specially developed with medium chain triglycerides and neurosupportive nutrients in a ketogenic recipe.This Purina Pro Plan NC Neurocare complete dry food has been specially developed for adult and senior dogs, with medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) and a special combination of nutrients to help support healthy brain function. QoL was reported as excellent (10/10) at the start of the study in 17 of the 21 dogs. In three dogs, the QoL was reported as very good, starting with a minimum of 8.5/10. One dog was initially reported as poor (2/10), but was reported as 10/10 throughout the entire test phase, which coincidently was a cluster seizure dog that had a 67 per cent reduction in seizure rate. The majority of dogs (17/21) maintained the same level of QoL during the study. It offers a ketogenic recipe that provides an alternative energy source for your dog's brain, offering visible results in just 30 days of feeding. Purina Pro Plan NC Neurocare has been clinically proven to support neurological health and can improve cognitive function in senior dogs, helping to combat age-related cognitive decline.After reviewing the seizure data for each dog, five dogs had experienced at least one cluster seizure during the trial phase. Of these five dogs, there was no apparent pattern in the occurrence of the cluster seizures while on the test diet. A post hoc statistical analysis was performed that excluded the five dogs that experienced cluster seizures at some point during the treatment period ( table 3) because the aim of the study was to especially study its effects on dogs with single seizures. The mean seizure day rate (1.0 seizure days/month) for the test phase significantly (P<0.001) declined by 58 per cent compared with the baseline seizure day rate (2.4 days/month) for 16 non-cluster seizure dogs. None of these 16 dogs had any worsening of seizure day rate or seizure frequency (0 per cent) and 12.5 per cent of dogs (2 of 16) were seizure-free throughout the entire 84-day feeding trial. Overall, 87.5 per cent of dogs (14 of 16) had greater than a 33 per cent reduction in seizure days and seizure frequency, with 50.0 per cent of dogs (8 of 16) experiencing greater than a 50 per cent reduction in seizures. Only two dogs (12.5 per cent) had either no change or a 17 per cent reduction in number of seizures. Twenty-two dogs diagnosed with IE, which had no reported events of cluster seizures, were recruited and included in the trial based on multiple criteria; aged between 12 months (small and medium dogs)/18 months (large dogs) and 12 years old, with a maximum bodyweight (BW) of 50 kg and with a tier 1 IE diagnosis. 43 In addition, dogs must have experienced at least three seizures in the three months before inclusion and must have been treated with at least one antiepileptic drug for a minimum of one year before inclusion. Finally, pet owners must have been in full agreement to their dogs taking part in the study. The data reported above are consistent with the positive effects (reduction in seizure frequency and days) of MCTs in dogs diagnosed with IE, in accordance with evidence in the published literature. 27 33 The diet used in the study has been shown to be very useful as an adjunct management strategy in dogs with IE. This is important because even with ASD treatment, more than two-thirds of dogs with IE have seizures long-term and about one-third of dogs with IE continue to experience seizures that are difficult to control. 57–59 Thus, there is a great-unmet need to supply these canine patients with alternative and additional options to help support management of epilepsy, improve the QoL of the canine patients receiving ASDs, which will hopefully improve the QoL of the pet owners. Made with medium chain triglycerides (MCT) and omega-3 fatty acids, the specially formulated diet will support your dog’s circulation, blood pressure and heart functions.