Benign Familial Juvenile Epilepsy
Muscle/Neurological • LGI2 • Dominant incomplete penetrance
Summary
Benign familial juvenile epilepsy, also known as remitting focal epilepsy, is a genetic disease affecting Lagotto Romagnolo dogs. A mutation in the LGI2 gene causes dogs to develop benign seizures between 2 and 4 months of age. These seizures almost always go away on their own and are shown to have no lasting effects.
Symptoms
Dogs with benign familial juvenile epilepsy begin to show symptoms around 6 to 8 weeks of age. They experience chronic seizures, ranging in severity from mild shivers to severe seizures, with or without ataxia. Dogs with the condition return to normal behavior between seizures.
Care
There is no known cure for benign familial juvenile epilepsy; dogs simply grow out of it around 4 months of age. Seizures are fairly harmless and don’t require medication, though anti-seizure medication can be used if seizures are frequent or severe.
Citations
Seppälä, E.H., Jokinen, T.S., Fukata, M., Fukata, Y., Webster, M.T., Karlsson, E.K., Kilpinen, S.K., Steffen, F., Dietschi, E., Leeb, T., Eklund, R., Zhao, X., Rilstone, J.J., Lindblad-Toh, K., Minassian, B.A., Lohi, H. : LGI2 truncation causes a remitting focal epilepsy in dogs. PLoS Genet 7:e1002194, 2011. Pubmed reference: 21829378. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002194.
Review
04/04/2026 by Dr. Margarette
Breed
Lagotto romagnolo