Owner compliance in canine epilepsy

Poor medication compliance by human epilepsy patients is one of the leading causes of treatment failure and increased seizure frequency. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyse owner compliance in pharmacological treatment of canine idiopathic epilepsy and to identify factors associated with poor compliance.

The number of antiseizure drug tablets was recorded to determine if the patient received sufficient tablets to cover the time period between prescriptions and to assess compliant prescription cycles. Additionally, compliance was assessed by an online survey of owners.

For the prescription monitoring data from 94 cases from three small animal practices in the United Kingdom revealed an overall median compliance of 56%. Thirt-three per cent of owners were >80% compliant, while 21% were 100% compliant. During a non-compliant prescription cycle, a patient missed a median of 6 days (0.11-519 days) of treatment. Patients on polytherapy had higher compliance rates than on monotherapy (p = 0.031). The survey (229 respondents from online canine epilepsy groups) showed that low daily dosing was associated with better compliance (p = 0.049).

Owner compliance was subpar in this study and could represent a significant issue in epilepsy management, which needs to be considered by veterinary surgeons when treating canine epilepsy.