Border Collie: health conditions to watch
Border Collies are brilliant, high-energy working dogs. They are broadly healthy, with a couple of breed-linked conditions — epilepsy and, later, joint wear — worth being aware of.
What to watch in a Border Collie
A predisposition is a “worth knowing”, not a diagnosis. Most Border Collies never develop these — but knowing the early signs means you can act early.
Epilepsy
Learn about Epilepsy →Idiopathic epilepsy has a breed link; a first seizure is frightening but manageable — knowing the first-aid basics helps.
Join the Epilepsy community →Osteoarthritis
Learn about Osteoarthritis →A lifetime of athletic work can lead to arthritis with age; watch for subtle slowing or stiffness.
Join the Osteoarthritis community →Start here
What a Seizure Actually Looks Like
Something happened to your dog or cat. It lasted seconds, or a couple of minutes, and it frightened the life out of you. Maybe they collapsed and went rigid. Maybe they just stared through you, or their face twitched, or they snapped at something that was not there. And now you are trying to answer...
New and Emerging Treatments, Realistically
Two appropriate medications in, the seizures are still coming, and the midnight search begins. That is the usual route to a page like this one, and the internet has plenty waiting at the other end: a device that stops seizures, a breakthrough drug, an oil that cured someone's dog completely. When you're frightened and watching...
Quality of Life and Difficult Decisions
There's a particular tiredness that comes with epilepsy, and it's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't lived it. Perhaps the gaps between seizures are getting shorter. Perhaps the drugs meant to help have left your dog flat and wobbly and not quite himself. Perhaps a question you can't say out loud has started to...
Your Status Epilepticus Emergency Plan
I've watched this play out more times than I'd like. A dog who has had seizures for a while has a bad one, a long one, and the owner who asked all the right questions at the calm consultations freezes. The out-of-hours number is somewhere in an email. The rescue medicine is in a drawer,...
Advanced and Add-On Treatment Options
By the time an owner reaches this point, the harder parts are usually behind them. Your dog has been on treatment for a while, the first add-on has been tried, and the seizures still keep coming. So let me be straight from the first paragraph: yes, there are more options, and many of them help....
Managing Cluster Seizures at Home: Rescue Medication
Cluster seizures have a cruelty of their own. The seizure in front of you is only half of it; the other half is knowing another may follow within hours, and waiting for it. If your vet has handed you a rescue kit, or has started talking about one, this article turns that waiting into a...
Looking after a Border Collie
- Buy from breeders who DNA-test the relevant breed conditions
- Plenty of physical and mental exercise
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