Golden Retrievers and Epilepsy: What a Swedish Study Found
In a Swedish owner survey, 3.9% of Golden Retrievers had epilepsy. Half had cluster seizures, and a third showed aggression after a seizure.
Written by thecanineledger
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If your dog has a seizure that lasts more than five minutes, or has a second seizure before fully recovering from the first, this is an emergency. Go to a vet now. After any first seizure, call your vet the same day.
Our note: This advice is ours. The study reports seizures lasting up to five minutes, and cluster seizures in almost half the dogs, but gives no triage advice.
Of 743 Swedish Golden Retrievers in an owner survey, 29 had idiopathic epilepsy, 3.9% (Winnerby et al., Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 2026). Idiopathic means no other cause was found. The authors compare this with 0.62% reported for dogs in general, and conclude that epilepsy in Swedish Golden Retrievers “is considerably more prevalent than in the general dog population”.
While 29 dogs is a small group, the pattern in them was worrying. Many had seizures in clusters, and many were aggressive afterwards.
→ First Seizure: What to Do, and What Counts as an Emergency
1. The study
The dogs. Owners of Swedish Golden Retrievers answered an online questionnaire from September to December 2023. For dogs with more than one seizure, a vet in neurology training checked the medical records against international diagnostic criteria for epilepsy.
Two types. The study compared working-line and show-line Golden Retrievers. Epilepsy was no more common in one than the other.
Funding. The authors received no specific funding and declare no conflicts of interest. The first author works for a large veterinary group, whose records were among those checked.
2. What the seizures were like
| Finding | Dogs with epilepsy (29) |
|---|---|
| Median age at first seizure | 36 months |
| Seizures during rest or sleep | 72.4% |
| Cluster seizures | 14 dogs |
| Aggression after a seizure | 9 dogs (31%) |
Clusters. Cluster seizures are two or more seizures close together. They were reported in 14 of the 29 dogs, and 11 of those 14 were male.
Aggression after a seizure. The authors warn that this “might represent a threat to family members.” They suggest it should be considered when deciding whether to start medicine.
Outcome. Three dogs were put to sleep during the study period. Two were young dogs whose cluster seizures didn’t respond to treatment.
Our note: The paper doesn’t say how to stay safe if a dog is aggressive after a seizure. Keep children away and give the dog space until it recovers.
→ Living With Epilepsy: When Treatment Starts, and What Monitoring Involves
3. Possible risk factors
Males. Males, and neutered males especially, were more likely to have epilepsy in the model. Elsewhere the paper calls the neutered-male link only a “tendency”.
Gut signs. Dogs with epilepsy were more likely to have gut problems. The authors call this “A noteworthy and novel observation” and say it needs more research.
Cereal-free diets. Dogs fed cereal-free food were more likely to have epilepsy. However, the authors didn’t know which came first. They write that “the cereal-free diet could be a component of the dogs’ treatment plans”. In other words, some owners may have changed the diet after the seizures began.
Our note: We give no diet advice from this study.
→ Grain-Free and DCM: What the FDA Found, and What Is Still Unknown · → When to Spay or Neuter: What the Breed Studies Show, and What They Don’t
4. What the study can’t tell you
Owner answers. The authors note the risk of “inaccurate or biased responses” in a questionnaire.
Who answered. If owners of dogs with seizures were more likely to take part, the figure would be too high. That is our concern, not the authors’. From a UK study, the authors estimate about 1%.
Small numbers. With 29 affected dogs, the risk factors are uncertain.
Small mismatches. The paper gives 14 of 29 as 48.2% (it is 48.3%), and calls the post-ictal aggression rate both higher than, and identical to, findings it cites from the same source.
Our note: Asking breeders about epilepsy in a puppy’s relatives is our advice, not the study’s.
5. What we could not verify
| Commonly said | What we found |
|---|---|
| “Grain-free food causes seizures” | Not shown. The link may run the other way, with diets changed after seizures began. |
| “Working-line Goldens have more epilepsy” | Not shown here. The two types didn’t differ. |
| “Epilepsy is rare in Golden Retrievers” | Not in this Swedish group. 3.9% had it, though survey bias may raise the figure. |
Sources
- Winnerby M, Rohdin C, Strandberg E, Gredal H. Prevalence and potential risk factors associated with idiopathic epilepsy in Golden Retrievers. J Vet Intern Med 2026. ⚠️ survey and interviews. Owner questionnaire with record checks, 743 Swedish Golden Retrievers. No specific funding
Always confirm with your vet before acting on anything on this page.