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Background: Despite appropriate antiseizure drug (ASD) treatment, around two-thirds of dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) have seizures long-term and 20-30per cent of affected dogs remain poorly controlled., Methods: The current study aim is to test in a field trial the efficacy and tolerability of a commercially available diet enriched with 6.5per cent medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil in dogs (n=21) with at least a tier 1 idiopathic epilepsy diagnosis, without cluster seizures, in 10 veterinary practices across Europe. Each dog's quality of life (QoL), ataxia, sedation and frequency and severity of seizures were recorded by owners throughout the study., Results: The mean seizure frequency per month, averaged over the entire 84-day study, significantly (P=0.04) decreased 32per cent compared with the baseline monthly seizure frequency recorded during the month immediately before feeding the diet. Similarly, the seizure days rate (days/month) also declined (P<0.001) by 42per cent. QoL was reported as very good to excellent (>8.5/10) in 20 of the 21 dogs before starting the diet and this remained unchanged during the trial., Conclusions: This study demonstrates the use of a diet enriched with MCTs as an adjunct to ASD treatment may have some antiseizure properties for dogs diagnosed with IE, as demonstrated in previous studies., Competing Interests: Competing interests: BZ reports a patent US Patent No. 9789079 issued. BZ and LC are employed within the R&D Department of Nestlé Purina PetCare to conduct nutrition research for the potential use in future commercial applications and products. JM and CJ-P are employed within the European team of Nestlé Purina PetCare communicating on the scientific studies and products, and also organising clinical trials of the products. SA, CdlF, MAW, AS, EL, BW-R, PM, GG, MM, JCR, AV and AF were paid by Nestlé Purina PetCare for clinical services related to case recruitment and conducting the trial and/or were provided the test food for the trial dogs by Nestlé Purina PetCare, and do not have any other conflicts of interest to disclose. HAV is a paid consultant for Nestlé Purina PetCare., (© British Veterinary Association 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. Published by BMJ.)

The electrically induced blink reflex was studied electromyographically in 21 healthy adult, detomidine-sedated horses. Using surface electrodes, the supraorbital nerve was electrically stimulated at the supraorbital foramen. The responses were recorded from the ipsilateral and contralateral orbicularis oculi muscles with concentric needle electrodes inserted in the lateral aspect of the ventral eyelids. Ipsilateral and contralateral recordings were made on successive stimulations of the same side of the face, maintaining a constant stimulus intensity. The electromyographically recorded responses consisted of an early R1 response in the orbicularis oculi muscle ipsilateral to the side of stimulation, a bilateral late response (ipsilateral R2 and contralateral Rc) and a third, R3 response, in the ipsilateral orbicularis oculi muscle. All the responses were polyphasic muscle potentials of variable duration and peak to peak amplitudes. The reflex latency of the R1 response was, as in man, fairly stable. The R2 response showed greater variability both within and between individual horses. The Rc response was recorded in only 13 of the 21 horses and showed a slightly longer latency than the corresponding R2. The R3 response, which is significantly related to pain sensation in man, appeared in 19 horses and showed the greatest variability in latency.