Nancy Floris, a nurse from Amesbury, Mass., has learned when something scary is about to happen with her standard poodle, Spencer.
“He is like in a trance almost,” she said about the distant stare Spencer makes before a seizure that causes him to vomit, clench his jaw, fall over and lose body functions for a minute or more.
Spencer, a 5-year-old, 88-pound bundle of friendliness, is now part of a national field study with local input at the Maine Veterinary Referral Center on Technology Drive.
Drs. Alan Potthoff and Danielle Eifle are screening dogs from throughout northern New England as part of a field study of medicine to combat seizures caused by idiopathic epilepsy.
