Julie Maxted, 58, runs dog gate company dog-g8.com with her husband Peter, 61, from their home in Horsham, West Sussex. The couple have three grown-up children, a seven-year-old dachshund Jack and a cat called Benjy. She says: JACK is a much-loved member of the e family and is very cheeky.

In fact, thanks to him and our tabby y cat Benjy, it’s like Tom and Jerry y around here — Jack will sit by the cat t flap so Benjy won’t come in, then n Benjy will dab Jack with her paw and d he squeals like a girl! They wind each other up.

We’ve had him since he was a puppy but when he was about four, he kept having fits and we thought we were going to lose him.

His eyes would go glassy, he’d start shaking and saliva would come out of his mouth. He looked quite frightened and all we could do was cuddle him until it subsided. We were so worried — he’s so dear to us.

He went to the TV Supervet — Noel Fitzpatrick’s practice — to be tested and he was diagnosed with epilepsy. Luckily, there was nothing more seriously wrong with him.

He’s not on any drugs so we went online to see what we could do for Jack and we found case histories of dogs where going grainfree really helped. A family friend also suggested it.

It’s not known why such a diet would help epileptic dogs, but since we switched Jack’s diet to Butcher’s grain-free recipes, usually the wet

Peace of mind: Julie with her beloved dachshund Jack tripe varieties in tins, it has helped him enormously. After about three or four months of his diet, we realised the food was beginning to work because he hadn’t had a seizure for a while. From having a fit every couple of weeks, he now only has about one every six months. They’re no less severe but they’re far less frequent. We had no idea a diet could have this effect and we would not go back. While Jack’s epilepsy is never going to go away, it has given us peace of mind.

EMMA’S VERDICT:

Whatever has made this difference it’s clear the result is good. Gluten-free diets are known to help Border terriers with a syndrome like epilepsy but that doesn’t need to be grain-free, just gluten-free. If you do go grain-free, speak to your vet about the brands which are most reputable.