Randomness of Christi : » Cat Seizures

Comment by Meggon

September 28, 2007 @ 9:15 am

Hey Christi…

I’ve never had a cat with epilepsy, but Shannon’s dog Lady has it. When I was living with them in college is when it started, so I got to experience a lot of them, and it’s really scary!!

Lady has now been dealing with it for about 5 years now (is that how long we’ve been out of college?!?) They changed her diet (no more people food!) and were careful with other things. They found that she would have a seizure if she were in close contact with wool for a long time. So one thing you may want to do is watch what happens prior to a seizure (hopefully it’ll be a long time before another one!) and see what your kitty is around or has eaten.

Shannon and John decided not to medicate Lady. They figured if it was bad enough for medication that she would be suffering enough and they should put her down. She sometimes has long stretches in between seizures, and sometimes short. All you can do really is wait and see what happens. Hope that helps a bit!

Comment by Colleen

December 28, 2007 @ 10:02 am

Hi Christi, my 7 yr old cat had a siezure at 4 am this morning. This is only the second one she has had. I would hold off on medicating until you see the frequency of the attacks. The last one my cat had was 5 yrs ago. I hope this will be the last. Good luck.

Comment by Christi

December 28, 2007 @ 4:19 pm

Colleen~

After I posted this post our cat had another Grand Mal seizure and we ended up having to put him on medication. Basically they told us if he had more then one Grand Mal seizure in a week they highly recommend the medication. We did find out though after a year he will probably be able to be weaned off the meds. Here’s Hoping!!
Christi

Comment by Debra

March 10, 2008 @ 4:48 pm

Last Thursday my youngest cat 9 months of age started
having small seizures. He had over 17 that day, the
next day he vomited all day. I took him to the vet
twice Thursday and Friday. He refused to draw blood
to see what the matter was. He did give him meds for
the vomiting to heal the stomach the second visit.
I used a dropper and fed him back to where I thought all was well, this Monday morning I saw where he had
had an accident on my sofa again. Soon after he had
a grand mal seizure that lasted for several minutes.
We made the decision to end his suffering, I have cryed all day missing him. He was such a lovable kitty. He would always jump up when I was eating to
take the spoon out of my mouth and when he jumped up
on my lap it was always with force using both front
feet at the same time. I hope I made the right decision as he seemed to be suffering terrible thru
the seizures.

Comment by Christine

April 6, 2008 @ 12:28 am

My 2 year old kitty is also having seizures. She has had 4 since December 2007, all of them have been early in the morning 4-5am ish until tonight. It is scary watching your beloved friend, and be unable to help them. My vet said it was up to me if I wanted to pursue medication but that with such a young cat it could eventually be very hard on her body. I am contemplating alternative therapy as the regular vet doesn’t seem to be much help.

Comment by Christi

April 6, 2008 @ 7:32 pm

We have had our cat on medication for 6 months now. Our vet said that after about a year that we would probably be able to wean him off the pills as then he will have the medication built up in his system. Since we have put him on the medication he hasn’t had any seizures. I can’t advise you one way or another but our cat is almost 2 now and the vet also gave us the option whether we wanted to put him on the meds or not. The vet did say that Chunk (our kitty) wouldn’t know one way or another when he was having a seizure. I don’t know if I necessarily believe that so we decided for him and us that we would put him on the medication. Hopefully that helps somewhat.

Comment by Kerry

August 2, 2008 @ 6:34 am

Hi all,
My 17 year old cat has been having seizures I think,
she at any given time will drop on the floor and kick her legs for about 40 seconds, her stare is blank and she cannot move afterwards, then she drools profusly, then she comes out of it. Its really scary when it happens and I talk to her softly and let her know I am there. Does this sound like what your cats are doing that have seizures also?

Comment by Christi

August 4, 2008 @ 4:51 pm

Kerry~

My cat did fall on his side and would twitch and drool profusely and then would come out of it 30-40 seconds later. The vet states the animals have no idea of whats going on during the seizure but we did put him on medication for it and he hasn’t had any since. Let me know if I can be of further help!

Comment by Eddie

August 29, 2008 @ 7:38 pm

I also have a 17 year old cat who had radiation treatment in may of this year for Feline Hyperthyroidism disease. Then, last night he started frothing at the mouth and started to slowly spin in circles(like he was chasing his tail or something?) Then, faster, faster, and started howling, like a deep throated meow, like he was scared or something…I was scared when this happened, then he came out of it, and I just thought it was one of those things? Then tonight(next day) he had the very same thing happen, and its really scaring the CRAP out of me.. He is my best friend, and I just cannot see having to witness this… I have not seen anyone else state their cat starts spinning around.. Is that a certain type of rare seizure? I am sure its a grand mal, but not sure if there are degrees of these seizures.. anyway I am really worried about “Sniffy”. I dont want to see my best friend go through such an ordeal again. Thanks for any advice. Just to let you all know, he is de-clawed, fixed too.

Comment by Christi

August 30, 2008 @ 8:22 am

Eddie~

The one thing we were told about seizures which may help you is the cat doesn’t even know whats happening to them. Its harder on us because it scares us so bad but it doesn’t harm the cat unless they are on stairs when its happens. You can get medication for them though and so I would reccomend contacting your vet about that. If nothing else it may be an effect of the treatment your cat had. Its not going to hurt anything. By the way I have heard every cat has seizures differently so maybe this is his type of seizure. I hope that helps but if you have further questions let me know!

Comment by Roxy

September 7, 2008 @ 10:01 am

My cat also was spinning in circles while having seizures, and she’d lose bladder control while doing it, so your cat’s not alone in the spinning. Maybe they’re trying not to fall down? Probably a complex partial seizure, they’re supposedly common in cats, and given that your cat’s still standing, a grand mal is unlikely.

Mine was having a *lot* of them a day for the last several days, judging by the number of puddles of urine and spit splatters (we’d always find them together - I thought she was just leaking when she sneezed, since she had allergies too, and I hadn’t seen them happen, only the mess, and sometimes I heard the sneezing/coughing noises she’d make in the middle, for the first few days) I was cleaning up, only actually saw one happen yesterday, which is why I didn’t get her to the vet sooner.

I’m not sure I believe that the animals feel nothing, they may not have any awareness *during* a seizure, but ask a person with epilepsy how they feel *after* a seizure, and chances are, they’re not going to say it’s particularly great.

She was 8, probably not organ failure or “regular” epilepsy, couldn’t find anything she might have gotten into, and a head injury seemed incredibly unlikely, in my estimation. No neurologists at the emergency vet clinic on a weekend, and I just wouldn’t be able to afford a spinal tap and MRI for her, so I had to have her put down, but I feel really horrible about it. Hope your kitties have fewer seizures!

Comment by Eddie

September 7, 2008 @ 5:29 pm

Update!!! My cat(Sniffy) came back from the Vets a few days ago, and had MANY, MANY tests done to him via blood work.. all his tests came back normal for his age, so what the Vet and I agreed on was that he 99.9% has a brain tumor that is bringing on the seizures… So he was put on Anti-Seizure Meds, along with STEROIDS and since then, he has not had one seizure!! Its been 4 days!! Before that, he was having them 2 times a day. So, all I can say is these steroids have really helped him out a lot. My advice to ANYONE out there thats in my shoes, before you put your cat down, please try the steroids.. Now, granted, even though he is feeling MUCH better, he still has the brain tumor, the steroids seem to be shrinking the swellage around his brain, thus stopping the seizures(for now).. Hopefully he won’t have anymore. Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

Eddie

Comment by Eddie

September 13, 2008 @ 5:35 pm

Why were my comments removed from this message board??

Comment by Eddie

September 20, 2008 @ 2:28 pm

Sniffy Update.. He has not had a seizure since 9-3-2008. He is on Prednasone and a anti seizure med and they have completely stopped his seizures!! He has also gained almost 2 lbs and looks very healthy again.. Is this a miracle, or what???? Im so happy for him. He seems sooo much more comfortable and happy…

Comment by Christi

September 21, 2008 @ 8:23 pm

Eddie~

I’m so glad to hear that Sniffy is doing better. I know I’m a firm believer of if you can help an animal please do unless keeping them around would mean keeping them alive in allot of pain.

Comment by Eddie

September 21, 2008 @ 8:35 pm

Thanks Christi I can send you a picture of him if you give me an email addy!!

Comment by carolyn michaud

September 28, 2008 @ 10:05 am

147501 Hi Eddie –My sisters cat Lilly just started having seizures and she is 12–they said it could be a brain tumor-they put her on phenobarb and steroids and she is really drugged(just yesterday). Did Sniffy go through this and how long did it take before he wasn’t drugged anymore. Thanks Carolyn

Comment by Eddie

September 28, 2008 @ 11:50 am

Carolyn,

Let me first by saying my heart and prayers go to your sister and Lilly. The GREAT news, Lilly is going to bounce back quickly from these seizures. The Phenobarb, and steroids will start to work on the seizures within 2-3 days of the first dose. She will start feeling fine after a week I’d say. Sniffy has bounced back un-believably well. He has gained 2 lbs since he has been on the meds, and he has that little bounce to his step he was lacking for probably a year or more…Sniffy has always been a rather, SLEEPY CAT.. But, I did notice he was kind of drugged out for the first couple days, maybe 3 days, then his body began to absorb the meds, and he is fine now. I would just give Lilly a good week for the meds to go fully through her system and she will be fine. If I can offer some advice on giving the meds.. The steroids, I just give Sniffy half a pill a day and what I do is, (he is a huuge cheese freak/like me..lol) anyway, I will take a very tiny piece of cheese, out the pill in itm roll it up into a BB size ball, and he eats it and never even knows he is taking his meds.. As far as his Phenobarb, I put it in his wet cat food, and again, he has no clue he is taking meds. He is very easy to please, and very NON finiky… Just thought I’d offer that.. Best of luck to Lilly. I KNOW she will pull through this fine..

Eddie

Comment by Eddie

September 28, 2008 @ 12:54 pm

Oh, one thing I will say about the meds and the Brain Tumor is this.. One thing I have noticed with Sniffy nis this.. Since he has been on the meds, his balance “Equal-Librium” is off slightly, but other than that he is doing great. One thing I just noticed today was, I have another cat, “Tiny” as well. Tiny is way more playful than Sniffy. Today while they were playing, this was the FIRST TIME I saw Sniffy beat Tiny in a wrestling match. It is always the other way around with Sniffy running off when Tiny gets to aggressive, today, it was TINY who ran off first. Does this have to do with the STEROIDS Sniffy is on? Who knows? I just know that was a first…Sorry for all the BABBLING!!