Well, Macy just had another seizure. This one tossed her from her cat tower perch across the lid of the trash can, knocking it off, then getting caught on a basket on the windowsill where I keep my wallet and keys, dumping that, then onto her food/water tray, flipping the water bowl and landing in the now water-filled (and wallet-filled) tray, where she seized for less than a minute on her side, in the water. Other than the dramatics, it was just like the other two (in January and March of last year).
She was on Phenobarbital for six months, from March until September, when the new DC vet recommended we try keeping her off of it (since it is toxic, after all). She’s been fine since then, until today.
Gotta figure this out… is it epilepsy or some household allergy or a tumor or ???
Update: I actually had forgotten: since there’s not a lot that you can do during a seizure once you clear the path to keep her safe, and because I had my phone in my shirt pocket, I snapped a picture during the seizure for future reference. It’s not graphic or anything, but obviously you may want to use discretion when viewing. Pic here. Now, not 10 minutes later, you can find a normal pic here.
{ 241 } Comments
Hi. I was doing some research on this subject and found your story and pics. I’m sorry to hear that your cat is going thru these seizures. I volunteer for an animal rescue in Scotts. AZ and recently rescued a 4month old tabby from my office complex. He clearly has had no human socilization but after two weeks is doing much better. My two cats don’t like him though. the first week i had him he had a seizure and i had never seen it happen before so of course i flipped out and took him to the emerg. clinic. they sent me home with no good information just to contact my regular vet. he was fine for a week and then just had another one. I will be taking him to my vet, but its unfortanate that he may not get adopted because of this. I’m also not sure how much money I can afford to spend on him so I’m really not sure what Im going to do. Anyways it’s calming to read about others’ incidents and that there is really nothing you can do for the cat while having the seizure. I just sit and cry. Thanks for your story.
Danielle
Scottsdale AZ
Hi Danielle, I’m sorry to hear about it. We have lucked out in that Macy has only had one seizure in the near-year that we’ve had her off medicine (that we know of). I’ve tried to spend more time with her in some active playing to help her blow off steam in the hopes that this helps with the seizures. We’ll see.
Hello everyone, I’m sorry to hear about the unfortunante cat seizures. My cat Meesha is 15 years old and up until last night he was a normal cat. He had his first seizure last night I wasn’t home for the seizure but today I have witnessed three so far, one took him down a flight of wooden stairs, the others have all occured while trying to shake his head. They dont last very long but they are still very scary!!! We took him to the vet today and they ran blood test, which we should find out the outcome tomorrow. Every story I have read though has only mentioned one seizure about every month, my Meesha has already had three TODAY!!! Is this normal??? Thank you for the picture as sad as it is, it helps just to know that my cat isn’t the only one who suffers from these seizures…not to mention I’m not the only one who is going through the emotional turmoil of feeling completely helpless.
Sara
Hi Sara. I’d definitely see a vet and ask them about it — three a day is not normal! They may be able to recommend medication or other treatment, as well as things you can check at home to make sure that’s not the problem (plants, chemicals, etc.) Good luck!
Hey, I was just going through websites that talked about cats having seizures and stumbled upon yours. My/my boyfriend’s cat, Bill, had a seizure yesterday and flew off the bed and into the floor. It was the first time I had to deal with it, and it was frightening. He had another within 13 hours, and I am seriously concerned, obviously. I will be taking him to the vet as soon as I can, but the only emergency vet is too far away to go in the middle of the night (says my only ride there). Thanks for taking the picture though, it helped me see what another cat looks like when going through this. I know that Bill locks up and falls to his left side, drooling and such. He’s a siamiese, so you can imagine. Good luck on finding out what’s going on, and don’t worry too much about it.. It’s obvious that your cat has a human caring enough to help, so that’s all that probably matters to her.
Good morning. I’m glad I found this blog, or whatever this is. My kitty has had about 5 seizures since Oct. 7th this year. Talk about the scariest, saddest thing I’ve ever witnessed. Seems my research (such that it is) shows that she has to have a blood test. So I think I will try to make an appt. this week with my regular vet for some blood tests. I took her to the ER Vet the first time, and they offered extensive tests/observations for $640. Thanks, but no. I love my little baby, but come on!! And what’s worse, they didn’t do any blood tests. Shouldn’t they have at least done that??
At any rate, I do hope all of you post what happens to your kitty. I’m very anxious to know.
At first we thought the cause was the new plants we had–hot pepper plants. Then I discovered yesterday that I had some molded bird seed in the laundry, right next to her litterbox. Not sure if that could have caused these, but it’s gone now. I’ll try to let y’all know what happens to Punkin as soon as I find out. Praying for all your babies…
Ariel
Just came upon this website looking for seizure remedies. A young female cat who recently adopted us has had two seizures (that we know of) within a weeks time. She fell off the bed onto her back and all four paws were flexing. She urinated and somehow flopped herself over and seemed to be hopping across the room with her claws grasping the carpeting and pulling her along. I managed to get a pillow over her and held her and tried to calm her. I guess the whole thing lasted two minutes and then she walked around dazed. There was no frothing of the mouth. After a half hour or so you would never know anything had happened. We do not have the money to take her to the vet. I’ve read about valium as a treatment. Does anyone know the details such as the quantity and how it is given?
I have a 1.5 year old epileptic cat. It is very sad and often trying as it makes it difficult to travel etc. with others not feeling comfortable taking care of him, but he is a lover. Cheryl, please take your cat to the vet…I know that it can be expensive, but valium can be very hard on their kidneys and from the research I have done and advice from my vet suggests that it sould only be used to stop a prolongued seizure. My cat is on phenobarbitol to aid in preventing seizures. The dose is inexpensive and is delivered orally. Hope this helps some.
Thank you for your post. We have a 3year old cat who had her first experience with seizures on christmas eve. It was very scary. We had no idea what was happening and somehow jammed our fingers down her mouth to make sure she wasnt choking and then proceeded to do her breathing. Boy did we do the wrong thing. But the fact her eyes were completely dialated coupled with her stiffness, led me to believe she had gone. But, she came to very quickly. We rushed her to the emergency clinic and paid $500 for tests. It is important to note that these tests that cost so much revealed that she was a PERFECTLY healthy cat. Not to mention she was running around like nothing had happened within the hour. Now we are in a wait and see position. We have no idea what caused it. But, your picture is exactly what she looks like. Thank you for your post. It has given us more information to be better prepared in the future.
I have a nine month old female tabby who also has these seizures. and as well as your’s her vet put her on phenobarbital, which up to today has been working perfectly. She now has had the worst one ever. Is there any way you can help me with info on this medication and this matter.
I have a small siamese mix that has been having seizures for about 1 1/2 years. The phenobarb
does help. They are not as frequent. I heard taurine defeicency can contribute. Aslo read to give some vitamin c. Anything to make it easier on my little Casey.
Ok. this JUST happened to my 9 year old cat Aja. It only lasted about a minute. No drooling, no peeing. She did fall off the bed though and it scared the heck out of me. When it was over. Her pupil on the right side wouldn’t dialate very much when I shined a flashlight in her eyes. I’m going to calm down and make an appointment. She seems very restless now though and is “talking” alot. Unfortunately, she is a very skittish cat to begin with and is probably freaking out a bit herself.
My cat, Tyson, 1 1/2 years old, has had now 3 seizers in the past 4-5 months. He has always been a little off and gets scared easy. And has a problem tinkling a little on the floor, not full out peeing, just a tinkle. He had his first seizer at my friends’ house during our move and which was right down the street. I did not see it, thank god but they said it was bad. He was foaming out the mouth and just going crazy. I took him to the vet and they thought he just had stress induced epilepsy and just to be real gentle with him and maybe start him on some feline Prozac. My husband and I didn’t like the idea of giving our cat depression meds, so we decided to wait on that. The second seizure was on Christmas Eve, while we were opening gifts with some friends. It started out with him vomiting and then it went into convulsions. It was scary but he recovered. Now this morning around 1am he had another, along with the vomiting. He also was frantic afterwards and jumped up on the counter and urinated. I don’t know want to spend a ton of money to have them tell me my cat is healthy but I don’t want to lose my cat either.
My cat Vixen who is 16 years old (but looks and acts like he’s 6) had hsi first seizure yesterday. The vet started him on Phenobarbital twice a day for now on but I’m hesitant to start him on it since this was his very first seizure and has had no real illnesses his whole life.
I’m having a full blood test done on him which we should have the results this weekend.
My female cat honda is also having seizures. The first one happened in November, however, I didn’t put much thought into that it was actually a seizure. Now, yesterday, she had 2 within 24 hours, so after the 2nd one, I immediately took her to the vet. He did some blood tests, now we are awaiting the results. I also started her on phenobarbital. Just before my husband gave her the 1st dose, she had another..which makes 3 in 36hrs. I am an emergency health care provider, and this freaked me out. I mean, cats are helpless. I love my cat so much, all I could do was sob while they were going on. The first one last atleast 45-60 sec. and the second was only a matter of 10-15 sec. I have also read that if the pheno does not work, then steroids may do the trick if there is an inflammation of the brain and the brain tissue. Who has the money for a MRI and a spinal tap? If I had to come up with it, I will.
Also, my vet told me that he has only seen seizures in my breed of cat, which is a Russian Blue.
My female cat Alley had her first seizure that I know of this morning and just like the rest of you scared the heck out of me. This seizure lasted about a minute and she fell out of her bed and onto the floor. Her sister came running from upstairs and could sense that something was wrong. I am taking her to the vet this afternoon so hopefully we can try to solve Alley’s problems. Good luck to everyone.
Sorry to hear about it, Claire. If anyone hasn’t seen it, I posted recently about the latest with Macy.
Justin,
I did not see your update about Macy, where is it at? I recently took in a stray and Sunday March 11th was his first seizure. He was completely asleep and it threw him off the sofa and onto the ground where he convulsed, his limbs became rigid, he seemed to be choking, he also was kicking his hind legs in a way that they were scratching his own stomach so fur went flying. It probably actually lasted between 1-2 minutes even though it seems a lot longer Immediately after the first seizure he was disoriented and just kind of sat around then within five minutes he was back to normal. Then at around 3 am this morning (wednesday march 14th) he had his second seizure where he sort of spun on his side, started convulsing, threw himself from the bed to the floor, and had the same general symptoms as the first. This one lasted around the same amount of time. SO ths morning I made a vet appointment and they said they couldn’t get me in for 2 weeks. Long story short this afternoon (about 12 hours later) he had a 3rd seizure. same Symptoms but I felt like this one lasted longer. SO I immediately called the vet and convinced them to fit me in tomorrow morning. I am scared for my stray kitty who I thought I was going to be able to keep. Everyone cross their fingers for me snd I will post what the vet tells me tomorrow.
Again, not an official recommendation, but my vet said if you get seizures more than once a month, you should go to an emergency room ASAP.
Well my kitty had his fourth seizure which puts him at 3 in 24 hours. Same symptoms, except this time he did urinate and it seemed to take him longer to reccoperate after this one. WE went to the vet this morning and he said seizures are caused by a host of problems (epileplsy, neurological problems, food allergies, you name it) and others which could be tested for using blood tests and he did lots of feeling around on Elvis’s belly because he said often times it could be an issue with the cat’s liver. He said that he did not want to prescribe any medicine to prevent the seizures before we get the bloodwork back because 1)There is a chance he may not have any more seizures on his own and 2)He wants to wait and see if the blood test points to anthing that could be causing them. He did however prescribe a valium suppository, just in case there was an instance when ELvis went into a longer seizure and didn’t stop. He said then the valium could be used to stop a prolonged seizure, and even though I told him most of Elvis’ seizures last only 1-2 minutes he said he felt better knowing that “IF” there was a prolonged seizure I could do something to stop it and not be helpless. He also reccomend keeping a log of any seizures that Elvis has from now until we get the blood work back. So hopefully there won’t be any but I’ll be back to post any future results.
Just wanted to say thank you for the vet comments posted here. Also, to say that seizures may be OK for years. My now 17 year old cat, Chrissie, started having them when she was about 10 or 11. However, we went months or even years between episodes, so I never had her extensively checked. During normal checkups she was very healthy. She had one today that is taking her longer to get over than usual. Basically vomits, pees and poops, occasionally flops over but this time she did not totally spazz out with convulsions. Just some odd twitching.
Given all the possible causes you described, I cannot justify tons of money on my ancient kitty. She is somewhat senile, stopped grooming herself years ago, and seems to see well but has a lot of gray in her eyes. So, as long as these continue to be intermittent, I will try to calm her and let her keep going. I learned some hard lessons years ago about spending tons of money on a terminally ill pet. Seems to create more distress and prolong life only minimally. So, if the seizures are infrequent and of short duration, at least in Chrissie’s case they have not shortened her life. She is clean now and resting comfortably, and her occasional mournful sounds might be more about some wet fur on her hind legs than the incident.
Hello,
I haven’t had a chance to read all the comments to see if someone had an experience like mine. I have an almost 5 year old female cat named Wilson. I have always fed her top quality food until a few years ago, I picked up a much cheaper brand at Walmart in hopes to save some money. In her case, that is when her seizures started. She had what I witnessed at least one daily. Because we could not afford the vet at the time, I researched food allergies since that was what recently changed. I immediately put her back on Felidae and the seizures stopped. I did not witness another for over one year until again recently I tried to save money and figured I would purchase the Trader Joe cat food. I figured it had to be of a higher quality and perhaps it is. But guess what? After a week of this new food, Wilson started seizing last night. But now she had several shorter ones in a row with very heavy salivation. I am going to the pet food store and will only buy the Felidae today and will be calling the vet in the morning. What I am thinking is there must be some ingredient that is not in the Felidae that is in these others that she is hypersensitive to. I am hoping it is only that although you will read all over the web that seizures to food allergies in cats are rare, it seems to be the issue in our case. I will discard the rest of the TJ food and try this again. If the Felidae gets rid of the seizures then I will know that Wilson must be allergic to some ingredient that these other cat foods must have.
All the food I am discussing I have nothing for or against and it is all dry food. I am not trying to promote or raise issues about any of these brands. I just think in Wilson’s case she has a food allergy that many of the foods seem to carry. It’s just what worked in our case.
Boy, am I glad I found this site.
Very early this morning my 12yr old cat, Katie had what I would consider a seizure. She started flailing on the chair, then fell off. But, it was more like she jumped and while on the floor, attempted to get up while having her seizure. She seemed aware she was going through something terrible.
It lasted only a matter of seconds. When she got up and walked, her equilibrium was completely off. Her eyes were dilated and she was acting odd. While laying in my bed, she was moving her front paws strangely and slowly.
The whole episode from start to finish was maybe 5-10 minutes. After which, she was back to normal, albeit a bit quiet. Her walking was back to normal, she had something to eat, then back to sleep. She’s been fine since then.
I don’t know if this is her first episode. I know I should take her to the vet, but I’m always afraid I’ll be charged $1,000 or more for tests for the sake of having tests.
I don’t want to be one of those lay persons who gets sucked into paying out oodles of money while emotionally vulnerable.
This happened to my mom when her cat had a stroke. They claimed they needed to do tests to be sure. I was against it, as it was clear the poor lil guy had a stroke. Mom went ahead with the tests and over $1,000 later the vet put the cat down, because he said it was a stroke.
thanks
It is so helpful hearing other stories. Our female cat, Hobie is nearly six. She had her first seizure Saturday night. I awoke at 1:30 am from the sound of her vomiting. Her head was bobbing and her eyes were ‘jiggly’. She tried to move but just fell over. I took her to the emergency vet ($740). They called the next day and said she was fine. All of her blood tests were good. They recommended not doing a CAT scan or MRI yet. Like everyone else - cost is a big issue. She had another seizure this morning. She wanted to lie at the foot of our bed instead of in her cat bed (where she had the 1st seizure). My husband heard her hit the floor. Her seizures are accompanied by vomiting, drooling, panting and defecating. They seem to last an hour or more. I understand that can be the post seizure period, but she can’t walk and her eyes are moving quickly - I call them jiggly eyes. I took her to the vet still out of it. The kept her today. They are getting the info from the emergency vet & will make a recommendation today
The vet thinks Hobie has a brain tumor which she said is the same thing as cancer. She thinks that because Hobie is almost six. Epilepsy is normally in cats 1-5 yrs old. They said we could get a CAT scan & spinal fluid test ($1100) or take her to the vet school 2 hrs away for a MRI ($1600). We opted for the Phenobarbital given twice a day. They have these really cool treats called pill pockets that you can hide the pill in. We go back to the vets in 3 weeks to have her blood work checked. Too much of the drug can damage the liver.
Oh my, Dale. How frightening for you. I hope the meds help. I had a dog which had epilepsy, and he lived out another 5 years, with only small seizures and rarely.
I took my cat Katie to the vet and after $400 in organic tests, it all came back normal. The vet kept trying to convince me to do the full litany of tests, which would’ve gone well over $1,000.
I opted not to, because if it is brain cancer am I going to spend another few thousand to have it removed? Nope. I love Katie like a crazy woman, but I can’t put myself into debt for a senior citizen cat.
So far I haven’t seen her have another seizure. She’s playing and eating and doing her constant talking to me as usual. The vet told me if she has seizures more than once every few weeks, then she might need meds. But if the seizures are infrequent and last only a few seconds, she can live with it.
My 10-year-old cat, Mini, has been having a Seizure problem for almost a year. It had been happening only once a month or so, but last 2 weeks she had total of 4, last 24 hrs she had 2. My vet advised me to give her medication so I started giving her today. It’s been so hard for me to go through this many times at once and I can’t stop crying. I was told most likely it is caused by brain tumor. I have been thinking about trying homeopathy. Has anyone tried that before? Has anyone trird PetAliveEase Sure? Supposed to be all natural herb. I want my baby to live happy healthy long life. By reading this Blog helps me and makes me realize I am not alone going through this.
Our 7 year old female tabby, Sadie, was diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago. She was doing fantastic on injected insulin and then suddenly had a terrible insulin reaction and seizure. When we got her to the ER her blood sugar was 28! This was Monday and she has had 3 more seizures since. Our vet, the ER vet and an internist have give us 3 possibilites. The first is that a seizure caused by low blood sugar can cause a toxicity in the brain which should resolve on it’s own. The second is that the diabetes caused a problem with electrolytes which caused the seizure and that should resolve on it’s own. The third is more frightening …that a mass in the brain hause caused both the diabetes and seizures. The amazing thing is that the diabetes has resolved itself and her blood sugars are normal. Apparantly she began producing insulin on her own and thus the insulin reaction that started this whole seizure thing. I hope this helps someone else and we will post updates on Sadie as we watch and wait.
We have had Hobie on a half a tab of Phenobarbital twice a day for a week and a half. She is so acting so drugged that it is pitiful. She can’t jump up on anything any more but she still tries & can’t make it up or down. She is just so lethargic. I talked to the vet about giving her 1/4 pill twice a day. She said to try it but the 1/2 dose is the correct amount for her. I don’t know whether she will get used to the medicine or if the brain tumor is causing problems. A friend had a dog with a brain tumor who only lasted a week. Does anyone have experience with Phenobarbital?
@Dale: It takes a little while to kick in, something like two weeks according to our vet. Macy was a little lethargic for about a week, though — not jumping right, losing balance, etc. But she got it over it just fine.
Hi everyone. This is the 2nd day of my Mini on the medication. As far as when I am home, she hasn’t had any seizure for 2 days. She’s playful and very active. I am taking her to homeopathy, which is going to cost me a few hundred dollars. If this seizure is caused by brain tumor, which is what my vet thinks, I would like to find out if there is anyway it could slow down and help her in natural way. I was crying for 2 nights but I have to be strong now. After all, we are the only one who can be there for our cats. Cats can sense something is up if we were crying. I will update how the homeopathy goes. Has anyone tried?
Sadie hasn’t had a seizure since she came home Tuesday afternoon and that is wonderful. She is weak in the back legs and we have to help her in and out of the litter box. That’s the good news. The bad news is that her excessive thirst appears to be returning. We are waiting for a test to come back that shows if she has any of her own insulin in her system so we will know how to proceed. If she is making her own but it’s not enough, she will be really hard to regulate and I don’t ever want her to go so low again that she has another seizure. I guess we will have to let her run high and deal with the problems that causes but at least her quality of life will be better.
Hi,
I have read through most of the comments and I feel a little better knowing that I am not the only one. My cat Cheerio is 3 years old and just had her first seizure on Sunday. At first I did not kno what it was, she rested her head down and started to meow really loudly, like she was crying. This happened for three days and on Thursday I took her to the vet. The vet started her on 1/2 of Phenobarbital once a day and I was told to call back on Friday for the blood test results. However, when I called I was told that she was busy and would call me back, well, she didn’t, so I called back today and was told the same and of course she did not call back. I am getting a little upset. This morning was especially scary because she was laying down and started to urinate and it seems like she did not know what was happening. I think I am going to go back to the vet on Monday for her results instead of calling.
Our 17 year old cat started having seizures about a year ago, about 1 every 2 weeks, progressing to twice a day. We tried very small doses of phenobarbitol, but the side effect of extreme lethargy left her losing the ability to walk. Blood tests had ruled out the most common underlying fixable causes, so another vet suggested small amounts of Valium, 1/4 mg, which was not enough so we went to 1/2 mg, which is a 2mg people dose cut into quarters, twice a day, and she hasn’t had a seizure since, with no side effects, (though maybe liver/kidney damage, but she’s 17.) Has been 1 1/2 months seizure-free….hope this helps….there seems to be no one remedy.
Hello, my cat (Kitty) had a seizure yesterday just like the above cats. She also had her front paw deep inside her mouth with her jaw locked, I forced her paw out but am wondering why she did this and if it can be dangerous?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks, Dave
David, that must’ve been frightening. Please don’t put your hand in her mouth while she’s having a seizure. My katie has had 2 seizures and both times her right paw raised almost in slow motion and hung in the air for a few seconds. It was obvious she wasn’t aware of it. Possibly with your Kitty, putting her paw in her mouth is just another stage of her seizure. Most seizures last only a few seconds and if it looks as if she’s not hurting herself, let her be.
My katie went for xrays Saturday. Her liver is a bit enlarged. The vet wants to put her through tests for viruses that can’t be cured, but can be treated with anti-seizure meds, the same type they’ll give her for seizures anyway. So, I’ll forgo the tests ($300) and get the meds.
As for her liver, I’ll ask the vet for food that might take some stress off her liver. Has anyone any suggestions for what kind of food or supplements?
I’ve arranged to take her to the vet on Saturday.
Kitty is 19 years old and hope the Vet can do something for her.
Thanks for your info, David
Wow!!! 19 years old. Keep us posted on her situation, David. I’m curious as to what they say the problem might be.
Good luck.
Dale–you asked about Phenobarbitol and the effect of it on kitty. She will get used to it. My baby is taking 1.5 mL twice a day in liquid form. I put it on her wet food that she gets 2 times a day. I think she can taste it, b/c sometimes she won’t eat the food at all. But if I leave it out, she’ll eventually eat it. But the effects of the new meds do wear off in about a week. Punkin weighs 6lbs and is about 11 years old.
that’s all I wanted to hear…Punkin will be OK.
I experienced almost all of the symptoms described above, and discovered that Punkin was having Gran Mal seizures. But she hasn’t had another seizure since Dec. 2006 when I began the phenobarb.
I did find a lump on her belly, and vet wants to remove it and biopsy it. For $800, I don’t think I will. I, too, love Punkin like a crazy woman, but she is a CAT. so until I can sense that she is in pain, she will have her little lovely kitty lump and continue to bask in my loving embrace until she grows tired of me.
So keep chins up! Phenobarb. works, and side effects are minimal. Kitty will be ok
my cat taji had his 1st seizure today. he is 3 1/2 years old, orange tabby. he had his seizure in the bathroom sink (where he sleeps) and it was the most horrifying experience…i thought he was dying before my eyes. after about 30 seconds, he jumped out of the sink and ran under the bed and also defecated. i took him to the vet and they took his blood to run some tests, so i will find out in a couple of days. my big question is that is it possible that this seizure will be an isolated incident and never happen again? every post that i’ve read on this site seems to suggest that once it begins, it happens regularly. any thoughts?
Hi cat
So far my katie has only had 2 that I know of. I think it’s really 2 because I noticed after both, for the next day she was lethargic, otherwise she’s her old self. My brother is epileptic and whenever he has a seizure, he’s also very tired the next day.
My vet said after the 1st seizure, katie might never have another. But she also said if the seizures are several weeks apart, no meds are really necessary. So far it’s been almost 3 weeks since katie’s last seizure. I got meds from the vet, but haven’t administered them yet. I want to see if another seizure occurs.
Good luck!
I’m so glad to find this site. My B.J. who is 17 had what I assume was her first seizure yesterday and it scared me to death. She was in the recliner with me as usual and she stood up and kept standing. Then all of a sudden she jumped down, threw up, pooped “cow patties” and totally emptied her bladder and fell to her side laying there for what seemed an eternity because I as freaking out not knowing what to do. She had a wide eyed look like the picture Justin posted. (Thank you so much for posting that so I know others are oing the same thing.) It was Saturday but I called the vet I go to and made an emergency trip with her to the office. Of course by the time I got her to the office she was somewhat normal except for drooling and talking up a storm. She was still unsteady on her feet. They took blood work and her liver reading was very high, as was her blood sugar reading but the vet said that could have come from the episode itself instead of the episode being caused by it. She might have been having seizure while I was at work because I’v been finding more incidents of vomit than usual.
The vet injected her with fluid just under the skin because she was slightly dehydrated. Her white count was a ittle elevated so they put in Penicillan, steroids to mae her feel better and Reglan to calm her stomach. They injected it under the skin instead of me leaving her there at the office on an IV, saying that her body would absorb it in between 6 to 10 hours. She looked pathetic with that big hump on her back and when is slipped down on one side - then eventually down into her lgs.
B.J. wouldn’t let me out of her sight and was very talkative but seemed almost normal. Then about 6 hours later she was again laying in my lap in the recliner when all her hair stood on end, her eyes got wide with that strange look and she flew out of my lap running to the back bedroom where she fell over on her side and was jerking all over for what seemed like another eternity while I stood helpless.
In a couple of minutes she tried to stand up and wobbed over to lean against my leg. She was dazed and couldn’t keep her balance and finally laid back down. I sat on the floor calming her for about 10 minutes and she seemed to return to normal. She hasn’t had a seizure today but she won’t let me out of her sight and she wants to lean against me. She’s laying here beside me in the recliner now and occasionally her head starts wobbling for a few seconds but I rub her gently and she starts purring and goes to sleep.
Tomorrow I have to leave her to go to work though and I worry about what will happen while I’m gone. Mandy, by 13 year old cat, was scared watching her and is staying away for some reason. Mandy usually tries to soothe B.J. when she is sick or upset. Maybe when I go to work she will take over for me.
After reading all the posts I don’t see there is much I can do but love her and try to make our time together calming. Ill get other blood results Tuesday if there is anything else that shows up.
Oh yes - I forgot to mention that she has had a large growth on her chest that has been there for years but has increased in size recently making it hard for her to lay down on her stomach. The vet has always thought it was a fatty tumor though and has always recommended against operating on her for it. I don’t know if its growth affected this or not.
This has been the most informative site on cat seizures I have found. I too am glad I am not the only one experiencing this phenomena with my cat. I did not realize how common seizures were in cats of all ages. My 16-yr. old Maine Coon just had his second seizure. After the first seizure I immediately took him to a vet hospital where they ran extenisve blood tests that all came out “ok.” When I go to the vet tomorrow, I feel as if I am well prepared to assist the vet in helping my kitty. Thanks for sharing your fears, strategies, and concerns on this site. It has been invaluable peace of mind tonight.
Boy, what a lot of great info on cat seizures! My 15-yr. old cat Merlin had his first seizure 2 years ago then didn’t have another one for a year and a half. He had 5 seizures in one day 5 months ago. It was a Saturday so I had to take him to the Animal ER and he had to stay 2 nights for tests and to be put on Vallium. Very expensive but he’s my baby. The Valium calmed him down and he didn’t have any seizures while in the hospital but he was extremely lethargic and didn’t seem to know or care who I was when I went there to visit him twice a day (he is normally very affectionate). The tests came back and his bloodwork was OK but his amonia level in the liver was off the charts high. The vet said that the tests suggested he got into something toxic but he’s an inside cat and we don’t have any kind of chemicals lying around. I checked with Truly Nolen pest control who sprays our house but they said their chemicals are non-toxic. He was also extremely dehydrated and had to go to the vet almost every day for a week to get fluids injected. The vet put him on 5mg of Prednisone once a day. It seemed to help but he still has seizures about once a week but it may be more because I’m not home from 9-5. He does not vomit but has the really scary uncontrollable jerking, his body contorts, urinates a little and they last about a minute or so. When they stop, he is temporarily blind, eyes completely dialted, he dazed and can not walk straight for a few minutes. Sometimes just after he can see again, he goes right for his food and eats a lot. I am interested to hear what anyone might know about food allergies. I have not heard of the food someone mentioned called “Felidae” but I will try it. My vet also mentioned that it could be a brain tumor but it would be very expensive to do tests/surgery and would not be easy for a 15 year old cat to tolerate such a severe operation, he could die during the process I love this cat like a child but want to put him through it at his age. If anyone has had good results with homotherapy, please post comments. Thanks and best wishes to all of you, I had no idea so many cats had seizures!
I am the only one who thinks this is unusual that all these cats of different ages share so many symptons and that these postings are coming so frequently in the last few months? My 17 yr old female cat Lupe’ has always been healthy as a horse until about 2 or 3 weeks ago when she started acting lethargic and sticking so close to me and my husband. On Friday morning, 4/27/07, she had a gran mal seizure like the ones previously described. I took her to our regular vet who did the blood work which came back normal, give her a cortisteriod shot and a refferal to a neurological specialist in case she seized again. She did seize again the next Saturday morning and twice more before I could get her checked in; one on the way to the hospital where I pulled over to help her as best I could. They did all the test progessively ending with a CT scan on Monday all came up “un-remarkable” with the exception of slightly elevated amonia(sp) levels. $3000. later and still no answers I drew the line at putting her through a painful and stressful spinal tap. The doctor sent us home with phenobarbital 2x daily which has her so lethargic and wobbly along with the excessive drinking and eating that I am concerned about keeping her on it. He also perscribled strong antibiotics and lactulose to try to lower the amonia level. To date she hasn’t had another seizure that I know of but she is stil so wobbly she can’t move around much and has stopped grooming herself; leaving it to me which I don’t mind and seems to make her happy as she purrs contendedly.
I had started to try several different types of healthy food for her and nothing seemed to stick until I gave her Natural Balance and that’s when these sympton’s seem to have started and culminated with the seizures. I took the last opened can with me to the hospital just in case it might be helpful, but of course they don’t even begin to have the facilities to test something like that and the food quickly deteriated. I wish now I had frozen it until I could figure out what to do.
Carolyn,
After I posted my last comments, I searched for homopathic treatments. I found a website that advertised a natural treatment for seizures in cats and dogs. http://www.nativeremedies.com. Then I clicked on “For Pets”, then there is a column of illnesses on the left and I clicked on “Epilepsy/Seizures” and I ordered the PetAlive EaseSure for seizures..it was $29.99 + S & H which is nothing compared to the nearly $3,500 I’ve spent on him this year…also got no real answers from tests. I just got it in the mail today, thank god because he had 2 seizures on Saturday, so I went home at lunch to give him a dose. I mixed 3 drops it in just a few teaspoons of water, put it in a syringe and squirted it in his mouth. You are supposed to give it 3 times a day. Will let you know how/if it works. But in answer to your first question, no you aren’t the only one who thinks this is so unusual, I certainly do. I keep thinking there must be something causing it (food? household product?). However I also rescued a diabetic cat over a year ago and he does not have seizures and they both eat the same food. It’s very frustrating.
Scruffey, my 15 year old cat, has diebates and is on insulin. She is holding her weight and doing very good. She is a house cat that never goes outside. Yesterday at 4:00pm, I used Advantage Flee Drops on her. At 2:30am, she was vomiting small drops of white foam. At about 3:30 am, she had a siezure. After we both calmed down, I bathed her and tryed to remove the flee drop. Help. What do I do now. She seems to be better at this time.
kk
KK, I would get her to the vet immediately, or call them. Who knows what effect flea drops have on diabetic cats…it may have effected her blood surgar level which is dangerous, as I’m sure you already know. Wish I could be more help but I live in the desert area in California and there are no fleas here….no need for flea treatment. Hope all goes well!
I have a 9 month old Russian blue. Two wks after his vaccines he developed 105 fever. Given clavamox. 2 months later he was neutered and given shots. 20 days later his hind legs became almost paralyzed. Vet put him on Prednisone. All blood tests were normal. After 3 wks he seemed much better. Off Pred. for 2 wks. and sudden onset of paralysis again this time worse. He is now on Pred and Anirobe (3 wks). Can struggle walking like someone with Palsy. Eats out of my hand. This morning he had a seizure (I didn’t realize what was happening - I thought he was dying. 15 minutes later he was sitting up. Does anyone have any idea what this whole sad illness is? I was told to go to a neurologist - More than I can ever afford. Does Pred cause seizures. I would do anything I could for this beautiful kind Russian Blue kitten - Little Harry. Any thoughts would be so appreciated for my little boy!
Lynne,
How SAD! If I were you I’d find another vet. I’ve heard that kittens can have adverse reactions to vaccinations. It sounds like his problems started just after them. I’m certainly no expert (or vet) but my cat who is having seizures is and has been on Pred for a couple of years (5 mg per day) so that’s a real good question. He was given Pred for allergies because he was coughing so hard that he was spitting up blood and the vet thought it was allergies. I’m going to ask her if she thinks it could be causing seizures. Try going to the website I listed in comment #49 above. There is a lot of info there about seizures and also about illnesses that seem to effect Russain Blue cats. Good luck to you and Harry and if I find out anything more, I’ll post. What’s amazing to me is that it’s so hard to nail down a cause for these seizures.
Just a note that I’m still following the discussion here and have nothing new to report about Macy. She has been on Phenobarbital since February and has not had a seizure yet and is otherwise doing ok. Keep the stories and experiences coming and hopefully we can all benefit.
My poor cat Sasha was perfectly healthy and seizure free UNTIL I HAD HER VACCINATED ON FEB 25TH, 2006! After an hr wait the vet injected what was supposed to be vaccines and then myseriously injected a steroid shot! Dexmethasone! ….. Later that same day Sasha stroked out and fell off table approx 3 ft!
She was paddling violently, foaming at mouth and had blood in her mouth.. from biting her tongue due to fall! We thought for sure she was dying!….. Her hair on face and some on body had grey all through it ….. I had to hospitalized her twice .. they just hooked up IV’S! She started having seizures more frequently 2-3 month!…. So I had to get her on PHENOBARBITAL … it has really helped! … after 6 months and not seeing any seizures I thought I would cut the dose back by only a 1/4 less and within 2 days she stroked out again! So now she’s back to 1/2 tablet daily at night only… I haven’t seen any seizures… This is less than I should give but I’m trying to control with the least amount of drug if possible because too much can lead to liver failure! Iv’e taken her to 3 other vets for x-rays, bloodwork and feline leuk test … negative! None can tell me anything is wrong!…. her bloodwork is normal except for the platelet count is a little low! She’s such a sweet heart and sleeps with us every night! Some other vets have asked me why she was given a steroid shot on top of the vaccines……. They think that it’s all the vets fault for her cause of seizures…. I swear the shot was huge .. nothing like what cats vaccines are usually only 1 ml!
I agree she was given the wrong stuff and vet was trying to cover it up! Now it’s ruined my cats life and mine! I feel horrible for this and wish I would of never went! This vet was of course in total denial and acted like she cared less!…. Rockwell pet clinic in oklahoma caused this!
I am so glad I found this site. My 10 year old cat started to have seizures about 4 month ago. Blood and urine tests didn’t show anything unusual. The vet thinks brain tumor and I am hoping it is just a food allergy. The whole problem started when I played around with her food. I gave her certain dry food and wet food brands for years but then switched to a different diet because not every store sold her dry food and her kind of wet food was recently on the black list of contaminated food (not the particular brand as far as I know). Her seizures started when I played around with her food. Ok this may be coincidence but… So I went back so her old dry and wet food brands. I may be going crazy but when I feed her only the dry food, out of convenience, she has seizures once a day. Since 4 days she only gets her wet food, so far no seizure. In any case I will pick up some medication today but I am not sure if I should give it to her.
Just some thoughts
Just an update - We have had Hobie on a quarter of a tab of Phenobarbital twice a day since the middle of April. She is doing well- no more seizures. Her blood tests were good at the 2 week mark so we don’t go back to the vets for 6 months. From time to time, she still doesn’t jump good. She will miss her jump target occasionally. Sometimes, she will get on the hamper or chair and want us to get her down. All in all, I am pleased to have no more seizures. The Pill Pockets are the ticket for us. She thinks she is getting a treat! Thanks for all of the information and encouragement!
Can anyone tell me what they’re paying for a prescription of Phenobarbital per month? My cat has been having monthly seizures since February and now they’re becoming weekly. Unfortuanately, I’m not in the financial situation to put her through testing. I feel terrible about it and am not sure what to do. Thanks to everyone who has taken time to contribute to this page. It’s the most helpful info I’ve found online so far.
@andrea: When we had Macy on the Phenobarbital originally a couple years ago, I was getting the prescription filled at a CVS (national drug store chain in case you haven’t heard of it). It took some wrangling, but they were able to do pet meds and it was costing about $8/month. I had them do liquid so that my wife could handle it better when I wasn’t around — Macy is good with pills but Michelle was less willing to stick her fingers in Macy’s mouth than I was
Now, I’m getting liquid from a local pharmacy and it’s like $38/month. I want to go back to CVS, but I need to call the vet and have them write a script, if they will. They wouldn’t do it initially, but I think I just have to explain the situation a bit better.
thanks for the info, justin. is the medication administed daily? i’m thinking of going to the vet to ask about a prescription for simon, but am concerned about consistency with summer vacations coming up. i’ve heard it’s bad to miss even one dose.
@andrea: It’s administered every twelve hours, every day. I usually do about 7am and 7pm. It’s become a real pain because Michelle and I travel out of state at least one weekend a month, and usually more, so we have been boarding Macy a lot, where she was fine for 2-3 days herself in the past. We’ve been trying to limit boarding to once/month as well as getting her better at traveling in the car so when possible, we can bring her with us.
im so sorry that your cat is goin through a rough time recently somthing happened to our cat and we dont know what we thought it might be a seizure but were not for sure her back legs arnt moving but her front paws will she just had her second batch of kittens and well we thought it might be somthing with that but than we saw your cat we kinda still think it might be a seizure but we dont know she was fine earlyer so now were tryin to figure out what it is if you have any information that will help us please email us thanx
My 2 yr old siamese male had a seizure today.
Since he is un-neutered, I had him in his large cage in our sunroom.
I heard thrashing…..he was on his side, legs moving and saliva.
No urinating. It was just about a minute. MY female siamese just stared at him.
He was OK, after, I held him for awhile, he was back to his normal self.
He had eaten his usual Fancy Feast about 5 hrs earlier…and always has his usual dry food.
The only change, we had used him as a stud about 5 days ago & he may have eaten the female’s food.
I will call the Vet tomorrow…..so scary, because he is so young.
I thought it only happened in older cats.
We were going to get him fixed next month…now I’m afraid to have him put under.
Any advice is appreciated.
To; MICHELLE | May 25, 2007 at 12:52 pm
You have probably spent over a thousand dollars on vet bills. Have you thought about trying to recover this by going to small claims court? I urge you to do this. Also, please (!) report this vet to the American Vet Assoc. This is very serious and should NOT go unreported. Please don’t turn away like many other people would. Someone else’s beloved family member may be this vet’s next victim. You may be able to prevent it.
Concerning the cost of prescription drugs….our 17 year old cat didn’t tolerate the phenobarbitol and is on diazepam, the generic for valium. The monthly cost is $8.00 (every 12 hours she gets 1/4 of a 2 mg people pill from Target). More than 3 months now and she’s back to her old routines…We had to see 3 vets before anything helped, so hang in there, everyone…..
Concerning phenobarbitol. We pay $15.80 per month for 30 tablets from the vet. We give them in quarters - so a pill lasts 2 days. I tried cutting them with a knife & discovered the pill cutters (which use a razor blade) are more effective. We were told not to miss a dosage or to try to quit giving it to her as that would cause seizures. We do have to go for a blood test every 6 months which is about $50 I think.
It’s so frustrating not knowing what is causing so many cats to have seizures! It could be brain tumors, food related, epilepsy, who knows? One thing that blows me away is that the VETS don’t know either! Unfortunate update on Merlin…had to let him go last week. He had a seizure that didn’t end. After witnessing about 2 minutes of non-stop seizing we wrapped him in a towel, put him in his carrier (important to do that) and rushed him to the vet which is about 10 minutes away. The seizure continued, it was horrible and he was screeching. They had to give him laughing gas and anesthesia to stop it. The vet spent about half an hour checking him (we were not allowed to see him during this time which was probably a good thing). When she came out, not good news. Said that if he was her 15-yr. old cat that she would not put him through that again. It was torture saying goodbye to our baby but the torture he was going through was much worse. We got to enter the room and say goodbye but since he was still under anesthesia, he was alaready unconcious. The vet said that for every witnessed seizure a cat has, there are probably 2-3 that are not witnessed. The holistic drops I started giving him seemed to work for a couple of days but obviously did not help in our case. I’m not trying to bum anyone out, I know he’s in a wonderful happy place now with all my other pets who have gone before…just thought this might help someone who may experience a similar situation. I’ll tell you one thing though, I will consider making my own cat food for my other cat from now on.
Justin - thank you so much for this site/blog. Like others here I was googling and found your site.
Our story - Munchkin is 20 years old living out the winter of her life with my husband and I - between this past sunday and monday, in a 14 hour time frame she had 4 seizures - Tuesday nothing, that I witnessed, until 10:30 pm at which point she had one every 20 mins until 3:30 this morn. I was up with her all night to comfort her and be there with her afterwards. We have an appt today at 3:30.
Her episodes are different from what most have posted - it starts with her raising her head like she hears something, then her head trembles slightly (like Katherine Hepburn), then she stands up and starts circling like she is chasing her tail and twitching and tinkles alittle. Then she falls on her side and convulses some more. When it subsides she is panting like a dog (body overheating?) and then lays down limp and falls asleep. Last night after several of the episodes she started crying, when I picked her up she would stop immediately. So instead, for the rest of the night, I picked her up immediately once she stopped convulsing and there was no more crying.
This morn she has 3 already - 2 back to back and one 40 min after the last - she is sleeping right now.
A little more background to help those in the future - llast year we had two different issues - the first was out of the blue she started crying for no “apparent’ reason at various times of the day - when we would go to her, talk to her, touch her, pick her up - whichever - she would stop in mid cry - took her to the vet - they called it senility, no meds - it comes and goes. It’s been gone for a coupld months until the seizures. Issue 2 - after aseveral days of rain and cold she lost use of her hind legs and was dragging herself around. If she was put upright she could walk with the help of a wall or my hand on her hip. Vet gave her steroids and she was able to stand and walk on her own.
I am aware of the inevitable and broke down in hysterics last night thinking about it. I lost another loved one several years ago and thought the tears would never stop.
Justin and everyone who has posted - thank you again for posting and sharing. Sorry about the long post.
@Gail: With that many seizures (more than one in a short time span, actually), according to what I’ve been told, you should go to an ER as soon as possible, if you have one near you. Glad you get in for an appointment today, though — best of luck.
Sorry Wendy…that’s the hardest, but sometimes the kindest thing you can do your animals…when they’re not enjoying life anymore, but just dragging through one day after another, being miserable…..that’s not fun for them….and you’re right, the cause is often never known….and finding the cause itself is stressful, and sometimes life-threatening, especially for the older cat. All we can do is to try to keep them comfortable……..
My one year old cat just had his first seizure tonight. Included all the usual symptoms, including urination and defecation. Since first onset, he has had at least 3 or 4 seizures. I have been waiting out the night with him to take him to the vet first thing in the morning. My question is: most of the cats mentioned here are older. Should I be concerned that my cat is only one year old and is already having seizures? It should be noted that he has already been treated for a serious bronchial infection and acute anxiety. Some words of comfort or advice would go a long way here….
Thanks.
I am as alarmed as Casey. My cat, Mason, is only 9 months old and he has had 2 seizures so far. One night I woke up to him in a frozen state and excessively panting. When I cradled him he seemed to snap out of it. Last night he had a much more severe seizure and I awoke to find him in the corner, again excessively panting, but this time surrounded by vomit and feces. I FLIPPED out and rushed him to the emergency vet. They said they would have to do extensive blood work and a MRI to figure out what exactly is causing the seizures….adding up to a $800 vet bill. I don’t have that kind of $$$ and I am at a loss as to what I should do.
My kitty, Camilla, is 7 years old, fat(17 lbs)long haired, and very affectionate. She is averaging one seizure a day. Her sister from t he same litter, Lolita, who is thin, short-haired and wacky active, shares the same diet, and does not have seizures. they both violently, throw up hairballs, in which I have tried to alter their diet to control. Four years ago, Camilla was similar in many ways to her sister and completely healthy. When our home caught on fire, she was trapped for a time, then rescued by firemen, who brought her out panting and bleeding from the mouth. She was treated and released with a clean bill of health by our vet. It was afterward, she began to gain weight, and a year afterward, her seizures began, intermittently. Because we owed the vet a lot from her past bill, I couldn’t get them to agree to do the tests without my paying a percentage of it. All I can do is comfort her through them. I wondered, can I get phenobarb for seizures for my kitty without the vet doing the tests?
Hey all, I’ve been googling away on finding answers to these seizures and was lucky enough to stumble upon this site. Our cat Yasu, I believe he’s a red point siamese, has been having seizures for about a year now. He only has the seizures when he’s sleeping. And then out of the blue, BAM, he’ll flip around, twist, and tense up right out of his sleep. He is just over 1 1/2 old. Like many here, I went to numerous vets with no luck. The seizures started out very small (quick, light twist) but have progressively grown worse (rolling, and twisitng for minutes on end, and then urinating on himself). The first vet I mentioned it to, when the seizures first started, didn’t know his head from his you know what, and told me he was probably having dreams. After I was told that, I went searching for a vet that could provide some real help and not just a guess. The second vet did a couple of blood tests, and everything came back clear, unfortunately these vets don’t tell you the bill until after the tests are done so I ended up paying over $300 for two or three quick tests. Yasu was not a happy cat after the tests, and I felt jipped out of a fair amount of money. Things went on for awhile, and the seizures were the same, again, just a quick. light turn, he was dazed for just a little while and then he would be fine. It wasn’t a horrific sight, it would only last a few seconds and then it was over. As time went on though the seizures began lasting longer. My wife and I then decided to take him to yet another vet to hopefully find an answer. Once we arrived, we were talked down to, and treated like we didn’t know what we were talking about. Being the owners and seeing what our cat had gone through all these months, it was quite irritating to have this vet be so condescending towards us. He ran a blood test and called us the next day saying that our cat had the FIP virus and we should think about putting him down. We were quite devastated, but sure as heck did not want to deal with this vet again. We opted to try one more vet, who looked him over and assured us he did not have FIP. That was a relief, but he was still having seizures and they were getting worse. The new vet told us she would do some research on the seizures, especially since they were only occuring when he slept. When she got back to us, she said it looked as though it was some sort of sleeping disorder. Well that was somewhat comforting, but we were still skeptical. Just a note, none of the vets had prescribed us anything for the seizures yet. It was a week or two after I had talked to our most recent vet that Yasu had a few more serious seizures. I contacted the vet, and told her I would really appreciate getting some sort of medication to help alleviate the seizures, she said she would order it for me. Well a few weeks later and still no medication. My wife and I were also in the process of moving so everything was quite hectic. I then called the vet again and asked if she had ordered the meds. Her assistant told me that they were still waiting on the order. That’s when I lost my cool and told them I had been waiting several weeks and asked why the hell was it so difficult to get these meds, and that I needed them ASAP because of seizures were becoming worse. By this time, Yasu was having seizures more frequently, they were lasting much longer, they were becoming more violent, and he was starting to urinate on himself during the episodes. In anycase, the assistant then asked if I had a local pharmacy and I told them Walgreens, and they got the meds for me that day! Unbelievable. I’m more than certain they were trying to order them from somewhere so they could get a commission on the sale of the prescription. Who knows. The vet prescribed Clonazepam. We started Yasu on the medicine immediately. That was in August. We were giving him a half a pill in the morning and the other half in the evening. The drug seemed to be working up until about two weeks ago. He’s back to having his seizures again, and it’s horrible to see him go through these episodes. I’m going to line up an appointment for him tomorrow (Monday 11/05/2007) and see what the vet says. My wife and I are at wits end at the moment, and like so many others here, are hesitant to pay thousands of dollars for an MRI or other pricey tests and find out that either they couldn’t find anything, or that it is a brain tumor that could costs thousands more. We love our little Yasu so much, but might have to allow him to go to a better place due to the consistency and severity of the seizures. I’m glad I happened upon this site tonight. My wife and I have been praying that God gives us the ability to do what is right for Yasu. It’s not easy, and even while I write this the tears begin welling up. I apologize for the lengthiness of this post, I just hope it will provide some information to anyone else who is in a similar situation. These seizures in cats seems to be a growing problem, and hopefully more research will be conducted to find out what exactly is the root cause. Thanks to everyone for all their posts!