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xeneminie

Seizure in cats

Xeneminie
11 years ago

In early August my 10 month old (at the time) Ragdoll had a seizure. He was laying down on a chair, then suddenly started running around very quickly, then dropped to one side and had full body convulsions. He bit the side of his mouth so there was a bit of blood, and urinated during the episode, it lasted about a minute and then he came about. We took him to the vet straight away, he had to stay over night and blood tests we're done.

The next morning he came back home and we recieved the results. There was nothing wrong with his resultst and physical exam came back all clean too. So he wasnt put on any medication.

Then roughly two months later, on 2nd of October, he had a second seizure. Again he was laying on the floor when suddenly he ran off very fast again, I had a very bad feeling so asked someone who lives with me to call the vet straight away, he again after running around fell on his side and had full body convulsions, with some saliva and urination again, this time the seizure only lasted about 30 seconds, once he came about we again took him to the vet.

His temperature was high and they kept him over night, he had Nuroclav administrated, blood tests were taken which again all came back clean, so we this time ordered a toxicology tests to be ran on his blood, and they came back clean too.

The vet allowed our kittie to come back home but for 3 days he had to take nuroclav in the morning and evenings.

the vet said its most likely primary epilepsy, and episodes need to be more frequent before we should start medication...

Only now I'm in pieces sometimes, I'm so worried, I keep checking on our kittie, and if im not at home I call home to see how he is going.

So many different sites out there for this subject but it is all so confusing.

Can my kittie have 2 seizures and never have one again? Will putting him on medication stop seizures completely? How often is too often for seizures to happen? What can I do to minimize the risk? I need so many answeres, or just hear from people who have had similar if not the same issue. We love our boy, and its so painfull to see him like that, and we're so worried, just praying it wont happen again.

The doctors said he is a very healthy cat, and what we feed him is great and he is well looked after, he does not go outside and we have no plants in the house.

Comments (4)

  • jomuir
    11 years ago

    No experience with seizures, but I'm sorry to read about your Ragdoll's problems. I hope he can be treated for this. I'd be beside myself too if it were my cat.

  • lzrddr
    11 years ago

    epilepsy is a very common disease in both dogs and cats and I have treated hundreds of these patients, most with excellent results (not all, though). Usually for cats phenobarb works well as a single drug treatment, twice a day and though some cats are a bit 'stoned' for the first week or so, most return to totally normal behavior and activity. The dose usually started is a low end dose and then increased if the patient continues to have 'too frequent' seizures... what does that mean? It means that all epilepsy cases are assumed to still have a seizure now and then (many thankfully never have another seizure while on meds), but there is an 'acceptable' seizure frequency (usually one mild one every 2-3 months is considered exceptable, though it would of course be nice if no patients ever had another seizure again).

    Most seizures do not adversely affect cats or dogs unless they are extremely violent or last for a long time (meaning over a few minutes). Long seizures can result in high body temperature, sometimes so high (over 107F) that the brain will start to be come damaged. . This is why you should always rush your pet in if they are seizing continuously. But we rarely ask our clients to bring in their pets if the seizure was a short one and if they seem OK afterwards.. there is little we are going to do about it afterwards and blood work is almost always normal. Another exception to this non-intervention is if your pet is having 'cluster seizures; (a lot in a row- several in a short period or even in a day).. then we recommend hospitalizing and monitoring closely so we can give injectable medications instead of oral ones to helps stop the cluster.

    So to answer your questions, putting your cat on phenobarb MAY, and with luck, WILL prevent all future seizures, but there is certainly no guarantee. Seizures are 'too often' if they are violent (then even one is too often) or more frequent than one every 1-2 months. There is nothing else you can do to minimize the risk of seizures other than medication. You can minimize the risk of secondary problems during a seizure by making sure your pet cannot fall into a swimming pool or down a long flight of stairs by keeping your pet away from such areas at all times (hard to do keep cats from stairs, though). Seizures can look painful, but from what most people that have epilepsy say, it is usually not painful.. .just scary and eventually annoying (when they are finaliy used to having them)... and disorienting.

    I have no idea what nuroclav is... must be either a misspelling or some brand name of another drug (maybe a brand name for midazolam or valium I have not heard of?).

  • Xeneminie
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hello, thank you for your replies.

    Today our kitty had another seizure, he didnt do a mad dash and he didnt urinate either today. He just foamed at the mouth.

    We of course took our baby boy into the vets and they told us that we can start using medication, BUT, there are still few things we havent explored to eliminate anything else, so we have decided to go and get brain scans done and liver test's to see if thats causing them.

    Vet said the only thing she is worried about, that if it is the liver, then giving him epilepsy medication could be fatal.

    We're heading 500km south to Perth at the end of November for further testing.

    Today's seizure seemed to be a lot more calm, and we knew exactly what to do this time. Just very scary.

  • jomuir
    11 years ago

    thanks for the update x. I'm glad the vet warned you of the med risk if he has liver problems. But it is worrying, we had a dog who would pass out from syncope related to heart murmur, and the episodes were disturbing. Good luck, hoping for a good ending for you & your ragdoll.

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