First time seizures in 5yo cat

Meow918

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Hello. I have come to this site many times over the years and found a wealth of information and helpful people here, so here I am again looking for any input. I've read about every medical article there is out there so I would love some "average" human input. I have 5 cats, they are my world. The oldest, Bill, is a 5yo neutered male. I have had him since he was a very young kitten and got him from a trusted friend. He has had no major health problems in the past. However he has always been a bit "weird" for lack of a better word. Different than any other cats I've had, he's never liked to be held, scratched, or touched for long periods. Almost like he is hyper sensitive. I give him his space and occasionally he'll come sit in my lap and enjoy head pats. Anyway, 3 days ago, he had a full blown seizure that lasted around 30 seconds. I have never seen a seizure in a cat before, but it was unmistakable. He was sitting on the back of the toilet watching me do my makeup as usual, when his whole body went rigid, he fell to the floor, limbs stretched and stiff, and violently shook while foaming at the mouth. As soon as it started it seemed it was over. He "came to", and acted totally fine. Went to eat his food, was purring and playing. His behavior was completely normal after that including eating, drinking, and using the litter. I freaked out, everything I looked up online said 1 short duration seizure may not be cause for panic, if it doesn't happen again. I said I would wait and see what happened by Friday (tomorrow) and take him then. But then, today as soon as I got home from work he had another one.
So I took him to the animal hospital, they did $600 worth of tests, and were completely stumped. He had no obvious signs of poisoning, no head trauma, xrays were good, blood work and urine were all normal. They said for me to take him home and I'm coming back on Saturday when they will have a specialist vet in to discuss if it has happened again, and if so whether to do either more extensive (and expensive) tests like a CT or MRI, or to just put him on an anti-seizure regimen. I am just beside myself. It was horrifying to watch, I felt so helpless. I am racking my brain to think of ANYTHING external that could have caused it. He hasn't been outside, his brothers are all fine, I keep a fairly clean house with no easily accessible chemicals or toxins. I give him Revolution monthly and have for the last 3 years, and he is due for his next round this weekend. I did order their last bag of food off of Amazon instead of getting it at Walmart like normal, so I have thrown that bag out in case for some crazy reason that is the cause. So now I'm pouring over medical articles and any information I can find on cats with seizures, and everything says its extremely rare for cats to have them at all, and even more rare for them to have without an obvious cause like poisoning or trauma. I did read that epilepsy in cats has an average age onset of 4 years old, which he just turned 5. But would epilepsy happen that rapidly with 2 seizures in 3 days? It seems unlikely, but again I don't know. I am scared to leave him alone so I've taken off work tomorrow to wait for the Saturday vet. Hopefully we can find answers but it looks unlikely. So any advice, experiences, input, or just a kind word would be much appreciated. Thank you.
 

pearl99

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I can only give my one experience, I had a cat with seizures. This was in about 2005. Per my vet it's not uncommon for cats to have seizures. He had the first one in the middle of the night sleeping on my bed, I took him to the emergency vet. My vet said they can happen just once, and to watch for it to happen again, which it did.

He was then put on phenobarbital (a very cheap medication) and he was on that for the rest of his life.
We didn't do CT scan, MRI- but did do blood work, which was all good. He was fine on the med, no more seizures.
So, it is treatable and there may not be a cause found.
If the medication had not worked they would have looked for more causes with further tests. But it worked!

Hang in there! That's the info I have, and keep us updated!
 

minish

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Sounds like epilepsy did they check for that? Epileptic cats can live good long lives please don't be frightened.
 
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Meow918

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Thank you guys! So I was able to go in and talk to the other vet just now. They said they ran the grandaddy test of tests on all of his blood and urine and since everything was completely normal except slightly elevated stress levels (likely from being at the vet), he doesn't recommend going all out for an MRI or CT, that it likely is just epilepsy. Which I guess is good and bad news because there's no easy answer or treatment. He said they try not to medicate with epilepsy unless its really affecting his quality of life, so i need to start a journal of everytime it happens, how many seconds, what he was doing just before, etc. and to keep them updated to discuss possible treatment if it happens too much. I do feel somewhat relieved, that he's not been poisoned or has a fatal injury/condition. I appreciate your responses.
 
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Meow918

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I guess I shouldn't have said "just" epilepsy as I realize this is still serious.
 

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Monitor very carefully in some sort of a journal so you see a pattern, if there is one, just as they told you. Include anything else that is different with him just in case it has a bearing on what is happening.

I agree with the idea of not doing the CT or MRI right now and even going ahead with pheno if necessary. Make sure you get very specific information on the administration of it as that is one crucial piece with its use.
 

pearl99

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Also, my kitty always peed with a seizure. If you find a cat puddle it could be because Bill had a seizure.
Mine needed medication to come out of the first two, he kept seizing till I got to the ER vet and they gave him an injection- so if he doesn't stop don't be alarmed (although you're going to be alarmed), just get treatment.
He can have a long and good and healthy life if this continues, but will need medication if it comes to that.
 
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Thank you guys! So I was able to go in and talk to the other vet just now. They said they ran the grandaddy test of tests on all of his blood and urine and since everything was completely normal except slightly elevated stress levels (likely from being at the vet), he doesn't recommend going all out for an MRI or CT, that it likely is just epilepsy. Which I guess is good and bad news because there's no easy answer or treatment. He said they try not to medicate with epilepsy unless its really affecting his quality of life, so i need to start a journal of everytime it happens, how many seconds, what he was doing just before, etc. and to keep them updated to discuss possible treatment if it happens too much. I do feel somewhat relieved, that he's not been poisoned or has a fatal injury/condition. I appreciate your responses.
I went through the same thing with my 10-year-old girl. Her 1st seizure was back in December of 2019. Then she had another one a month later, in January. Vet found no obvious cause and, to my knowledge, she hasn't had one since. She loses her bladder during her seizures, so for a good while I was checking for pee spots when I'd come home from work, as it's possible she's had seizures when no one was home. But I never found anything. My vet told me the seizures could continue or they could stop as suddenly as they came on. She has no signs of brain damage and acts completely normal otherwise. Well, for as normal as that crazy cat can be, lol.

So far so good. It's a scary thing to watch, but with her 2nd seizure I wasn't as frightened and stayed with her to make sure she wouldn't injure herself on anything until the seizure passed. Again, to my knowledge, she hasn't had anymore seizures since her 2nd one in January.
 
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Meow918

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Wonderful to hear your personal experiences guys, thank you so much. It's been over 48 hours since his last one, so I'm hoping maybe we just had a weird small cluster that has gone away and will stay away for awhile. I appreciate you all being here for me.
 
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Meow918

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Also I will definitely take your advice and be watching for pee puddles, or anything else that seems off when I get home from work or wake up.
 

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I would stop the revolution to be safe. One of the major side effects is seizures. It may have built up somehow to toxic levels. His blood tests should have shown something, but maybe not if they weren't specifically testing for that. Topicals should not be used routinely unless you actually see ticks or fleas on the cat. I applied this to a cat, after applying it to others with no problems, and all his hair fell out, it was awful!
 

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Wonderful to hear your personal experiences guys, thank you so much. It's been over 48 hours since his last one, so I'm hoping maybe we just had a weird small cluster that has gone away and will stay away for awhile. I appreciate you all being here for me.
My kitty had the second one 6 months later, so be aware it can be awhile if it is going to restart. Just keep up your vigilance. Hope for no more.
 

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I would stop the revolution to be safe. One of the major side effects is seizures. It may have built up somehow to toxic levels. His blood tests should have shown something, but maybe not if they weren't specifically testing for that. Topicals should not be used routinely unless you actually see ticks or fleas on the cat. I applied this to a cat, after applying it to others with no problems, and all his hair fell out, it was awful!
Oh my gosh, I'd forgotten all about that. In my quest to check the house to make sure Ally didn't have access to any toxins or household medications, etc, the Resolution didn't enter my mind. Mostly because it's been probably a couple of years since I used to put it on my cats monthly, but I stopped giving it to them. I wonder if it can have effects a year or two later, even after you stop using it? I wouldn't think so, but I guess you never know.
 
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Meow918

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Update, hello. I had hoped I wouldn't need to return as I was excited this morning that it had been almost a whole week since his last seizure. I told myself that the short cluster must have been spontaneous from some external factor not shown on tests, that was now out of Bill's system, or it was a short epileptic episode that wouldn't return for hopefully several months. The vet even texted me this morning (can I just say how grateful I am to have found this specialist vet, she really seems to care, has messaged me several times on her personal cell to check in), and she asked how he was doing, i said great, no seizures since the vet visit last week, I've been watching for puddles of pee and on our security cameras and have seen nothing. But then, I got home from work, and while making dinner, he had another seizure, about an hour ago. This one was his shortest yet, maybe 10 seconds. I was calmer this time and just held his head from hitting the tile until he stopped. And again, he snapped out of it and seems fine now. I am quite disheartened. I have changed out all the food bags, thrown out anything even close to capable of being a toxin in the house, cleaned like crazy, haven't given him any more revolution, hoping any of that would help. But it looks like treatment is going to be necessary. I would like to try alternative methods first, such as pet cbd, hemp oil, omega 3 fish oils, and a few other things I've read people have success with. Will keep this thread updated as it progresses. Also this weekend I am going to try to "seizure" proof the house, and put pads down on the floor around counters and places he could potentially fall off of, some guards around the window sills, and pillows beneath. It is a large concern of mine that he will be somewhere very high when he falls so I will try my best to prevent that. Also, I've noted that every single seizure so far has been around the same time of the evening almost exactly, between 6:30 - 7:30pm. So I have to wonder if that is a factor for any reason, maybe the changing from day to night does something electrical in his brain, or the excitement of mom and dad coming home at once and getting lots of attention, the tv going on, dinner starting, etc vs his quiet day alone. Thanks for all of your input and care.
 

pearl99

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Sorry to hear. Yes keep us updated on what's going on and treatment! Your vet sounds great.
 
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Meow918

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Thank you. Here's a photo of all my babes just so you can see what he looks like, he's the papa bear in the middle.
1591233270216.png
 

pearl99

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Oh my!! What adorables! Hello Bill! And everyone else!
 

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Hello. I have come to this site many times over the years and found a wealth of information and helpful people here, so here I am again looking for any input. I've read about every medical article there is out there so I would love some "average" human input. I have 5 cats, they are my world. The oldest, Bill, is a 5yo neutered male. I have had him since he was a very young kitten and got him from a trusted friend. He has had no major health problems in the past. However he has always been a bit "weird" for lack of a better word. Different than any other cats I've had, he's never liked to be held, scratched, or touched for long periods. Almost like he is hyper sensitive. I give him his space and occasionally he'll come sit in my lap and enjoy head pats. Anyway, 3 days ago, he had a full blown seizure that lasted around 30 seconds. I have never seen a seizure in a cat before, but it was unmistakable. He was sitting on the back of the toilet watching me do my makeup as usual, when his whole body went rigid, he fell to the floor, limbs stretched and stiff, and violently shook while foaming at the mouth. As soon as it started it seemed it was over. He "came to", and acted totally fine. Went to eat his food, was purring and playing. His behavior was completely normal after that including eating, drinking, and using the litter. I freaked out, everything I looked up online said 1 short duration seizure may not be cause for panic, if it doesn't happen again. I said I would wait and see what happened by Friday (tomorrow) and take him then. But then, today as soon as I got home from work he had another one.
So I took him to the animal hospital, they did $600 worth of tests, and were completely stumped. He had no obvious signs of poisoning, no head trauma, xrays were good, blood work and urine were all normal. They said for me to take him home and I'm coming back on Saturday when they will have a specialist vet in to discuss if it has happened again, and if so whether to do either more extensive (and expensive) tests like a CT or MRI, or to just put him on an anti-seizure regimen. I am just beside myself. It was horrifying to watch, I felt so helpless. I am racking my brain to think of ANYTHING external that could have caused it. He hasn't been outside, his brothers are all fine, I keep a fairly clean house with no easily accessible chemicals or toxins. I give him Revolution monthly and have for the last 3 years, and he is due for his next round this weekend. I did order their last bag of food off of Amazon instead of getting it at Walmart like normal, so I have thrown that bag out in case for some crazy reason that is the cause. So now I'm pouring over medical articles and any information I can find on cats with seizures, and everything says its extremely rare for cats to have them at all, and even more rare for them to have without an obvious cause like poisoning or trauma. I did read that epilepsy in cats has an average age onset of 4 years old, which he just turned 5. But would epilepsy happen that rapidly with 2 seizures in 3 days? It seems unlikely, but again I don't know. I am scared to leave him alone so I've taken off work tomorrow to wait for the Saturday vet. Hopefully we can find answers but it looks unlikely. So any advice, experiences, input, or just a kind word would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Percy had two seizures, the first was when my husband was making a lot of noise removing a tiled floor in the kitchen, he then had another one a while later and lost the use of one of his back legs..it was all very distressing..he was put on forte
Hello. I have come to this site many times over the years and found a wealth of information and helpful people here, so here I am again looking for any input. I've read about every medical article there is out there so I would love some "average" human input. I have 5 cats, they are my world. The oldest, Bill, is a 5yo neutered male. I have had him since he was a very young kitten and got him from a trusted friend. He has had no major health problems in the past. However he has always been a bit "weird" for lack of a better word. Different than any other cats I've had, he's never liked to be held, scratched, or touched for long periods. Almost like he is hyper sensitive. I give him his space and occasionally he'll come sit in my lap and enjoy head pats. Anyway, 3 days ago, he had a full blown seizure that lasted around 30 seconds. I have never seen a seizure in a cat before, but it was unmistakable. He was sitting on the back of the toilet watching me do my makeup as usual, when his whole body went rigid, he fell to the floor, limbs stretched and stiff, and violently shook while foaming at the mouth. As soon as it started it seemed it was over. He "came to", and acted totally fine. Went to eat his food, was purring and playing. His behavior was completely normal after that including eating, drinking, and using the litter. I freaked out, everything I looked up online said 1 short duration seizure may not be cause for panic, if it doesn't happen again. I said I would wait and see what happened by Friday (tomorrow) and take him then. But then, today as soon as I got home from work he had another one.
So I took him to the animal hospital, they did $600 worth of tests, and were completely stumped. He had no obvious signs of poisoning, no head trauma, xrays were good, blood work and urine were all normal. They said for me to take him home and I'm coming back on Saturday when they will have a specialist vet in to discuss if it has happened again, and if so whether to do either more extensive (and expensive) tests like a CT or MRI, or to just put him on an anti-seizure regimen. I am just beside myself. It was horrifying to watch, I felt so helpless. I am racking my brain to think of ANYTHING external that could have caused it. He hasn't been outside, his brothers are all fine, I keep a fairly clean house with no easily accessible chemicals or toxins. I give him Revolution monthly and have for the last 3 years, and he is due for his next round this weekend. I did order their last bag of food off of Amazon instead of getting it at Walmart like normal, so I have thrown that bag out in case for some crazy reason that is the cause. So now I'm pouring over medical articles and any information I can find on cats with seizures, and everything says its extremely rare for cats to have them at all, and even more rare for them to have without an obvious cause like poisoning or trauma. I did read that epilepsy in cats has an average age onset of 4 years old, which he just turned 5. But would epilepsy happen that rapidly with 2 seizures in 3 days? It seems unlikely, but again I don't know. I am scared to leave him alone so I've taken off work tomorrow to wait for the Saturday vet. Hopefully we can find answers but it looks unlikely. So any advice, experiences, input, or just a kind word would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Percy had 2 seizures in his life, the first was when my husband was removing a tiled floor and making a lot of noise, the second was a while later and we dont know why, but he lost the use of one of his back legs and hobbled around for the rest of his life, he was put on fortekor, heart tablets, for the rest of his life, from memory l think he was on them for over 5 years he lived to 20 years and was a lovely natured moggy..the seizures were very distressing to watch.... hope this has helped.
 
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Meow918

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Well they keep coming. He had one Thursday night, and another today. Today it lasted the usual amount of time but this time he peed. I don't know if that's a sign its getting worse or if he just happened to have a full bladder. Do you guys think trying alternative treaments like CBD, Omega 3 oils, supplements, etc are even worth a shot? I have them being delivered in the next few days but honestly at this point I'm wondering if its even worth trying or if we should just go straight to real meds. I don't want to give him snake oil and lose valuable time he could be getting better on actual drugs. Any thoughts?
 

pearl99

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Personally I would not, since he's having them with some frequency. If this was something different I would, but with seizures to me it's a serious thing and I'd go with a proven medication.
I had my cat in the past and my little pug who had seizures so have experience with it, and I'd want something I could trust to work right away.
 
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