Epilepsy is treatable. I think your kitty will do much better with the meds.
Thank you so much for this update.Update: It has been 4 days since starting Phenoleptil (Phenobarbital), the seizures have gone down quite a bit, they do come up sometimes but MUCH less frequently. The drug is making her very tired and sleepy all the time (24/7) and her balance is off. Though I heard this is a side effect of the drug when first starting it and it takes up to 2 weeks for Cats to adapt and for those initial side effects to wear off.
Have you thought about joining the above facebook group...to be getting more detailed information...and support about epilepsy in cats?You may already know about these online groups...but if not...I'll just post the link here (a big thanks to 'white shadow')
Epi-Felines (For Owners of Cats with Epilepsy or Seizures)
They definitely can. The mods here are simply fantastic.If a mod can maybe move this thread to the Cat Health section that would be great.
....
Filming her sounds good.Just to quickly add, I was wrong about the frequency of the head bob movements or sudden crisis wake up, I will confirm by filming her all day, but the phenobarbital is sedating her, that she rarely gets up at all during the day to go anywhere or do anything.
This above video does actually look better than before.Update:
video from today, the medication is not doing anything except making her zombie like. The movement It appears to happen every 20 mins or so, either awake or sleeping. When awake it is the usual head weave. When sleeping, it tends to be more viole with the sudden wake up, like you see in the first video 2 weeks ago.
To answer the twitching question, it only seems to happen while she is sleeping. The eye thing looking around happens either awake or awaking from sleeping from a episode.
That is a pretty name.Her name is Ouveà, I her to our feet at night but she always crawls back to our heads in the middle of the night, it has always been her preferred spot to sleep.
That was a great idea... to contact her breeder.We contacted her breeder the other day and asked if there is any seizure like symptoms that run in her family, but she said no she has never experienced anything like that in her lineage.
I know I am asking a lot...but could you maybe videotape Ouvea....when she is just normally Playing, or eating, or drinking water.She goes back for a blood test on the 19th of January. To me the only thing different is she is heavily sedated, but the movements are still happening at regular intervals like before. The sedation is the only thing keeping things less violent, but the underlying cause is still happening.
Excellent idea.We our going to contact the local veterinarian school this week and seek a second opinion.
Update: I have been filming Ouveà everyday, analysing the footage and marking down when the movements happen. She is still heavily sedated from the Phenobarbital. She doesn't want to play or do anything, just sleep 24/7.Hi G gpfr88
I found this thread here:Head jerking to one side
It has videos...that are similar to your cat...but not actually the same.
Tell me what you think.
The update is on page three...Post # 54.
"...Like I said before he was on Keppra and Phenobarbital which are seizure medicines, plus he was briefly on Midazolam which is a sedative. And then they put him on Prednisolone which is a steroid, in case he had inflammation in his brain. Then finally they tried the vitamin B shots and that was when he suddenly got better. Maybe it was a mix of 2 or more things, I wish I knew for sure! "
It might be worth asking your Vet, or the University vets,...about these medications...especially the Vitamin B injection.
And if your Vet thinks the Vitamin B shot..is worth a try...you can easily do that injection at home.
There is an excellent video, posted by 'Fundamentally Feline called "Administering Subcutaneous Injections".
It shows you how easy it is to give Vitamin B injections...at home.