Nightmares Or Seizures?

[Kefa]

Three times in the last six months Homer has been sleeping peacefully, then suddenly jerks himself awake, and runs to his "safe place" in the closet. When he comes out he is scared, walking low to the ground, his tail a bit puffy, and cautiously investigating everything. The first time it happened he was in his bed on top of the dresser, and he and the bed fell off. He wouldn't use the bed for six weeks after that. Then it happened on his cat tree, and he quit using that for awhile. It just happened again while we were on the couch, and I got a good feeling for what happened. His body jerked a few times, then he jumped up and ran away. He seems to think something attacked him. I checked the entire couch and found nothing. Other than this weirdness, he is perfectly fine and has never done anything remotely seizure like when he is awake. He has been in the house since I found him at 8 weeks, and this behavior just started as far as I know. He is scared of other people, the vacuum cleaner, and the broom and mop.

 

[susanm9006]

It doesn’t sound like a seizure but you should video it and show it to your vet. My guess is that he is either having scary dreams or sleeps so soundly that he startles when he wakes up.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Is it like this?

 

[neely]

I agree it does not sound like seizure activity. It's possible it's some type of fear anxiety or stress that causes him to run to his safe place in the closet. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time he saw the vet?

Here is an Article about why your cat may be acting strangely that may be helpful for you: Cat Acting Strangely? Here's What It Could Mean

Best of luck, please keep us posted on Homer's progress.

 

[Kefa]

Thanks guys. He was just in for his checkup in April, and he was fine. At that time, it had only happened once, and I didn't mention it. He doesn't move around a lot like that cat in the video, there isn't much time to tape it. It's very fast, he jerks, wakes up, jumps up, and runs away. He doesn't move a lot in normal sleep, maybe a paw twitch here and there. I can't think of anything that scares him but the vacuum cleaner, and that is only when it's turned on, and he doesn't seem to be afraid of it after an episode, he is afraid of the place he was sleeping. He has had one encounter with a bee, and one with a scorpion, so I guess he could be dreaming about being stung?
Other than this weird new thing, his behavior, his appetite, his energy level, all are very normal, he has his routine and We both live by it.
I had a dog that had very small seizures that I am ashamed to say I didn't notice, and didn't even realize they were seizures until she started having grand mal seizures and I felt horrible about it.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Sleep twitching is very different from seizers in my experience. I had a kitten before Felix that had seizers often. She was unresponsive. That's how I knew. With sleep twitching, I usually just poke or call out their name and they wake up. But her seizers had her unresponsive, on her back, and her eyes rolled up. I don't think that sounds like what's happening to your cat.