Scared - Advice needed

Hello everyone, brand new member here.. I'm rather concerned about my cat, Buddy. I am very willing to bring him in, but I'd like some advice first if anyone can help me out.

He's a great little guy, 15 years old. He has prior health problems, about 5 years ago he nearly died.. He was missing for several days during a very warm summer week, and when we finally found him(under our deck) he was very weak. We got him in ASAP and were told his liver, I think, was not functioning properly. I remember being told he was likely going to die, several times. But by a miracle, he pulled through. About a year later(I think) he ended up with blood parasites and needed a transfusion. Since then we've kept him indoors. He hasn't been too happy about it, but healthy for the most part.. Overweight and bored, mostly.

Recently though he's been sneezing a lot, and last night something strange happened that has me quite worried. Rather suddenly he started making a noise, and when I looked over to him he seemed to be convulsing. It was like he was going to throw up, but didn't. It took place over maybe 5 seconds. Immediately after, he was himself, looking curiously at something near by(bubbles in a humidifier). He swallowed a bit, but he seemed absolutely fine after it occurred.

His brother died very suddenly about a year ago. Absolutely no health conditions, that we knew of, and just lifted his head up one day, stopped breathing and passed away. No response to resuscitation. This definitely came to mind when it happened, though really it wasn't anything the same.

Am I overreacting here? Could he possibly have had a seizure? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Hello and welcome.

I don't know what it could have been. Yes, cats can have seizures but it's hard telling if that's what it was.

I think it would be best to call the vet and get Buddy checked out.

At 15, has he had bloodwork done lately? I would suggest that ...it's easier to catch things early that way as cats hide illness very well.

Originally Posted by Phanoa

Rather suddenly he started making a noise, and when I looked over to him he seemed to be convulsing. It was like he was going to throw up, but didn't. It took place over maybe 5 seconds. Immediately after, he was himself, looking curiously at something near by(bubbles in a humidifier). He swallowed a bit, but he seemed absolutely fine after it occurred.

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Was it that he was hunched over kind of gagging and retching but nothing coming up? Or was anything else going on with his body that made you think of convulsions?

The reason I ask is that we went through the hunched/gagging behaviour that I mentioned with Radar recently when he was ill. What I thought was retching was actually explained to me by my vet as bad coughing. Radar was also swallowing a lot, and we hadn't really noticed because he is not much of a talker, but he had also lost his voice. His poor little throat was very red and raw, and he was quite ill with a fever. It cleared up with antibiotics and some drugs to reduce his fever.

I don't think you're over-reacting at all by being concerned, I would get him a vet appointment as soon as possible and describe what happened to the vet. Better to be safe than sorry! Good luck for the little fella

Thanks for the replies, and the welcome. "Convulsing" is probably the wrong word to use, now that I think about it.

He tends to go through the motions of coughing up a hairball, but rarely actually does. I never gave it much thought. It seemed like the same thing, only his movements were much faster. After, I do recall him having a hard time meowing. A sore throat, maybe.