help - cat fitting

Hi,

hoping someone can give me some advice. Last night about 2am, my 6 month old Bengal kitten woke me up having a fit by my bed. It went on for about 30 seconds and he was frothing at the mouth and then got very distressed afterwards. He was soaked with saliva. I called the emergency vets and they told me just to monitor him and bring him in if he had another fit. He didn't and hasn't since. Our routine vet surgery isn't open until tuesday am. He seems normal today so I guess it can wait til then but I don't feel comfortable not knowing what's up? I am really worried about why this happened and what could be wrong?

Help!!

If he's not had another fit I'd follow the emergency vet's advice and just keep an eye on him then take him to your regular vet on Tuesday. But if you're still worried about him do take him to be seen by the emergency vet in the meantime. How does he seem this morning?

Good luck and fingers crossed there are no more fits.

he seems totally normal but watching his wierd behaviour after the fits, he's done that before in the middle of the night and I've just thought something has freaked him out. But thinking back I think he has been having other fits, we just witnessed this one. I really thought he was going to die last night as his breathing went all funny. I managed to get thru to my regular vet and she's agreed to see him today so wish me luck. If its epilepsy I'm hoping it will be able to be managed by drugs

How scary for you I hope the vet has some answers for you.

vet thinks its epilepsy so we've got to keep a diary of everything for next week or so and then they are going to decide if needs to be started on meds or if its mild enough to manage without as apparently they sometimes grow out of it. Really horrid though. Any one else had a cat with epilepsy or fits fro some other reason?

Originally Posted by pawsandwhiskers

vet thinks its epilepsy so we've got to keep a diary of everything for next week or so and then they are going to decide if needs to be started on meds or if its mild enough to manage without as apparently they sometimes grow out of it. Really horrid though. Any one else had a cat with epilepsy or fits fro some other reason?

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I'm sorry that you and your cat are going through this. I don't have any experience with epilepsy in cats....but I'm curious, is it only happening at night? Is it possible he's getting into something he shouldn't, like a houseplant or chemical or cleaner of some kind? I would look high and low to make sure there's nothing that he's been eating or licking that he shouldn't. Just an idea.

It is only happening at nigths as in major fits but hes a had a few other wierd episodes that the vet now thinks are fits. They've been in the day, last a few mins then he's fine. She thinks its prob not a food/poisoning issue as he's fine in between fit. But we'll keep a close eye in case. Not got any posionous house plants and he's an indoor cat so i'm really not sure what it could be?!

Sorry to hear about the fits, which might very well be epilepsy. We used to have a dog who had fits set off by blinking/flashing lights.
Do you have a video camera, or can you make short videos with your cell phone? It would really help your vet if she/he could see a fit "live", rather than just going by a description.

i can take a video on my phone. I find it really hard to watch and not do anything but i might be able to get my partner to do it! Its horrible to watch him like that. Did your dog go on medication? Thanks for your help everyone

Our dog got phenobarb, but it made him lethargic, so we took him off it again. We just made sure we had no blinking lights, e.g., we taped over the ones on the printer, VCR, etc., never watched cartoons/animated films when he was present, and never took him for walks after dark around Christmas, and kept the shutters closed then, too. He'd still have an occasional fit, though.

Joey's fits don't seem to be triggered by light, seems to happen when hes slepping mostly, so don't know if theres anything we can do to stop it. I'm a bit worried about starting him on that type of drug as hes only 6 months old but we'll see how he goes. Fingers crossed no more fits tonight!

Originally Posted by pawsandwhiskers

Joey's fits don't seem to be triggered by light, seems to happen when hes slepping mostly, so don't know if theres anything we can do to stop it. I'm a bit worried about starting him on that type of drug as hes only 6 months old but we'll see how he goes. Fingers crossed no more fits tonight!

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The drugs nowadays are much better, with fewer side effects, so I wouldn't worry too much on that account. Is Joey even aware of the fits? Fritz, our dog, wasn't. My father became severely epileptic following a major stroke, and he wasn't aware of his seizures, either.
The main concern with a cat would be falling from a high place during a seizure, I'd think.

I think he does know something is wrong. It seems to happen when hes been sleeping and relaxed. He seems to wake up - feel not right so comes to find me. Last night he got to by my pillow then had a violent fit on the floor, frothing at the mouth and soaked in saliva. He was very panicky after the fit and cried a lot, but within 2 hours was back to normal. So I think hes knows somethings up but what exactly he feels i don't know. I guess they don't actually know much about the fit itself? I think you must be right about the meds sure they are not that bad, its just a daunting thing to put him on medication for life. Well fingers crossed there won't be any more tonight. We're starting a diary of everything - what he eats and when, his moods so they can see if theres any pattern or if its just at random.

Aw, hon! You must be worried sick!
I really hope he will be ok. He`s such a gorgeous guy!

Originally Posted by pawsandwhiskers

We're starting a diary of everything - what he eats and when, his moods so they can see if theres any pattern or if its just at random.

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That's smart thinking!

My Tinkerbelle had a fit last year which was terrifying. The vet administered prozac I think it was to calm her down. I was very worried it was epilepsy but as she hasn't have another fit since (thank God!) the vet has ruled that out. The vet said it was most likely consumption of a toxic substance that caused the fit...I keep toilet seats down (so they can't drink bleach water) and my garden plants are not on the major toxic plant list. But as she was outdoors before the fit, she could have ingested anything!

Just thought I'd mention this in case its relevant to your situation.

Thanks, yes i'm not ruling out the eating/drinking something toxic - although have no ideas as to what. No fits last night thank god!

Glad to hear there were no more fits last night...Lets hope it was a one-off.

had anpther small episode of throwing his head about wierdly, but no full-scale fits. See what the vet says tomorrow, but I think they are going to just monitor it for now and then if fits continue lots then they'll do loodwork and then provided nothing shows they assume epilepsy and medicate. Fingers crossed it just settles down without that