To those who have had cats with seizures

Since losing our cat yesterday after a horrible seizure, my mind has been going nuts. Although she was anemic and had one kidney AND was in renal failure, I'm having a hard time believing her disease got her. I know the disease would win at some point, but the seizures were so sudden. She had one we didn't witness and 30 minutes later a bad one that seemed to paralyze her.
Can a bad seizure end a cats life? Despite treatments, Epogen for her anemia, Sub-q fluids, etc... her toxin levels were high. We decided to have her put to sleep thinking her health caused the seizures and being that she never seemed to come out of that bad seizure.She seemed to be suffering
One other thing weighs on my mind...... she loved chasing bugs in the basement and I'm not 100% sure a spider may have bit her. If one did it would have been your average wood spider. I'm curious because the seizures came out of no where and I found a dead spider where she may have been playing. Could a spider have caused this, Or her current health? I'm uneasy as to how she may have died.....questioning myself. I've done alot of research learning how to treat her CRF so I know her disease causes others which can lead to seizures..........however don't know much about seizures.

My cat, Toby, has seizures. Our vet said that with most cases, especially cats, they usually can't find a cause. In Toby's case, the vet and I came up with a theory that his *might* be related to his enlarged heart, and because they always happen right after he is asleep, perhaps the lower heart rate + enlarged heart = less blood to the brain causing a seizure.

Toby has grand maul seizures (violent convulsions) that have been lasting ~50 seconds with about 3 minutes of disorientation afterwards. My vet said that the longer the duration and the disorientation afterwards and the higher the frequency, the worse the effects.

Because a seizure disrupts the normal electrical activity in the brain, I'd assume that if it was long enough it could cause major damage.

There was a member on here not too long ago whose cat died from seizures and she said that her vet believed that the cat had gotten into some type of poison which caused a sudden onset of violent seizures. Could this be the case with your cat (i.e. any chemicals stored that she could have gotten into, etc.)?

HTH,
Art

Since seeing more than one I decided to copy the page for you to see, here it is

Seizures (Feline Epilepsy)
Race Foster, DVM
Marty Smith, DVM
Drs. Foster & Smith, Inc.


Seizures can be caused by any insult to the brain such as trauma, infection, or a drug overdose. Detectable causes of seizures are those commonly associated with toxins, infections, drug overdose, trauma to the head area, and other metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus and kidney or liver failure. In some instances, they are inherited. Most seizures in the cat are not due to detectable causes such as trauma, but are caused by idiopathic (unknown cause) epilepsy, a condition veterinarians generally refer to only as epilepsy.
The exact cause of epilepsy is not known, but whether the cause is unknown or trauma induced, the condition results in an uncoordinated firing of the neurons (nerves) within the brain. Normally, the neurons transmit impulses in a uniform and coordinated fashion, allowing for precisely timed movement and thoughts.

During an epileptic seizure, however, the neurons function independently of each other. When the neurons misfire, cats may lose consciousness or become unaware of their surroundings, and have rapid, uncoordinated body movements.

What are the symptoms?

Normally, the epileptic cat will have the first seizure between two and three years of age. This time frame may vary, but rarely is epilepsy seen in the very young. Seizures will vary in intensity and are usually described using three terms: petit mal, grand mal, and status epilepticus.

Petit mal seizures are the mildest form. The cat may simply develop a blank stare, shake one leg, or cry out in pain. Petite mal seizures usually last less than one minute. Grand mal seizures are the most common. This seizure is characterized by a cat falling to one side, urinating or defecating uncontrollably, paddling the feet as if swimming, frothing at the mouth, and it may also cry out. This cat will be unaware of surrounding activities. Grand mal seizures usually last five minutes or less. Status epilepticus is the most severe form of seizure. It appears exactly like a grand mal seizure, but it may last for several hours - or as soon as the cat seems to recover, it immediately degenerates back into the seizure.

What are the risks?

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder and although usually not curable, it can be controlled. The petit and grand mal seizures, in most cases, are not life threatening unless they occur at a time when the feline is in an unsafe, or uncontrolled environment.

Status epilepticus is a very serious seizure state. With the body convulsing violently for hours, the internal body temperature will become critically high. Organ damage and death can result. All seizure instances should be reported immediately to your veterinarian.

What is the treatment?

In most instances, epilepsy is not life threatening unless status epilepticus develops. Anticonvulsant medications are used in chronic cases. It must be understood that drug therapy does not cure the condition, but rather controls the severity and frequency of the seizures. Anticonvulsant drugs such as Phenobarbital may be used in the cat. Phenobarbital provides a sedative action on the nerves within the brain.

The goal of therapy is to stabilize the nerves and membranes within the brain, but not to a point where the cat appears or acts sedated. Generally, anticonvulsant drugs are not given unless the cat has more than one seizure per month or the seizures last more than half an hour. This is a general guideline only.

No chemicals were available to her. Because she was severely anemic and had high creatine (12) toxins in blood due to her kidney failure, I suspect that was the reason for her seizure. But that spider has got me wondering. She had been in bad health for months and no one expected her live the 5 months she did after being diagnosed with CRF.

It sounds like you did everything you could hun, stop beating yourself up! Most of the time they're unexplainable but it sounds like you took excellent care of your cat so dont think its anything you did, because it wasn't! Im sorry for your loss...

Sorry about your Cat. My Manx died from one in 1993 at age 11. Hers was Epilepsy. My Stripe had one from Crf and could not move after that and they said to have her Pts. She fought Crf for a while and lasted longer then expected. Your Cat could have had them from the Kidney Problem.

I sure hope it was caused by her CRF. I'd feel like $#*t if a spider did this to after all shes been through. She exhibited all the *final* signs for a while but she kept pluggin along. The seizures were a first for her and totally unexpected for us.

I realize this thread is years old, but I'm just headed into this same situation.  My cat also has CRF, and started having seizures.  His first was actually while he was in the hospital receiving the antibiotic Baytril through an IV.  The second and third were several weeks later.  Blood work revealed decent kidney values, but severe anemia.  He's currently in the hospital awaiting a blood transfusion tomorrow morning, hoping that the seizures are being caused by the lack of oxygen being delivered to his brain.  This morning I noticed one of his pupils was larger than the other. Not good. I'm trying to research a link between the anemia and the seizures.  CRF is such a roller coaster. I appreciate you all posting your experiences.  

hello Young Cat 

I my slef lost my cat to a massive seizure date 17th July 2013 just a few days ago I am heart broken he was only 6 years old and it was just one seizure that took him away from me now I like your self have a huge empty space all i have been doing is searching web sites looking for answers to WHY WHY HIM .

I have seen other owners whos cats have had seizures and theirs are still alive and trying to work out why why was he taken from just one i know its the power of the seizure and other parts that made up lifes mind to take him but still you wonder what you could have done or if there was a way of helping them more

hey I have just stumbled across this thread after trawling through the internet for informaiton about status seizures in cats. My cat is currently at the vet after suffereing a grand mal seizure on Tue evening last week. We immediately took her to the vet when we saw that it continued for more than 5 mins. She is still at the vets now (1 full week) and she has continued to have the seizures. Luckily she is in good hands and they give her medication to help calm her down. Unfortunately all the usual tests they perform for such issues have drawn blank. They have not been able to identiy the cause. She seems to be a bit more stable now and the seizures have reduced but I am afraid about what she will be like once she comes out of it i.e. brain damage or blindness etc. They are waiting the results of the toxicology which takes a week ( and will see if that throws some light on the matter.

I have a small glimmer of hope that she will come out of this unscatthed but am realistic enough to expect that she might not. I hope to know more later today

We lost one of our cats today and was shuffling through the internet and came across this. I just had to share something somewhere with someone. We have two cats and they are the first cats I have ever owned (convinced by my wife that cats are not bad). One of the best decisions I ever made. I've also never had a pet die (or put to sleep) so this is ALL new. I am incredibly surprised how affected I am by this - seriously. It's hitting my wife pretty hard to - this one was "hers." 

Today she started having seizures - about 20 min apart and would last about 1-2 mins. It was awful and painful to watch while trying not to let her hurt herself. We called the local hospital and setup an appointment. They weren't ready to believe me that they were actual seizures... until she had one in the waiting room. They immediately gave her diazepam which stopped the seizures and sedated her. 

They ran blood tests right away and 15 min later they were showing me her chart. It had high phosphorus, creatnine, and OFF THE CHART  B.U.N.

Essentially, her kidneys were failing hard and fast. They released toxins into her brain causing the seizures. They told us that once the medication wears off she'll most likely continue to have seizures as the poisons continue to reach her brain. They "could" to fluid treatments, but at this late in the process it was highly doubtful. 

So my wife and I decided to euthanize our wonderful cat. One of the harder decisions I've made in a long time. They mentioned it could be genetic, so we'll have to keep an eye on her sister (litter mate). 

My question now is, how do we help our other cat who is alive and well and combing the house for her sister?! It's almost just as painful to watch her confusion.

Thoughts on that?

Thanks

Tabitha, hoping by now they have determined what caused the seizures and your furbaby is back home and doing well.

Angel, I am so sorry you lost your little one.  What a shock that must have been.  How old is the surviving sister?  Honestly, I have never heard of kidney disease being genetic, and I've had a couple of cats with it, but not from the same litter.  What breed is she?  Is it possible your little one got into some poisen?  For it to react that way and come on so quickly, it sounds more like poisening destroyed her kidneys than the typical kidney disease which works over time.  Normally you will see sympoms like drinking lots and lots of water, urinating huge amounts, losing weight.  One thing I might suggest to you to try to prevent kidney disease in the surviving girl is, if you are not already feeding canned food, start doing that, preferable one that is low carb.  Kibble is very dehydrating to cats, and canned food helps in that area.  That's not to say cats eating canned food their entire lives never get kidney disease, but I'd venture to say the percentages are far less than those on kibble. If you want more information on food, or health, please feel free to start up a new thread in either our Health Forum or our Nutrition Forum (or both). 

Another poster just had a similar situation happen yesterday, when they lost  one cat and their sibling is grieving.  Here is their thread asking how to help the surviving cat    http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264305/advice-on-how-to-help-one-cat-after-the-other-passed-away