Random Seizure? O.o

This is my first post, so I hope I'm not repeating anything!

Last Sunday, one of my Maine Coon mixes had a seizure. He's 2 years old... He was laying on top of some power cables on the kitchen floor (but there was no water, I checked during the seizure). He just started...his back arched, his legs paddled, his bladder emptied. He kept trying to stand up, and he managed to crawl 2 feet into the bathroom, using his seizure as a mode of transportation (sort of like the wiggling he usually does, when he wants to snuggle up to me). It lasted probably about...a minute or so. I thought at first it was under a minute but, looking back, he was doing it for a few seconds before I realized he wasn't playing with his brother and then I had time to watch for a few seconds and then I had time to call the vet and arrange for him to go to the vet.

The vet ran blood tests, the only abnormal thing was a slightly high raised white blood cell count, which the vet thought was because of the stress of being at the vet (not sure about that. This cat loves the vet because everytime he goes, the techs coo over him and snuggle him). The vet said to just watch for another seizure because he might have epilepsy.

a) Does anyone have experience with cat epilepsy that can give me some pointers?
b) What sort of problems could this have been caused by? He's never had another seizure of any sort! (unless he's seizing in his sleep or something)
c) What do I do?? I mean, really /panic! I know with cats, you just let them seize and take them to the vet but I'm fairly young, I live alone for right now...This is a really scary situation for me because the last time my pet had a seizure, he died, but he was old and this cat is so young! And I'm about to leave for a long time. The person who's caring for them knows what happened and is a more experienced cat owner than I am but I feel terrible leaving my friend with my two sick kitties (This cat's littermate has a flea allergy...any advice there, when treating the environment and other cats doesn't work, in addition to topical medicine on him?)

Since I posted this, I've noticed Munin (seizure kitteh) twitching terribly in his sleep. He has never twitched like this, before, I don't think. Earlier this week, his whiskers twitched, as did one of his back legs. I'm sitting here watching his littermate and him sleep and he's twitching wayyy more than his brother. His legs keep twitching uncontrollably, every 10 minutes or so for about 5 or 10 seconds. Maybe a little backarching too...

Also...how normal is it for a cat to fall so fast asleep he has trouble waking up? Both him and his brother do this occasionally, mostly late at night when we're sleeping. I have to shake them awake before they even open their eyes...
They've always been indoor, well cared for cats, though (I mean, their first owner was a 12 year old girl. She cuddled these cats to pieces.) so they lay on their back, so I always thought it was normal for them to sleep like that (although it does scare me everytime, because their breathing gets REALLY light...). With all this twitching from the one cat, though, I'm scared. (My vet, btw, absolutely does not take me seriously. about anything. So I have noo idea)

I have no experience with seizures in cats so I can't give you any insights into this. If you aren't comfortable with your vet find another vet. I have found that some vets that have a general small animal practice simply don't take the care of cats as seriously as the care of dogs. I have had both dogs and cats and I believe, at least with my own experience, that cats are more difficult to diagnose than dogs. You might have a better experience with a cats only vet if you can find one. They do charge a bit more, at least with my experience, but they are worth it if you can afford it.

My boyfriend's calico domestic shorthair had a seizure when she was about 3 years old. She's never had another one. Symptoms were very similar to your kitty, except she also ground her head on the floor like something was hurting it.

I agree with the advice to find another vet if this one isn't taking you seriously. We took Sallie to the Michigan State University small animal clinic, which is one of the top vet teaching facilities in the US. They couldn't figure out what was wrong, but they were very compassionate and tried everything they could. This is the type of care you should expect.

Have you ruled out poisoning? House plants are a common overlooked source of toxins for cats. What about floor cleaners, new carpeting, etc.? My BF was taking a lot of meds at the time, and we decided he might have dropped a pill on the floor and Sallie ate it. She'll put anything in her mouth.

Some animals may for whatever reason it may be have a seizure, and never have another. As per my vet, if they still have quality of life & are only having *maybe* 1 - 3 seizures/month, oftentimes he doesn't put them on meds. But if there develops a pattern to them in terms of timing or they become more frequent he puts them on Pheno.

My Lola is 1 year 8 months old. She was a shelter kitty since 7 weeks. She had a few seizures @ the shelter that we saw. I took her home to foster @ about 7 months of age. She was having tons of seizures - some smaller, some larger. She's been on Pheno since last Dec & is doing well. Her bloodwork came out purr-fect, nothing to indicate she has seizures.

My RB Kandie threw one seizure a year from age 13 on ... I could have taken her to the Vet school but my two vets at the time said likely it would be alot of $$$ out the window with no answers

I think the seizure has made you more aware of movement in cats, which happens once you witness such a seizure. Most cats (especially kittens) twitch when they sleep- this is normal.

Just curious if the power cables had been chewed? Are their burns in the cat's mouth or on the tongue? The only cat seizure I experienced was a few years ago and it was FIP lesions in a kitten's brain. My cocker spaniel had epilepsy when I was growing up and he had seizures all the time. I would sit with him as he went through it and he always deficated or peed on himself in the middle of things. Your cat needs a feline specialist- not a vet who doesn't specialize in just cats.

Thank you all for your advice!

@Lacie:
That's good to hear, that someone else has had this happen only once. My kitty looked like he was in pain/scared but I was also screaming (I've been under crazy amounts of stress lately so this was the darn icing on the cake) but he's really skittish so it might have been me that caused that.
I'm actually still not sure about the poisoning...We don't have any plants and generally keep all the chemicals in a locked box or closet but I do leave the counter cleaner out on the kitchen counter. I've noticed him smelling it before so normally I'd assume that might have been it but I'd been with him all morning and he hadn't been on the table so I doubt it.

@white_cat_lover:
My vet mentioned something like what you said, that my cat might not need meds unless he has more seizures. That's interesting that your cat was a shelter cat and had seizures. That makes me wonder because this cat and his brother were owned by a little girl who gave them up to the shelter. His brother isn't a very healthy cat so this makes me wonder if they signed them over because they noticed things like this but didn't mention it. The shelter I got them from wouldn't have noticed (they didn't even notice that the both these cats had severe upper respiratory infections) and they have been living with our friends for the past year, all of whom have jobs, so they might not have seen it happen... Interesting.

@sharky
That's really sad! At least it was only once a year but that's still scary. When I told my aunt about this, she also mentioned cost. My fiance and I don't have the type of money to really get this checked out, unless it becomes really bad.

@hissy
I hope so! He hasn't twitched that much since I posted, but I think you're right. Plus, he's super skittish (even in his sleep lol) so yeah...

I didn't see the cords chewed, although that's a good point. I should check them again. I did notice my headphone cord had been chewed recently (that's a favorite of this cat's brother x.x He pulls it out of my backpack) so I wouldn't put it past them. *EDIT* I just checked. The wires were unchewed, but there prick in one of the cords. I'm not sure if it was from him, or just something sharp (like the corners of my desk) because this wire is about 11 years old and has traveled over 6,000 miles. Its still possible, though. Here's to hoping!

This cat has had so many immunizations in his 2 years of life...he should be healthy there (there's a whole bunch of hoops to jump through to get an animal into Hawaii, and it includes a ton of rabies testing and blood testing).


About the vet thing... Like I said, I'm quite young (only 21) and the fact I look like I'm 16 makes everyone not take me seriously. This isn't just a problem with the vet (I had a serious illness myself and they didn't take me seriously, for example lol). I can't really blame the vet, either, for seeing this young kid coming into the vet with an animal and not thinking I overreacted or something. I go to a VCA, and there's various technical and financial problems with going to the other vets.