Toonce's parents need your help.........

Toonce recieved a clean bill of health from the vet after recieving her labs friday. Toonce has had what I would call mini seizures, since there is no convulsing, no loss of bladder or bowels and the episode lasts less than a minute. There is stiffness of limb, and she craned her head down.

The Vet recommends meds (Phenobarbital) or a visit to the neurologist.

After her first episode I did as I'm sure many others have-turned to study via the internet. I found an excellent article addressing dehydration from feeding an all dry diet. She has always eaten Hills Science Indoor. We switched her to Nutura EVO 95% protien and she began to act like a kitten again (shes 5 ) and lost some of her tummy fat. Litter box visits decreased and overall she was happy and healthy. We were elated.

After 4 months of this renewed being she had another episode. That was when I took her to the Vet. The Vet doesn't seem to be interested in talking about deficiency's. I've read multiple articles that describe her symptoms perfectly. These articles address the lack of minerals and viamins. Can anyone lend advice to this aspect?

Specifically, Taurine, Arginine and Thiamin.The syptoms are right on.

Do I need to visit an Holistic Vet? What kind of tests can be done to detect issues like these?

We love our little girl so much, and if we can avoid drugging her (pheno) and approach something less invasive we would be thrilled.

Any help/advice from this wonderful forum is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Toonce's parents

My advice - which is precisely what I would do if I were in your position - is to take your question to a group of folks whose sole focus is the management of their own seizure-disordered kitties...you'll find them right here. Here's hoping you'll get some answers!

I signed up there and read many many posts about their kittys and their conditions-wow! My Toonce and her issues are definetley not as extreme as those poor little epi cats.

Is there anyone that can comment on how one goes about finding a "nutritionist" that specializes in kitty dietary needs?

I'm not sure what to suggest on how to go about finding a cat nutritionist besides searching for vets in your area and just asking. One potential resource could be the American Association of Feline Practitioners, you can search for members in your area. That's how I found our current vet, I wanted to find someone who specialized in cats. Now, I know it doesn't necessarily mean they specialize in nutrition or holistic practices, but it's a start, and you could call the office and ask.

Sorry I'm not much help, hopefully someone else will have something better to post.. Good luck with getting Toonce better!!

Thank you for the lead.

The vet we saw, recommended pheno maybe and a consult with a nuero.
Because our girl's behaviour changed so drastically when we changed her diet intially, we would really like to explore vitamin/mineral deficiencys. the few episodes she has had are so mild compared to the kittys I've read about that experience seizures.

I'll do some searching, maybe do a consult with a holistic. Would be great to talk to someone really versed in kitty nutrition.

Originally Posted by vorra65

I signed up there...Toonce and her issues are definetley not as extreme as those poor little epi cats.

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...we would really like to explore vitamin/mineral deficiencys

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vorra65, the home page for that online group says

...the purpose of the group is to share information on...diet...and treatments of all types.

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Now that you've joined the group, why not post your dietary questions there? For as many times when I've thought that I was the only one in a particular situation, I've always later discovered that I was wrong! "Dollars-to-donuts", you'll find dietary experience in that group.

So far as finding a "true" feline nutritional specialist, I'm unsure that such an official designation exists...I think I'd be contacting the AAFP on that one.

Here's the site for the Holistic Vets' Association.

One of my dachshunds, Sadie, has epilepsy. She was on pheno for almost a year before I weaned her off against my vet's advice. We figured out that her trigger was when she would get too excited and we could predict fairly well when she was going to have one - mainly her breath smelled like she had just eaten a nasty poo.

Look into the diets that humans use for controlling epilepsy and then talk to a holistic vet regarding diet for an epileptic animal, you'll be surprised how well you can control it with diet alone, more so if you know the trigger.

Sadie still has the occasional seizure, but they are FAR less frequent and we've been able to control her epilepsy with a raw diet.

Also look into acupuncture and speak to your vet about the downsides to pheno before putting her on it. If the time between her seizures is something like 6 weeks or less, the medication will actually do more harm than good.