Seizures?

elssa

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Sometimes my kitty gets what seems like muscle spasms/seizures.  She'll suddenly get very stiff and walks around very wobbly, and occasional her whole body seems to contort with spasm, though she's not grinding her teeth or anything like that as in what I've heard happens with full seizures.  She was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease last spring but has been eating very well for quite a while now, ever since I started her on some Pepcid, having about 4-5 3 ounce cans a day, mostly Fancy Feast varieties.  Her stool is usually well formed. 

Her "seizures" started before the diagnosis of chronic kidney disease and her loss of appetite last spring, so I never clearly associated it with the CKD.  Any ideas what may be causing these spasms?  They are becoming more frequent now.  She gets over each "spell" within a couple minutes, but it's distressing.  Thanks for any help.   
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I would say you need to ask a Vet about this.  My cat does something where every once in awhile his back end "shivers", kind of like he's spraying, only it happens when he's laying down, but my Vet thoroughly examined him and couldn't find anything unusual with him.  But anything out of the ordinary is worth a discussion, IMHO.

 

otto

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There was a discussion in another forum a few years ago about the sodium nitrites in canned fancy feast causing seizures in a senior cat with CKD. You might try changing her canned food to a canned food that doesn't contain sodium nitrites. (transition gradually, of course)

But, yes do mention this to your vet.
 
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elssa

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Thanks, all, for your helpful feedbac!.  The vet just said some elderly cats get slow-growing brain tumors, so that might be the problem, but he wasn't sure..

That's so interesting about the sodium nitrites!  I know I can't eat cold cuts or anything without having neurological symptoms, insomnia, etc.  Do you know of any name cat brand that doesn't contain them? All the Fancy Feasts seem to have "sodium bisulfites" in them, as well as the 9 Lives that I have here.  She does also get some Tiki-cat food, which I just looked at and see doesn't contain sulfites, but they don't have a pate type that Gwen prefers.  I also used to give her By Nature pate food, which also seems free of sulfites, just has something called sodium selenite - Is that okay?  I switched to the Fancy Feast because she wasn't eating for a while and she likes the taste better, but now she's so hungry all the time, hoping she'll eat more of the Tiki and By Nature, as well as Newman's Own and I'll try to phase out the Fancy Feast  Would be interested to know if any big brand name out there is good, though.

Thanks again!  :-)  
 
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