Stroke or Seizure

We have a tabby named Candy who is at least 11 years old. In the last couple months, she's lost a lot of weight, has been drinking water a lot, and has been using her litter box more often than usual. Because of her age, we suspect that her kidneys are going. Just a few minutes ago, she had this strange episode. I picked her up and set her on my bed like I always do, when all of a sudden she started crying for no reason. When I held her in an attempt to comfort her, I noticed that her head was jerking around like she was trying to see or keep track of something moving fast and that her eyes were darting back and forth very quickly. I took her into the bathroom to get a better look and set her down to do so, and she seemed very unsteady on her legs and started yowling very loudly. She wouldn't move on her own and would twist her body when we (my grandma woke by this point) picked her up. A few minutes later, she was resting with my grandma and seemed to quiet down. Her head stopped jerking, her eyes stopped shaking, and she stopped crying. I can't tell yet if she can walk fine since my grandma is keeping her in bed with her, but I'm afraid that she's just had a stoke. But with how quickly the episode passed, is it possible that this was just a seizure of some kind? I've tried looking up information about what a feline stroke looks like when it happens, but I've only found signs that a cat has had one already and the seizure information I've found doesn't exactly match up with what happened. It's too soon to tell if she has those signs and with heavy snow that just hit us, we won't be able to get her to a vet any time soon. This has really given us a scare and I hope someone here can shed some light on this.

I'm sorry to hear what happened to you kitty. Hopefully you can get to a vet soon. I've read a few owners have kitties that have seizures maybe they can shed light on what a seizure looks like. My cat momma had a stroke but I never saw it happened I only found out what was going on with her after the fact. She was left with a head and neck permanently turned to the left and right hind leg paralysis. Drinking a lot and peeing with the weight loss could be signs of something serious or something that can be managed like diabetes. She still relatively young but either way she will need to see a vet for testing. I would just keep a close watch on her and make sure she has access to food in case it does turns out to be diabetes until the weather permits you to get her to a vet because it sounds like she needs to be immediately taken with the weight loss, excessive thirst, and now what looks like some sort of episode. Good luck!!

Just read this and it took me back to 13 months ago, with our cat Scully.
Scully went off her food and appeared to have a cold, and on the Friday, I came home from work, I gave her some cat milk and went in kitchen to start tea, youngest daughter came home from work and found Scully on the sofa, limp and her eyes we darting rapidly from side to side, we rushed her to the vets where we were told she had probably had a stroke. On considering her age(approx 19) and her condition( no response to pain to her back legs,) we made the hardest decision ever, and she went "Over the Rainbow". Hopefully with the age of your cat, the prognosis will be better for you. Hope that you can get her to the vets soon.
Good luck

I don't think this is a seizure or a stroke. My cat twitches so I've done quite a bit of research on seizures and that episode your cat experienced doesn't sound like it. I'm not that familiar with strokes. What it could be possibly is feline vestibular disorder which affects a cat's balance. Your cat sounds to be about the right age for it and the odd eye movements and unsteadiness fit the bill too.

Did you have her checked by the vet to determine if she does have kidney disease? Kidney disease can cause twitching and trembling but that doesn't sound like what your cat experienced either. I really hope she's okay and you can get her checked out.

Thanks for all the info. Feline Vestibular Disorder might be the culprit as vomiting and anorexia are signs of it and she has been vomiting from time to time these past few months along with the weight loss, but I doubt we'll know for sure until we can see a vet. A lot is still shut down, so I doubt we'd be able to get her to the vet for at least a couple days. But she seems to be more or less fine now. She's walking around, she managed to jump off the couch with no problem early this morning, and she's fussing to go outside like she usually does. She seems able to see and hear alright and she can eat and drink on her own still. Her walking doesn't seem too unusual; her head's not tilted and she has maybe the barest hint of unsteadiness. She was really quiet when she first got up on her own after the episode, which worried me a bit but is understandable given what happened. And I say she's at least 11 years old, but she could be older. She wasn't with my family her whole life, so we don't know her exact age. She was my great-uncle's before he passed away and we only have what little paperwork he had to go on. It's possible that she may be so old that she might not last more than a couple years, if even this one. Also, money's tight and we can't afford to run out and get her looked at unless it's absolutely serious. As I've said, she seems more or less fine now. We're going to wait and keep an eye on her. If it happens again, we see her walking get worse, or notice any drastic changes in behavior, I'll be sure to make an appointment. But until then, I'm going to keep searching for information to find out what exactly happened so I can properly care for her.

google dehydration...CALL your vet and describe the symptoms

see if they don't ask if shes peeing normally

perhaps they will suggest an eyedropper and water until if and when u bring her in