Not sure if this is a feline stroke, seizure or .......

I´ll try to make a long story short. I joined here hoping someone has gone through this.

When my female cat was 12, she was running and jumping around inside chasing birds at the window, and within 5 minutes she was walking slow and did not want to jump down from the chair. I noticed she had a mid-sized bump on her left side. I hold the cat every day and 15 minutes earlier I did not feel or see any bump.

I immediately brought her to the vet, they said it is a tumor and she still has time left in her and they operated to remove it. After the operation they said the tumor was huge and went through in different directions of the cat and they do not know if they got it all, but they doubt it. They said if the tumor comes back they cannot operate on her again because there is not enough skin left on her stomach to do another operation, and that they expect her to live 2 more months. But because they were unsure they asked me to bring the cat into the vet every day for 21 days to use a laser to heal the wound (it was having trouble healing because the skin was so thin) and they also checked her out each day. After 24 hours she was eating normal and within 7 days she was 90% back to normal, I guess it took her about 14-18 days to be 100% her old self ie jumping around, flying off of the chair, etc. On the 18th day the cat was standing on the bed and then just flew oddly to her side and although all of her limps and head were moving, she could not stand up ie it seemed like she had control to move her body and legs but not do what she wanted them to do. She crawled oddly while flipping around on her sides across the bed. This lasted about 30 seconds. She then sat there for about 3-5 minutes and then just stood up and walked around all normal again.  

I called the vet and they said i don´t need to bring the cat in anymore as the stress may have assisted in what happened to her, and that they believe it was a stroke, but the cats recover themselves from strokes so I do not need to do anything as she has gone through enough already.

For the next 11 months and 3 days the cat has been 100% healthy, just like before the operation. She still gas a lot of youth left in her.

But then yesterday she had this "stroke" again, ie one year later, and again it lasted for about 30 seconds and after 3-5 minutes she was jumping all around again playing. And the new thing this time was after she gained most control she sat up (did not lay down) and her head was slowly bouncing in the air to the right and to the left, back and forth, for 1-2 minutes.

To try to describe it better, imagine the cat is sitting on the bed, she then stands up and immediately falls quickly to the left onto her side, she is trying to stand up but cannot so she was grabbing the bedsheet with her claws moving herself across the bed. Every time she tries to stand up she falls back down oddly to her side, she looks completely scared - wide open eyes - but i cannot tell if she is aware of me there or not - and after 30 seconds she sat up and bounced her head left to right to left to right for 1-2 minutes. Than she was 100% normal again. She even ate right afterwards.

So has anyone seen this or experienced this, and if not what would your guess be; brain tumor, seizure, mini stroke, big stroke, another disease, or just the cancer in her stomach making weird things happen?

btw I work from home and someone is with the cat about 95% of the time as she is always next to whoever is home, so it is unlikely this has happened often. 

I know it is sad but i´ve already accepted last year that she is sick and she will die, I know she has cancer inside of her and one day out of the blue the tumor will pop back out and we´ll have to put her to sleep. After 3 months of worrying for her I finally had to accept it, but she gets spoiled more since I did so I try to make her life more enjoyable while she is still here.

Any opinions or experience would be really nice as the vet said I don´t have to bring her in as they said on the phone it is just a stroke and as she is already sick and it seldom happens that there is nothing they can do for her. 

Anything I say is purely opinion from a layperson so take it for what it is worth.  My guess is that this is a seizure and it could be from the cancer spreading to the brain.  I know in humans the brain, liver, and bones are the common areas for cancer to metastasize. 

Hi, thanks for your opinion, sounds more logical than "it`s just a stroke" that the vet said to me.

When the vet told me 1 year ago she would live probably just 2 more months, I looked in google about cancer in cats and i read they can live 2 months to 2 years after cancer in most cases. She´s made it 10 more months than I really expected, so I´m really happy about that. And even though she´s doing very well, she looks very healthy, I hate seeing her flop around so helpless, making me helpless as well, even if it has only happend 1 time since the first time almost 12 months ago. 

I don´t think she´ll make it to 15, but can it happen where the tumor grows so slow she has 1 seizure every year for 2+ years? I know it´s your opinion only.

My other concern is is one of the seizures going to be it for her ie is she going to have one and be paralyzed, or die during her seizure? I have a fear/dread of watching her die slowly in my bedroom if it happend at 3 am like yesterday. Or is it more likely that the bump will come back and they´ll need to put her to sleep? I don´t know what happens when cats die with cancer, if it will be fast because of the seizure or very slowly.

Sounds like seizures - here was the progression, my one year old kitten started out once a month then every 7 to 21 days, then every week, then after 5 months of this - he had a seizure called a "tonic=clonic" seizure - which lasted for almost 30 minute nonstop as we were speeding in the dark to the emergency vet care center.. Spent over $6000 last month, left no test out including MRI and here are the results: the epilepsy cannot be explained - called idiopathic.

Now for what I have to say to your situation: you description sounds like a seizure. After all we went thru, my kitten was put on a pill called Keppra. No seizures since. Has to have the pill 3 times a day for life and I do that. The medicine is fairly new to treating pet seizures - usually phenol is given which eventually destroys kidneys.

So you may want to see if this med will keep your pet from his seizure.  I am guessing it is from your description -the first seizure I saw was like this:

My baby NUNU had an epilectic seizure at 5:30 this morning. Heard a loud noise in the hall and momma kitty running to him.

He was on his side – head back and his flailing arms and legs were beating uncontrollably on the wooden hall molding.

I turned on the bathroom light and saw him like this, grabbed him up and screamed for Craig to wake up. He could not breathe

And was fighting for even a little breath = this went on for 4 to 5 minutes which seemed like an eternity. At one point I thought he was going to die in our bed.

It was a horrible sight to see = it was the most horrible and frightening feeling in the world to watch this, not know what it was or if he would live, and not able to do a thing to help him out.

Also my vet said to take the 500 MG pill, split in 4 pieces and give 1 piece three times a day. I also had the med compounded into a liquid but it was more trouble to catch him and scare him and force this horrible tasting med down his throat then to split the pill and get it down him = the compounded liquid could not have salmon flavoring for some reason. Now the only way to get the pill down him without a 3 time a day scenario was to buy a bacon flavored pill masker online and use it to wrap around the pill to disguise the bitter taste

So if it turns out that this is what is happening with your baby and she is having more than two a month- you may want to ask the vet for this med and use it to stop the seizures.

It does sound like seizures.  My Nat has them too, but not since being on phenobarb oral medication.  I find it odd that the vet tells you not to take him in.  Maybe the vet doesn't want to treat the seizures.  If it is from cancer metastasis to the brain, I would think the vet would want to make him comfortable at least.  Poor kitty. I would get another opinion if I were you.  

Years ago when Sammy had a mast cell tumor on his front paw pad, the vet removed most of it, not all - he said.  He told me Sammy only had at best 6 months to a year to live.  He actually lived 3 1/2 years longer.  The mast cell never came back.  He died of kidney failure, which can be common in Persians.  Vets can be wrong.  I would not trust this vet's word to be the final word.  

Ginny said:

 
Years ago when Sammy had a mast cell tumor on his front paw pad, the vet removed most of it, not all - he said.  He told me Sammy only had at best 6 months to a year to live.  He actually lived 3 1/2 years longer.  The mast cell never came back.  He died of kidney failure, which can be common in Persians.  Vets can be wrong.  I would not trust this vet's word to be the final word.  

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As a human doctor I have come to the conclusion that you never believe a doctor who says never and  always disbelieve a doctor who says always.  In other words no doctor can ever be accurate about an outcome and he is a fool if he tries!.  This appears to be the same about veterinary doctors!

With regards,

Geoffrey

Geoffrey said:

 
As a human doctor I have come to the conclusion that you never believe a doctor who says never and  always disbelieve a doctor who says always.  In other words no doctor can ever be accurate about an outcome and he is a fool if he tries!.  This appears to be the same about veterinary doctors!

With regards,

Geoffrey

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Well, then Dr. Geoffrey, you sound like one good doctor!