seizures in a 5 year old kitty.

Hi, my cat had been acting strangely after being missing for 5 days. She came home Saturday and ate as normal she was also very affectionate. She's not an affectionate cat in general. So last night she started snapping her jaws and drooling. We phoned the vet who advised since she was toileting, eating and drinking just to keep an eye and bring her in the morning. The drooling and snapping continued and I took her in at 9am this morning. We had literally just sat down in the waiting room and because it's open surgery thought we'd have a while to wait. Unfortunately within moments skully had a very violent seizure and was rushed in. The vet said that she recovered very well and there was no need to partially sedate her as first thought. We spoke about options and agreed that putting her under to get bloods would be a massive strain on an already unhappy cat. We decided to try epilepsy medication straight away and I will call in the morning to let them know how she goes or return with her immediately if she has another big one. She is only 5 and the vet said it's likely she has ingested something whilst she was missing (going missing is a regular occurrence for her) we've been home a few hours now and she has had her first dose of phenoleptil although the drooling episodes have not improved she is no longer running around like crazy straight after.

My question is
My husband and I had a discussion when we got home and calmed down. We feel that maybe we declined blood tests because skully was so distressed at the time we felt it would be unfair however we now think we should have it done although the vet said chances of finding anything would be slim. She is up to date with her immunisations and her condition and general health are good. Would the tests indicate if she has eaten something harmful? We are extremely careful with regards to keeping harmful things out of the way in the house and garden because our other cat eats everything!
its very distressing to watch so I can't imagine how terrible she must be feeling.
any suggestions on how to keep her safe in the house? We've got a huge soft sided cage this morning and have closed of a portion of the hallway and moved everything so it's contains only the cage and food dishes.

Baseline blood work would be to establish if anything might explain the seizures, but most times it does not.  Nat had over $600 worth of labs done several different times and it showed absolutely nothing.  If your kitty ate something poisonous, and she may have, it might show up in elevated liver and kidney values.  So I would agree to one set of blood work to see if any cause can be found.  

It is distressing to see a cat have a seizure.  But as bad as it looks, the cat is unaware what is going on.  Even so, seizures are not benign events.  So it's imperative to get them under control. I hope the pheno works!  

Thank you for your swift reply. We've decided to wait it out until the morning and see what's happening. We have no idea how long it will take for us to know if the medications are working. She's a very sweet little thing and I feel so terrible for her she's also unhappy being stuck in the house but I'll not be letting her out. We were told to think about the long term options if she has to continue having meds because she regularly goes for a wander. This sucks and all 4 days before I go south to visit a sick family member. xx

Will someone be able to administer the drug to the kitty while you are gone?  These things do seem to happen at the wrong times, don't they?  You should be able to notice the difference right away if the med is working.  It'll make kitty sleep a lot, especially at first.  Lab work will be done after a period of time to make sure the level is within range and the dose adjusted if need be.  

I think it's necessary that the kitty learns how to be an indoor kitty.  Unless you have a fenced in area where you can allow her to go out to several times a day, under your supervision.  She may have eaten a little creature that was poisoned.  And you won't be able to control where she goes or what she eats while she goes missing, so it's best to keep her indoors.  I had to do this with my kitties too.  They were feral.  

Yes, we have a lovely cat sitter who has already offered to live at ours whilst we are gone. Unfortunately though she is still having partial seizures I've just spoken to the vet and we're taking her in at three to be sedated for blood testing and a complete check over sadly whilst she's fully awake she gets to vicious. I know the blood work is done in house so hopefully we'll have some answers fairly soon. I'll keep this thread updated I'm sure I'll have a million questions anyway

UPDATE: it's not good news. Just had a call from the vet. They sedated her and took bloods and did a very through examination. There are no visible signs of poisoning or other illness. Urine sample is okay.
BUT whilst coming round she had another huge seizure and has not recovered as well this time.
Basically what the vet said was that she was very concerned and that it was not looking good for our baby.
We discussed trying a higher dose of medication and basically giving her a maximum of 48 hours to see if it works because they are so violent and relentless and appear to be coming faster.
The other option is mri scans but is there any point if the medication isn't working?

We're devastated she is the very first pet we as a family had.

I am scared to bring her home in case it starts and doesn't stop.

We really do not know what to do. We are going at seven to collect her and I feel like I need to have made some sort of decision.

Seizures always increase in frequency, at least they did for Nat.  One vet explained to me that with each seizure the threshold was lowered which meant another one was more likely. The first one I witnessed was at 9am, the next one the very next day at about 12. That's when I took him to the ER vet.  These were the bad seizures or grand mal (or tonic/clonic).  The way they got his seizures to stop was with IV Valium, and they began loading doses of phenobarb IV as well, but that can only be given in ICU, not at home.  I'm assuming your vet gave your kitty something similar?  

It's imperative to find the cause of the seizures because that will determine the treatment.  If the cause can't be found - which unfortunately is likely the case - then all they can do is medicate as they have been doing or adjust dosages or several meds to stop the seizures.

@StefanZ  or the other advisors will have some good info for you.  

If a seizure starts but doesn't stop that's called status epilepticus and it is an emergency.  The animal will die without intervention.  Ask your vet if your kitty be monitored in ICU overnight since it happened again.  They kept my Nat for 2 days until he went for a certain amount of time without seizures before they'd let me take him home.  

@catwoman707   what do you advise Tasha to do?

MRI can help possibly pinpoint the cause (as Ginny stated) but often they don't. At the very least they can see where in the brain the seizures are occurring. And if there is something there, you will have a definitive diagnosis (like, thinking worst case, a brain tumor). I'm so sorry this is happening to your baby

The vet wanted to do both an MRI and a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) on Nat, but they cautioned me that they might still not know anymore than they did.  I elected not to.  But my situation is a little different.  Nat never got out once I brought him indoors.  He had been an indoor only kitty for 8 years before the seizures started.  So the decision is totally up to you on that.   

I'll get it right in a minute Lol.  I answered someone else on a thread about personality changes from seizure meds as well.  

I would recommend an MRI also. 

I would not assume it is sudden onset of epilepsy, especially with the big seizure at the vet this last time while on medication for epilepsy,  but more likely had ingested either something toxic like plant or a poisoned rodent.

Meaning in my opinion it can pass but meanwhile you need him closely monitored.

If you can leave him at the vet this would be best for now.

Phenobarbitol is the norm for seizures. If this is the route used I would think of it as temporary, and try slowly lowering dosage and eventually taking him off completely.

It is very wise to keep him indoors or create a catio for him.

We've been to see her the blood results won't be back until late tomorrow. However vet showed us a sample of her blood and how it separated. Without the blood results but with seeing the blood she told us she suspects it's something to with the fat in her diet because when the blood separeates the top part is like milkshake! I can't remember the exact word but lipids and tryglicerides came up apparently more common in dogs and very unusual in cats. She's going to email me some links. But she wants to treat it as that until the blood tests come back. Until then our main aim is to get the seizures under some forms of control using higher dose of meds and lowest possible fat diet. As far as further tests, skully is extremely stressed so together we've decided that we will wait for results and go from there.

tasha111986 said:

We've been to see her

the blood results won't be back until late tomorrow. However vet showed us a sample of her blood and how it separated. Without the blood results but with seeing the blood she told us she suspects it's something to with the fat in her diet because when the blood separeates the top part is like milkshake! I can't remember the exact word but lipids and tryglicerides came up apparently more common in dogs and very unusual in cats. She's going to email me some links. But she wants to treat it as that until the blood tests come back. Until then our main aim is to get the seizures under some forms of control using higher dose of meds and lowest possible fat diet. As far as further tests, skully is extremely stressed so together we've decided that we will wait for results and go from there.

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Interesting finding.  I'm glad something is showing up.  Hopefully it'll be something that passes, like @catwoman707  suggested.  So, Skully will stay at the hospital tonight? 

Yes she is staying tonight at least. The plan is a drastic change to diet to lowest possible fat. Apparently with dogs they fast the for 24 hours but we can't do that because she won't have the meds. The vet was wearing a beautiful pair of gloves up to her elbows just to move her so giving meds without food would probably involve bleeding on the human side x

Did she call it Hepatic lipidosis?  Which can happen after a cat fasts for a few days.  

No I'm sure it's not that because she's been eating as normal and drinking plenty. She's not emailed me yet so I am assuming that she's busy. I will say however even though we've used the vets before for general checkups, jabs and our other cat eating everything from string to a baby sock! I've been so surprised with how through and caring she's been nothing has felt to much so I'm happy to trust them with this issue. X

Just called for an update. Despite her having a higher dosage of phenoleptil she continues to have 20-30 second seizures on average every 35-45 minutes overnight. She's also had three violent ones lasting up to 68 seconds. She will stay with them again today and tonight if there's no improvement. It's hitting the 72 hour mark now and the vet keeps saying she's very concerned. It does not feel positive. Hoping to see some blood results today.

I have a really bad feeling this morning. Surely all this is going to cause lasting damage to her.

I'm so sorry! I hoped they could get the seizures under control. Will keep hoping for the best. Please let us know.

Devastated. The seizures were coming with only a maximum gap of 40 minutes then she has two that lasted a minute and a half and a minute 56 within 10 minutes. We've spoken to the vet and agreed that the chances of bloods turning up anything will be slim and also that if she does have an illness it has passed the point where a full recovery could be made.also taken into consideration the quality of life she will have if a miracle happened and the lasting damage.
We've made the decision to end her suffering. It's heartbreaking but looking at the overall picture the odds are not in her favor.
We're going to collect the results when the arrive but it seems all we could have done we have.
They have made her as comfortable as possible.
We are going to say goodbye for the last time at 3.30.
Thank you so much for all your support and suggestions. I'll let you know how it goes.