desperate for advice my beloved 8 yr old cat

Please please help me[emoji]9995[/emoji]
My cat,8 yr male,neutered,indoor only, he has been healthy his whole life,only been sick 1 time.has all shots.

On Sat morning I noticed his pupils were dilated,big and round but responded to direct light.his behavior was abnormal,he was confused/nervous acting uneasy.jerking head like he saw things that weren't there.he wasn't drinking water,eating very little.finally,he laid on the couch and I watched his eyes go back and he stiffened and his ears were pulled to the sides.his face was twitching.I called the vet they said he is having a seizure take him to ER.
I drove 35 MINS to the hosp.the Dr looked at him for 5 mins and said he seems ok now,it wasn't a seizure if so he would have been convulsing like a grand mal.cats don't have focal seizures she said.she did phys exam and said his bladder is tender its prob infected.I paid $170 and he got a shot of antibiotics.
That night he had more episodes but not until about midnight.I called and they said wait til Monday and take him to his reg vet.

Sunday night they got even worse,more intense,once an hour, followed by intense sleep or obsessive grooming.I recorded all of these episodes.the only thing he would eat was tuna too.
Monday I took him to a diff hosp,ishowed videos Dr said it looks like focal seizure but even if not something is up.they did blood work and said the results were normal(only did thyroid and chem25 lab didn't do CBC)and so the seizures had to be caused by something in the brain.she wanted me to admit him to see a neurologist and do an MRI and a heart scan.it would start at $19-2400.i said why dont we do urine analysis and she didnt want to she said it would indicate the same things as blood work (but like i said we didnt get cdc test done)
I feel like this was skipping a lot of steps all he had done was 2 types of blood work!so I called my vet and they said just get some meds for the seizures see if it helps.
Almost $500 later and I still don't know what's wrong with my baby.Dr said it can't be toxicity or kidney disease etc bc it wld have shown abnormal blood work.
I have no idea what to do.scared to death that I'm making him suffer,i have no idea if he is in pain.he hasn't ate the keppra yet and the vet said it will only help if it's epilepsy which isn't likely.I don't want to spend money on Neuro tests like mri for them to say he can't be helped and it is fatal anyway (tumor,cancer)plus I just can't accept that he is dying he has always been young spirited and healthy.

I'm very attached to him,he knows his name and responds to me he sleeps on top of my chest.he's my baby,I am dying watching him have this confusion during the 'aura' stage and crying to me bc he knows something isn't right.then I have to watch the seizure and its just awful.I need to help him but I'm unsure the best way to go..has anyone ever experienced something similar?what would be other causes that I could take him to get checked for that could be treatable or should I do the Neuro please anyone give advice who has experienced something like this! 
P.s. only other symptoms are low water intake.
Only eating tunas which he normally eats his dry food everyday.stool is regular it's not diarrhea.
Before this started sat, all I noticed was increased sleeping the prev 2-3 days

please help me i cant wait and watch him sfffer

I'm so sorry about your poor cat  If he is getting worse and the seizures are not lessening perhaps it's time to go with the vet's advice and go for the further recommended tests. It is expensive, but it seems like the alternative at this point is not doing anything and hoping it goes away? This could result in more pain for your cat and worry for you while you aren't sure what's happening. I have no experience in these kinds of problems with a cat, maybe someone else here can tell me if I'm completely wrong about this - it just seems like potential neurological problems and seizures are not something to sit around and wait with. Judging by what the vet said it seems like the next logical step is to progress to the MRI/heart scan/neurologist?

I have no idea what could be wrong... when I read about his eyes I thought blood pressure but then when I kept reading it got way beyond my experience. Unless someone who has been through this posts...I would keep googling until you get some ideas of what it could be.

I just wanted to say how sorry I am.. I know it's tough watching them suffer and deciding to spend that much money when you might not get answers or might have to put him down anyway is gut wrenching. And sometimes you just don't have thousands to spend at a moments notice. 

Again I am so sorry... It's obvious how much you mean to each other. 

Hi @Dezarae Ashlee  and welcome to the site.  I wish it were under better circumstances!  

I too joined this site 4 years ago when my kitty Nat had his first seizure.  After numerous blood work and X-rays they have not been able to determine any cause.  It was preceded by a bout of nausea/vomiting/anorexia a couple months before hand, however, they were adamant that had nothing to do with it.  I still believe it did.  The abdominal scan showed nothing and the labs showed only a slight elevation in calcium which they were fairly positive was a cancerous tumor.  But this was over 4 years ago so they were wrong about that.  

Fast forward, he is now on phenobarb twice a day.  He hates it but it keeps him from having seizures.  He loves to eat, he sleeps, he basks in the sunshine.  He's pretty normal except for the neuro deficits from all the seizures he's had.  

Did this come on suddenly?  If so it would seem he ate something that was poisonous to him.  I suppose they checked his kidneys in the Chem25 and liver.  Don't give up!  Sometimes they do not know what causes seizures.  Seizures are symptoms, not a cause.  If they can't find the cause, they call it idiopathic epilepsy, which is what Nat was diagnosed with.  So they just treat him with phenobarb and that has helped him.  No seizures since last March.  Oh, and Nat was also 8 years old when these started.  I have his brothers and sister as well.  They are fine with no symptoms like this.  

I forgot to add this.  They told me they wanted to do MRI/lumbar puncture which costs $2000, but they said even then it might not show a thing.  I did not want to spend so much money only to be told what I had been told time after time - that all the tests are normal.  I wouldn't recommend it unless money is no issue to you.  For most of us it is!

Hello I am sorry your baby is ill

I am not a vet just a human nurse.

That said,seizures every hour??That would be a trip to ER for a person.

If kidneys are okay(high level toxins in blood can cause seizures)

and cat did not ingest a toxin of some kind which could damage kidneys) then yeah..

doc would say something has happened to the brain-they call it an "insult"

Can you try another vet and be a lot pushier???Something intravenous or a shot to stop seizures

and a blood count to check for infection??Maybe some fluids to hydrate??

High fevers cancause seizures ,too.

My baby is ill ,too.Some folks on site have syringed food and liquid into a cat.

Good luck cat Mommy

hello everyone thank you for all responses. Im sorry it took me awhile to get back,I took timone back to ER last night at 4 AM because his episodes were lasting longer. He didnt have one there (according to them,they always take him from me to put in ICU for observsation but i believe that whoever is watching him is looking for convulsions not focal seizure) I got a different dr that i liked more. she said continue to give him kreppa seizure medicine,and if it is a seizure no matter the cause it should stop it after it has time to get in his system.But the other dr he saw at that hospital said it would only stop it if it was epilepsy so idk who to believe. He is having them today.

I asked dr her personal opinion,what would she do if she was his mom and not his vet, and she said I wouldnt jump to neurology yet--but your almost at that point. She said it could be infectious disease like toxoplasmosis,fiv,fpv and things,i said can we just start treatment if there isnt neg side effects she said yes. gave me 2 rx's. They are hard to make him eat it but ive got them in. she also said to follow up with neuro and have him see videos and see him and he will listen to me tell him about his behavior and he could better tell me what he thinks it is and what testing he could do and what treatments would be and price of them.Im making appt to see him.she said he might want to do spinal tap.

He has appt with a vet who was recommended by friend to get his opinion as well bc timones primary vet doesnt work at that clinic anymore and the new one i dont think can help.i am hoping that the antibiotics help him.

my husband is reluctant to do neuro testing bc he thinks we will spend all the money and it wont be treatable or will be too expensive. I would go broke tho bc hes my baby. If antibiotics dont help and neuro gives possibilities that can be treated or arent all fatal i plan to do what needs done.I cant watch him die. 

The vet also said that she doesnt think it is toxins because besides today his seizures were primarily during the night and she said cats brains stimulate at night and its normal for them to be at night time and if it was a toxin he would get worse even during day.also his blood might reflect something and all tests they did indicated normal function. 

thank you to everyone for replying!

i pray he will be ok he is my baby its heart wrenching to watch these episodes

p.s. this dr said heart disease isnt likely bc he doesnt show other symptoms his gait is normal he doesnt show weakness where he cant stand or sit up.she did say cats mask symptoms so it could be a possibility and said if i wanted to do xray she could. it was 200 so im asking this vet in the AM what he thinks and if he thinks i should i will do it thru them.

The main thing right now is to stop all seizures with medication, even the small ones.  (I can't believe that one doctor didn't think twitches were seizures....they are!)  

Truth is, they may NEVER find out the cause  I really don't want to discourage you because you may be the exception where they locate the cause and treat it, if it is treatable.  In that case the bottom line still remains the same and that is to treat the seizures and stop them with medication which he will be on for life, if the cause isn't found and treated.  

I have to give Nat liquid phenobarb from a syringe twice a day.  It's due now, as a matter of fact.  Is your kitty still in ICU for observation now or is he home with meds?  (Sorry I read quickly because I just saw you were still on here and wanted to hurry up and see if I could catch you.)

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

does the phenobarb make your kitty sleepy and tired? They said keppra wouldnt do that,thats why they said that was best and the phenobarb would. im anxious bc he still is having them but he only had 1 full dose so far and he wont be due again for 3.5 hrs. how long did it take ur kitty to respond? he doesnt have any other symptoms and is fine with just seizure med? thank u for responding

thank u for keeping them crossed, i am too. he isnt just my cat i feel like everyone here feels the same. Some people act like i should just get another cat. I want to attack them lol.

also my husband just got back into town so this is the first he has saw of my cats episodes, and he has tried to snap him out of it, i never did that out of fear to scare him too much, i have called his name to see if he would respond or waved my hand in front of him.sometimes he will perk his ears my way so i know he hears me but wont move.sometimes no response at all.sometimes he will perk head up look around and go back to dazed and blank stare.my husband shook his treat canister (he always runs when he hears his treat can) and he did during the seizure too,he ate the treats and then when back and fell into deep sleep. He has had much deeper seizures than that one tho so im not convinced he would always respond but i wonder if it is good or bad to snap him out of it.i didnt ask the vet about that bc i never thought to do something like that

Dezarae Ashlee said:

 
does the phenobarb make your kitty sleepy and tired? They said keppra wouldnt do that,thats why they said that was best and the phenobarb would. im anxious bc he still is having them but he only had 1 full dose so far and he wont be due again for 3.5 hrs. how long did it take ur kitty to respond? he doesnt have any other symptoms and is fine with just seizure med? thank u for responding

thank u for keeping them crossed, i am too. he isnt just my cat i feel like everyone here feels the same. Some people act like i should just get another cat. I want to attack them lol.

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OMG one of my family members told me to just put him down.  So I know how you feel, don't listen to those idiots he's your baby!  Yes it makes Nat a little sleepy.  Mellow, more like.  Kinda like he's been smokin' weed Lol.  He's normally a nervous kitty until he gets his pheno.  

My mom took Keppra for her seizures and it made her sleepy!  But she didn't stay on it for long so maybe it's just a temporary side effect.  I hate it that Nat does get sleepy, but better than than to have seizures!  Let us know how your kitty is doing!  We hope for the best.  You came to the right place. 

Hello Dezarae Ashlee,

I am a human specialist physician, not a vet, so any advice that I can give you would apply to general management and is subject to veterinary opinion.  If I were treating a human patient with these symptoms, then the first consideration would be to stop the symptoms and then wait.  I would consider expensive investigations, such as an MRI of the skull, only later if the patient fails to respond to medication for epilepsy or if a treatable cause for the symptoms were apparent. 

My vet told me that cats can be old at 8 and that they  are at risk for developing degenerative diseases at this age.  My Siamese, Simon, developed epilepsy at 9 and the main thing that we did was to control his seizures - and stop him sitting on the balcony rail!  We did not plunge into a large number of useless investigations such as cardiac investigations or expensive X-Rays.  We just waited and watched. He had a very comfortable life, only had a few seizures, certainly did not suffer and died of a stroke at 14.  By waiting, we eventually knew what was happening - and we knew then that we could not have done anything to stop Simon's arteries from degenerating. 

There is a rule in medicine that I used to teach to my students: "If you don't know what you are treating, don't panic but treat any treatable symptoms and then wait - only three things can happen: 

1. The patient gets worse so that it is easier to find out what is wrong.

2. Nothing changes - so wait some more.

3.The patient gets better - and you have cured your patient!

I think that this philosophy of waiting and seeing what happens might apply to you (if your vet agrees.)

With kind regards,

Geoffrey

i wish i knew how to post pictures onto this thread. im not sure if he is sleepy and can barely keep eyes open or if he is hazing a seizure. his legs are tucked under him so i dont see twitching and there isnt any facial ones.
did nat respond immediately?

Dezarae Ashlee said:

also my husband just got back into town so this is the first he has saw of my cats episodes, and he has tried to snap him out of it, i never did that out of fear to scare him too much, i have called his name to see if he would respond or waved my hand in front of him.sometimes he will perk his ears my way so i know he hears me but wont move.sometimes no response at all.sometimes he will perk head up look around and go back to dazed and blank stare.my husband shook his treat canister (he always runs when he hears his treat can) and he did during the seizure too,he ate the treats and then when back and fell into deep sleep. He has had much deeper seizures than that one tho so im not convinced he would always respond but i wonder if it is good or bad to snap him out of it.i didnt ask the vet about that bc i never thought to do something like that

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I would NOT try to snap him out of it.  It will scare him.  I've noticed that when Nat had his big seizures, that when he starts becoming conscious again, he's extremely sensitive to any noises around him and he reacts to it by jumping and shaking in reaction to the loud sounds.  Part of it is disorientation too, but also very sensitive hearing.  

Please keep very calm and quiet around your kitty when these happen for the reasons above.  Speak softly and don't make any sudden moves or any loud noises.  Just stay nearby and comfort him with your words or with gentle petting.  

I'm really surprised they sent him home still having seizures.  With Nat, they kept him in ICU until he was stable - in other words NO seizures on medications.  They gave him IV Diazepam to stop any seizures he had and a loading dose of IV phenobarbitol to get his level up to where he can go home on an oral maintenance dose.  

To post a picture, look above where you would type your message, below the word "Reply".  You'll see a row of icons starting with the words Source, Normal, Size, etc.  Click on the "insert image" icon over on the right side of that row near the smiley icon.  You'll have to have the pic uploaded to your computer or phone beforehand.  Hope that helps!

Nat did respond very well.  His last seizure happened the last time I took him to ICU which was last March 2015.  He's done well since on phenobarb twice a day.  

Thank you so much Geoffrey that have me peace of mind.I'm hoping he respond to the keppra.if not my husband is prob going to be mad.too bad for him. I'm so grateful for ur post thank u so much.
They did not admit bc they didn't see him have a seizure,they offered to admit to neurology bc the testing they wanted to do see in Neuro but it was so much

Geoffrey I'm sorry to hear about ur kitty but I'm glad he had a good life.
Ginny I'm so happy he doesn't have anymore I hope Timone stops too I can't wait until 1 so he can have more medicine ...this is how he looked when I wasn't sure what it was

This is during the seizure how he looks, There's some twitching too with blank stare. I told my husband what u said about being quiet too!thank u