Sleep apnea, or seizure?

We have had our cat for 4 years now, and since he was 2 or 3, he has had violent twitches in his sleep. When he has his sleep fits, he often twitches, his eyes open a bit, and sometimes he makes a noise, that I can only describe as screaming. I just realized how violent they are sometimes, since he is between my legs when he just had an fit. The fits don't wake him up, and he seems perfectly fine like nothing happened if I wake him up. I saw that cats with seizures have the same fit. But I always read that sleep apnea could look like seizures. How do I tell if he is having sleep apnea, or a seizure? This only occurs when he's sleeping, so I originally thought they were nightmares due to his screaming. Sometimes if I wake him up (when he gets really bad), he will hiss as soon as he wakes up, and then calms down and licks me...so could it possible be nightmares too?

@Mutation I was not aware that cats can get sleep apnea, so I would definitely ask your vet about this.

I was thinking the twitches and eye movements sound more like dreaming, and possibly nightmares, but if he were my cat,

I would suggest video-taping, or recording these episodes on your camera, phone, etc...and bringing the video in to your vet to make sure they are not seizures or apnea.

There are medications for seizures.

And I suppose it all depends on what your vet thinks. Your vet might want to run blood tests to further rule out things, but the video would help.

Good Luck.

Alright, thanks. I didn't think cats could get nightmares, so I was a bit worried. I really think they are, in rare cases he will bite at the air or hiss in his sleep. I believe they are just nightmares, now that I know they are possible. He only has the fits in his sleep, and the only sign of sleep apnea are his fits. I will still ask the vet though, just in case. Thank you.

I have not seen any of my cats bite at the air, but I have seen them twitch, leg movements like running, tail movements, growling and hissing.

It scared me, too, until I figured it was only when asleep, and only happened twice.

But yes, both my dog and cats get into sleeping and dreaming, and barking and growling, when asleep,...it does get everyone's attention, animals included.

I would still do the video thing, just in case your vet sees things that us regular people do not.

Besides, if it happens a lot, and he is screaming, maybe there is something they can do for constant nightmares, too.

Hopefully, you can get some professional, concrete answers.

(I also thought that maybe it looks like nightmares to us, but to our cats, they are chasing down wild prey, and having awesome dreams. I would hope so.

Hopefully, your vet will know exactly what it is.)

I agree with @cat nap    I would video the activity, and show it to the vet. 

Cats do dream at night. I was also concerned about my guys twitching in his sleep, and what appeared to his suckling in his sleep; but I have come to realize he is in a deep sleep. Sometimes when he is on my lap, and I really need to get up, he is sleeping so soundly, that I have a hard time waking him up...

Cats are similar to people in sleep...