Hi there!
We have two wonderfull cats, a 5 year old (Thai) Siamese and a 6 year old Oriental shorthair/Siamese/british shorthair cross. Both are neutered males.
The latter one, named Bunker, unfortunately has been suffering from seizures since he was 10 months old. He's had grand mal seizures from the start. His seizures only happen during sleep. He will start jerking and twitching, salvating, immediately loses bladder control, followed by running and jumping around uncontrollably. He slams into everything and jumps up against walls as if being catapulted, we seen him jump 6 ft against the wall. He then ends up in a corner or underneath something and he falls over and convulses. The whole thing from start to finish lasts between 1-3 minutes. Unfortunately all the while he sprays urine everywhere, so I've become sn expert in removing cat pee from every surface imaginable. But worse is the slamming into everything and the running and jumping, as he does that with all claws extended and regularly rips up his claws and toes quite bad. As in bleeding, nails scraped off to the nail bed and he has even pulled out nails a couple of times when they got caught on something. He has also broken several teeth (he's missing to canines by now)
After a seizure he will be dazed for a couple minutes, and act pretty normal within minutes, except for wolfing down a bowl of feed as if he hasn't eaten in days. The following day he is completely normal, except for often being sore, especially his feet/nails.
He has been on phenobarbital since 11 months old, so over 5 years now. He has had bloodwork done, and this is done every year, and he's fine bloodwork-wise. Neurological tests come back fine too. He's had a MRI, which showed nothing.
His mother, who was a rescue from a puppy/kitten mill and was rescued while pregnant with him and his two siblings, also has seizures, so there is a very high probability it's a genetic thing. She's owned by a friend of mine. One of his siblings, also male, also has seizures.
We started with a very low dose of phenobarbital, only 6,25 Mg per day, divided into 2 doses, so 2 doses of just over 3 Mg each every 12 hours. This kept him seizure free for 7 months untill he got breakthrough seizures. He then got 6,25 Mg every 12 hours, and when he had no seizures for a month we lowered the dose again. Immediate seizures, and they were bad, like every day. Back to the 6,25 dose/12 hrs. After a month, again bad seizure activity. Upped the dose again (blood levels were low) to just under 9,5 Mg/12 hrs. Same story, breakthrough seizures again. To be clear, those are not isolated seizures, but 2-4 seizures a week.
By now we are on a dose of 18,75 Mg/12 hrs.... his blood serum levels for phenobarbital are checked after each change btw, and always every six months (together with liver function). For those with experience with phenobarbital, his peak level is around 35, but his through level is often below 20, so he metabolizes it very fast.
We've tried combination therapy, added the liquid keppra (levetiracetam... sp?), but he HATES that, it causes so much stress it leads to more seizures. Vet says there aren't any good other options, and we don't want to up the dose on the phenobarbital any further really, the vet says that would cause liver damage (his liver hasn't changed at all so far).
His seizures are now, with this dose, around 1-2 a week, sometimes we get 1-2 quiet weeks with no seizures.
Went to get a second opinion last week, and was basically told to put him down. So far, not aan option for me, and the way they told me this makes me never want to go back there ever again. He is a happy cat 95% of the time, really. I am not keeping him with me at all cost, he truly is happy. He plays with his buddy, bounces around the house and is just being a cat. He hasn't changed in any way except for the seizures.
Sorry for the giant wall of text.... but I wanted to give a clear story, and ask if anyone here has experience with epilepsy in cats, if they've found other treatment options, perhaps suggestions about avoiding him damagjng himself, just anything that might help.
Oh, and I'm sorry if there are any weird mistakes in spelling or grammar, English isn't my first language.
We have two wonderfull cats, a 5 year old (Thai) Siamese and a 6 year old Oriental shorthair/Siamese/british shorthair cross. Both are neutered males.
The latter one, named Bunker, unfortunately has been suffering from seizures since he was 10 months old. He's had grand mal seizures from the start. His seizures only happen during sleep. He will start jerking and twitching, salvating, immediately loses bladder control, followed by running and jumping around uncontrollably. He slams into everything and jumps up against walls as if being catapulted, we seen him jump 6 ft against the wall. He then ends up in a corner or underneath something and he falls over and convulses. The whole thing from start to finish lasts between 1-3 minutes. Unfortunately all the while he sprays urine everywhere, so I've become sn expert in removing cat pee from every surface imaginable. But worse is the slamming into everything and the running and jumping, as he does that with all claws extended and regularly rips up his claws and toes quite bad. As in bleeding, nails scraped off to the nail bed and he has even pulled out nails a couple of times when they got caught on something. He has also broken several teeth (he's missing to canines by now)
After a seizure he will be dazed for a couple minutes, and act pretty normal within minutes, except for wolfing down a bowl of feed as if he hasn't eaten in days. The following day he is completely normal, except for often being sore, especially his feet/nails.
He has been on phenobarbital since 11 months old, so over 5 years now. He has had bloodwork done, and this is done every year, and he's fine bloodwork-wise. Neurological tests come back fine too. He's had a MRI, which showed nothing.
His mother, who was a rescue from a puppy/kitten mill and was rescued while pregnant with him and his two siblings, also has seizures, so there is a very high probability it's a genetic thing. She's owned by a friend of mine. One of his siblings, also male, also has seizures.
We started with a very low dose of phenobarbital, only 6,25 Mg per day, divided into 2 doses, so 2 doses of just over 3 Mg each every 12 hours. This kept him seizure free for 7 months untill he got breakthrough seizures. He then got 6,25 Mg every 12 hours, and when he had no seizures for a month we lowered the dose again. Immediate seizures, and they were bad, like every day. Back to the 6,25 dose/12 hrs. After a month, again bad seizure activity. Upped the dose again (blood levels were low) to just under 9,5 Mg/12 hrs. Same story, breakthrough seizures again. To be clear, those are not isolated seizures, but 2-4 seizures a week.
By now we are on a dose of 18,75 Mg/12 hrs.... his blood serum levels for phenobarbital are checked after each change btw, and always every six months (together with liver function). For those with experience with phenobarbital, his peak level is around 35, but his through level is often below 20, so he metabolizes it very fast.
We've tried combination therapy, added the liquid keppra (levetiracetam... sp?), but he HATES that, it causes so much stress it leads to more seizures. Vet says there aren't any good other options, and we don't want to up the dose on the phenobarbital any further really, the vet says that would cause liver damage (his liver hasn't changed at all so far).
His seizures are now, with this dose, around 1-2 a week, sometimes we get 1-2 quiet weeks with no seizures.
Went to get a second opinion last week, and was basically told to put him down. So far, not aan option for me, and the way they told me this makes me never want to go back there ever again. He is a happy cat 95% of the time, really. I am not keeping him with me at all cost, he truly is happy. He plays with his buddy, bounces around the house and is just being a cat. He hasn't changed in any way except for the seizures.
Sorry for the giant wall of text.... but I wanted to give a clear story, and ask if anyone here has experience with epilepsy in cats, if they've found other treatment options, perhaps suggestions about avoiding him damagjng himself, just anything that might help.
Oh, and I'm sorry if there are any weird mistakes in spelling or grammar, English isn't my first language.
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