More good thoughts needed for Squeeker!

Poor little man! for Squeeker. I feel so bad for the little guy.
Has the vet been able to pin-point what's causing the seizures? ( I seem to remember you mentioned meningitis as a possibility.) Have you considered getting a 2nd opinion?

Originally Posted by libby74

Poor little man!

for Squeeker. I feel so bad for the little guy.
Has the vet been able to pin-point what's causing the seizures? ( I seem to remember you mentioned meningitis as a possibility.) Have you considered getting a 2nd opinion?

Click to expand...

Here is an update on little Squeeker: After a very rough night Sunday, I was not too optimistic, but I took him to work with me and called the vet, she said to up his doseage of Phenobarbital and hopefully that would help-I asked if it would be a good idea to give him another steroid shot and she said no, she was worried about the concequences if we did since he has already had 2 shots. I work for another veterinary hospital with 5 other vets, I asked them about another shot and they all seemed to agree it would be okay to give one more considering the circumstances-so I did. I basically consider them my 2nd opinion. We still are unsure of the cause of his seizures since he is still only 2 1/2 pounds, there is not much testing we can do. I am happy to report thought that the steroid must have worked again because he is back to bouncing off the walls and eating great. We are also going on vacation for 2 weeks in early Sept. so I am trying my best to get him healthy and regulated before then so I will not have to worry as much while we are away, (yeah right I will probably worry too much!) I would hate for something to happen and we were not there to be with him. Thanks for everyone's support and thoughts for little Squeeker!

Wow - that is so good to hear - he is one resillient little angel!! Here is hoping that he'll gain more weight and that tests than can pin point his problem.

Thanks for being such a good Mom!!!

Emotional rollercoaster drop #502! He has started cluster seziuring again today while at work, I have also noticed that he no longer screams when he is having one either which makes me worried! I now am not sure how many he has had that I may have missed, because he doesn't make any noise. I am taking him to the big veterinary referall center tomorrow to see a neurologist and hopefully they will have some answers for me as to why he is having them and what we can do about it. Just please keep fingers crossed and prayers coming his way tonight!

Oh, geez; I wish I could you & Squeeker a big hug. Poor little man. Got everything crossed, hoping the specialist can come up with something.

Poor Squ eeker - you both have been through so much. Loving vibes and prayers from me and Astrid during this tough time. We will be thinking of you. Good luck!

Hopefully, at the center, answers will be found that will help sweet little Squeeker.

everyone keep your fingers crossed for good news at the neuroligist today, I am kinda scared of what they may have to say. I am pretty sure it either involves lots of money of bad news for Squeeker. Here's hoping for an answer without a lot of testing.! I will let you all know what they say.

Plenty of loving thoughts coming Squeekers way.
I will be watching your update.

Ok so we went to the neurologist today and we have some good news to report. It is juvenile epilepsy and hopefully it will go away, but may be a life long problem. We are going to increase his Phenobarbital dose as well as adding another anti-convulsant called Clonazipam that I am having compounded into a liquid that will be a small enough dose for his 2 1/2 pounds. He said that otherwise he checks out neurologically just fine YEAH! And to top it all off he ended up giving me my 1 hour exam for free since I am a vet tech and he felt bad for our story, what a nice guy! I am also aware that it may cause severe drowsiness and I am willing to put up with it I just cannot wait untill the day his seizures are under control and he is back to a playful kitten again! Thanks for all the prayers!

I haven't been on here in a while and was just now reading about Squeekers problems. I went through something similar with my kitty Scooter. It's a long story but to try to make it short he was fine the first 6-7wks of his life except he lost his mother and had to be bottle fed. After he was weaned and put on regular kitten food he started having problems. He started having trouble walking until eventually he couldn't even move or go to the bathroom without stimulation. He was checked for all diseases and everything came back negative. They diagnosed him with rickets and then neurological problems. They didn't expect him to live. I worked on his legs constantly and after about a month he was able to start scooting around and eventually started walking. Finally he was like a normal kitty just on the small side. I say normal but he was the most playful kitten I have ever seen. He was like a maniac. I did think this a little strange. After about a month of doing well I noticed his face was twitching in a weird way and this of course was the start of his seizures. He was put on phenobarb and did okay and after several days the seizures finally stopped. He was very lethargic and didn't eat quite as well as before when he ate great. Then I noticed him in his little bed seeming dazed and drooling. The vet said it was just the meds. and they probably need to increase them. He did a little better for a while and then the same thing. While he was still on the small side he was growing and they thought he might be outgrowing his dose and would need increases as he grew. He was still having seizures occasionaly but the dazed, drooling thing was freaking me out. Finally one Sunday it was so bad I took him to the emergency vet who happened to be my regular vet filling in and she thought he was having a mild seizure and was going to give him valium and keep him for the day. When I went to pick him up he was way worse and she didn't know what was going on. She did notice that his bowels were full and wanted to give him an enema which i okayed. They wanted to keep him overnight but I really thought he was going to die and wanted him to die at home with me. They gave him fluids before we left and did some bloodwork. When I brought him home he was lifeless and just laid on the bed not moving which he did for hours. When he finally got up and started moving around it was obvious he was blind. I didn't mention this but this started in Nov. of 2004 and at this point we are in April of 2005. Also I had done lots of research on the interenet about seizures in cats and mentioned some of the things I had found that could be the cause of his seizures and the vet I saw pretty much blew them off. I have a friend who is a homeopathic vet who I called that night and read her the results of the bloodwork and she was convinced it was a liver shunt. She recommended seeing another vet. So on Monday I took him to someone else and while he was still blind he was doing better. She did an ultrasound on him and there is was an Extrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt. This was one of the things I mentioned to my vet but he said absolutely not as that is very rare in cats. So this entire time I had been poisoning his system with the food he was eating and the medicine he was taking. He never needed the phenobarb because he didn't have any neurological problems. The seizures were from toxins mostly high ammonia levels from his food. The high ammonia levels is also what makes them act so hyper. The valium she gave him at the emergency clinic is what amost killed him because his system can't tolerate those kind of drugs. What did help him that they did was the enema and fluids. When ammonia levels are high that is how they treat it. He is now on a kidney diet as his system can't handle high protein or high sodium. He takes lacutulose 3 times a day along with an antibiotic, antioxident and denosyl. He does not take seizure medicine anymore. He is doing really good. On the rare occasion he will get into my other cats food and this will always cause a seizure so I have to really be careful. Eventually he is going to have the surgery to repair it but I am scared because it is so risky. He is also a very small kitty which is common with these cats. It was a happy day when he hit 4lbs. My vet has advised against using any kind of flea products on him also no shots or neutering as these liver shunt kitties don't handle anesthesia well. I'm sorry this is so long but truthfully this is really a brief version of what we went through. I don't know if your vet checked for this but it may be worth looking into. No matter how rare it is cats do get it and my new vet said it often goes undiagnosed. I wish I had been more insistant about testing for the liver shunt but I trusted the vet knew better than I did. All they symptoms were right there. I went through 4 vets and lots of money. One thing they all told me was that epilepsy in cats is rare and they only diagnose them as epileptics when they can rule everything else out. My new vet said when she has a kitten with seizures her first thought is FIP and then liver shunts. I'm glad Squeeker is doing better and I hope he continues to improve.

Thanks CathyC, I appreciate your concern and am sure sorry to hear about the horrific ordeal you went through with your kitty. I have tested for a liver shunt as well as all the virals (FIP, FIV & FELV), glucose, and I have not tested for Toxoplasmosis as that is a totally worthless test in my opinion. I was not able to test for meningitis as he is still too small. I am fortunate to work for 5 veterinarians as well as I have a wonderful vet that I take Squeeker to. We also have a wonderful refferal center with multiple numbers of specialists, one of the neurologists I saw today. I am pretty sure that it is now pinpointed down to the epilepsy, and I will cetainly give the meds a try. In worst case senario, if he continues to not improve we have the option of an MRI to tell us exactly what the problem is, but seeing as that cost on average $3000-$4000, I will use this as a last resort. It can be trying at times to get the doseage correct as he continues to gain weight but I am not ready to give up yet.~

What a long night it was-we had more seizures than we knew what to do with! I am hoping that the new dose of Pheno. works better today, I am not sure why all of a sudden things got soo much worse???? The other drug should be here sometime first part of next week so maybe that will be the one that works miracles who knows. Poor little Squeeker, keep lots of good thoughts coming his way for a better day today.

Originally Posted by kittycorner

What a long night it was-we had more seizures than we knew what to do with! I am hoping that the new dose of Pheno. works better today, I am not sure why all of a sudden things got soo much worse???? The other drug should be here sometime first part of next week so maybe that will be the one that works miracles who knows. Poor little Squeeker, keep lots of good thoughts coming his way for a better day today.

Click to expand...

Oh bless Squeekers little heart and yours too

I wish you good luck with Squeeker, I thought that by now the seizures were under control. That is so strange, I have read that Pheno takes effect immediately. My catâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s seizures were under control as soon as he took Pheno, whatever the dosage. With his first vet he was taking 16mg twice daily and with the second he is taking 10mg once daily. What I notice with Andy is that without the medication the seizures were more frequent and were lasting longer and longer. I hope they find the right dosage for him, since he is so tiny.

Thank heaven the neurologist was able to give you an answer; really hoping it's the right one, for dear little Squeeker's sake. The poor baby has been thru so much (as have you)! Sending all the positive, healing vibes I can.

Squeeker update: The new doseage of Pheno. is not seeming to be working-he had almost a seizure an hour the last 2 evenings and when he is not doing that he seems to have small twitching/jerking llike movements to his face and upper torso. I talked with my regular vet yest. and we went ahead and gave him some Valium to help calm the twitches down so he can rest comfortably. I am hoping that the new medication will arrive in the mail soon, he cannot continue on like this-he is also drunk as a skunk! I knew that Pheno. did that but it is really sad to watch a little 9 wk old kitten walking around like a drunken sailor. If he continues to seizure thru the night tonight we are taking him back to the vet and admitting him for seizure watch and control tomorrow. Poor little Squeeker!

Oh, the poor little guy! I just don't know what to say--this has to be incredibly difficult on all of you. Wish I had some insight or helpful advice; all I can do is keep sending those positive vibes Squeeker's way.

Little man update! He started his new medicine last night and other than being totally drunk off his butt, his condition has improved dramatically, no more facial twitching and hopefullly no more seizures. I am hoping that even if he never outgrows this condition, if we can control them and if nothing else if someone who reads this can learn from our experience than it has all been worth the emotional turmoil. I will keep my fingers crossed that we may have finally found a solution!

I hope this new med does the trick. C'mon Squeeker!