Hairball induced seizures!?

[mrsgreenjeens]

So all in all things are good it seems. No more seizures is fantastic, and rising platelets is also good. Fingers crossed those platelets keep rising

 

[KatM05]

Wow I’m so glad I saw this post. I see it’s old but some newer posts.

My almost 9 year old cat had a seizure the other day after dry heaving trying to cough a hairball. I have 2 long haired cats and they both are pukers. Some from eating too fast and some are hairball but I’ve never seen a cat have a seizure. I’ve always had cats. This was so scary. She was on the couch dry heaving which isn’t abnormal, nothing came out, she jumped off the couch took a step and fell over. She was moving her legs like she was running on her side and she looked weird and scared. It only lasted maybe 15-30 seconds but then she couldn’t stand up. At first my daughter and I didn’t realize it was a seizure. We helped her up and her back leg wasn’t working normally and she was walking really strange to her food bowl area and then just pooped on the floor. Mind you this cat NEVER poops or pees outside of the litterbox except once with a uti. Then she walked into my room close by and when I went to pet her she walked away under a table. She looked scared and out of it. She’s very affectionate, almost ocd affectionate. She demands pets and kisses and laps. She even pulled away when I touched her leg and wouldn’t come for treats. She’s a treat addict.

We called the vet they said take her to Er hospital since they had no openings. They checked her out and of course offered me $1200-1500 estimate for labs that i couldn’t afford. They told me to watch her then and follow up with my regular vet. I emailed with my vet and she told me all the possibilities and she did mention one strange one where cats can be triggered my sounds. This one cat if her owner opened a wrapper to a protein bar it would have a seizure. I emailed her to ask if the hairball could have been the cause. I’m waiting for response. But it kind of makes sense right. If they are losing oxygen to the brain with the heaving or throwing up maybe it triggers it? It is weird that mine does hairball and throw up usually without issue but maybe she has one stuck in there. I should get hairball stuff to help her get it out.

I hope everyone’s kitties are doing better. Scared the crap out of me. Hope it’s a one time thing. Mine was back to normal after we left er. She came home and was drinking and eating a lot.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Start your own (new) thread with the information about your kitty. I seriously doubt a hairball is the actual reason, but something triggered by the coughing might be. Your kitty is hitting senior age, and should have a full senior check up, including the extensive blood panel (CBC, Chemistry Profile, T4) to start off with. That by itself, won't cost nearly what you were quoted, and it would be a place to start.

It sounds like a seizure and even if the hairball event triggered it, there is something else going on behind the scenes.

You can give her a dab of butter (from your finger or on her paw) a couple of times a week to help with expelling the hairballs.

 

[Odo]

I was told by a couple of different vets at this point that if he's only having three or four seizures a year, that the it isn't worth putting him on seizure medication for. I was told by several vets that the hairballs I have never cause seizures as far as any of them have ever heard. Several of them thought that theory was very ridiculous. Seizures can be brought on by stress, and of coughing up a hairball causes stress you would see a correlation there. I am continuing to give OTC hairball gel in food on a regular basis. Not long after my vet appointments for this seizure issue, Odo had feline pancreatitis. After he recovered from that his front left paw started leaning towards his midline at an angle it shouldn't, and when he put pressure on it he developed tremors until pressure was taken off. I had X-rays taken thinking he broke his leg, and one vet told me his cervical spine was starting to fuse causing the nerve issue. Another vet looking at the same x-rays told me they didn't see that in his cervical spine but they did see the beginning stages of arthritis in his shoulders which could cause that nerve to twitch. He is now on gabapentin twice a day and cosequin joint supplements once a day. Side note, he now has double ear infections

 

[josiegirl]

Hi! Someone on here mentioned food...Can you guys look at your food labels and see if there's any gluten in it? Corn gluten, wheat gluten, etc...I told a client, whose cat has seizures, that gluten could be to blame so she changed most of the food and the seizures mostly stopped. Didn't completely stop, but that could be because her wet food still contains gluten and her cat eats that a few times a week.

I read somewhere that a study was done and cats that are sensitive to gluten (wheat gluten, corn gluten, etc..) can have seizures.
I'm not sure that's the case here but it's worth looking at your food labels. The stress from coughing up a hairball can be a trigger, too. But maybe the cat is also consuming some gluten.

Just a thought...(Thanks for listening!)

 

[Aluriyasha]

Hello I just read this and it somehow brought me a bit of hope, (I realize this is uber old and all)
I have a 6-year-old lady that is super fluffy, and just as you describe it she pukes up hairballs just before the seizure starts. Ive been to the vet multiple times, which 2 of those were for tests only. The Test always comes back just fine, nothing wrong. I started to get scared since it can be brain damage or a tumor but when I touch the head she does not seem to get any discomfort. She is getting medicated, which can help a bit but might not remove it totally. But I never really read all way through, I need to do that. But I was just wondering if the food change (like hairball removal etc) worked against the seizures or not. (Here is the beautiful lady btw
//Much Love

 

[Olive Leaf]

I cannot find anything similar about this anywhere on the web. My cat is just under 3 years old, he has been in pretty great health since I got him at around 7 weeks. Withing the past 5 months however he has had 3 seizures. I have noticed that he literally has NEVER puked. He never eats too fast and vomits and has never coughed up a hairball. That was until about late August.

He had his first seizure then, and it was immediately after he coughed up his first hairball. He really struggled with getting it out, I heard him trying to cough it up from the next room over and went in to see if I could help. As soon as he coughed it up he got extremely wide eyed and started full force just running around the room, knocking into stuff and just generally freaking out. After about 30 seconds of that he went into full body convulsion seizures, he was drooling and and convulsing. I had a dog that used to have seizures so I knew that all I could do was comfort him and protect him so I just pet him and such until he came to. The seizures that time lasted about 2 minutes max, when he came back he was super freaked out. Still super wide eyed and just looked around until he started meowing rather loudly. He does that if he is spooked and such so I expected that. I just kept calming him and he went on for about 10 minutes like that until I offered him some wet food and water which he ate pretty ferociously and calmed down after. I immediately called my vet and they told me that as long as it did not happen again anytime soon that I really should not be concerned about it and I really didn't have to take him in.

His second seizure was early December, this was extremely similar to the fist seizure but once he came to he didn't meow loudly at all but his back legs were extremely lethargic and limp. He had trouble walking around on them for a bit, again I fed him some wet food and he was fine about 10 minutes after that. I found his hairball and it was the same as before. Again I called my vet and made an appointment but I had to reschedule because of work and with the holidays coming up I have been waiting until after to get him in.

Now his third seizure was last night , actually early morning (January 4th). I woke up at 4am because I heard him running around and crashing into the bed post I knew immediately what was happening. He started convulsing right in front of me so I tried to comfort him the best I could, the difference this time is that the seizure lasted longer it seems. I would say about 3-4 minutes. Then again I could of just been tired but it seemed super long. The other difference is when he came to, he just bounced right back. He saw me, nuzzled me. Kind of wandered into the closet and right back out. Happily jumped over some clothes I had left on the floor and came right back up to me rubbing up on my legs. I found the hairball right away, I fed him and he ate super ferociously this time. Right after he finished his wet food he went straight to his dry food, which he normally does not care much for. Especially after eating his wet food. After all that he was fine again.

Now me and my boyfriend both noticed that the past few days he has seemed down, I knew he wasn't feeling well but I thought he had an ear infection because he kept his ears tilted and would wiggle his head. I have another cat that is 16 and she has persistent ear infections so I treat her for them often, I was going to pick up some more ear meds when I went into the vet for him. I have not been home much but my boyfriend mentioned that he thought that my cat did not like the food I was feeding him because he would never eat it when he fed them. Now he has always been a picky-ish cat and would sometimes just not eat, but would come back later. I figured that was what he was doing. But now since he ate so ferociously after his seizure I am thinking that possibly these hairballs are blocking him up and he cannot eat because of them. Could that be possible? Has anyone had any experience with anything similar to this? I want to get as much information as I can before I bring him in so I can have the vet check up on EVERYTHING.

Thank you in advance for any information!

I know this is an old thread but I just had to tell you I landed here after searching on duck duck go for "cat has seizures when having hairballs" because that's exactly what's been happening to one of our older cats. He only has seizures when he's trying to have a hairball (or hairballs are causing seizures). They are always concurrent. He's a bit wobbly afterword but doesn't seem upset or ill. It's been happening for months. We've had pets with seizure disorders so didn't totally freak out about it but the relationship to hairballs has been very puzzling. So very glad to find this thread. I just wanted to chime in. Any vet who doubts cause & effect should think again!

 

[My Fluffy Furballs]

Same boat! Miles is Maine Coons Mix and has never had a hairball or threw up. At 5 years old he had his first seizure, he even peed. He had 3 full blown seizures with in 6 months. Vet put him on phenobarbital. It's been almost 2 years. He's had 2 mini episodes since the medication. Last week he started to seize, he gently laid him on his side and we massaged his throat and he threw up the biggest hairball I'd ever seen. He didn't urinate. He did get very stiff and still. For the next two days he was jumpy and searched the house for what attacked him. He also stayed by my side, I think to protect me from what got him. I definitely think there's some relation with hairballs and seizures.

 

[Tashnell]

I give all my furries Egg Yolk Lecithin every day, just as a precautionary measure against hairballs. It seems to work very well, as this past year was a very bad year for hairballs according to many posters here on TCS, yet we didn't have any issues at our house.

Callie eats Natures Plus EYL (about 1/2 capsule daily), plain. I just squeeze it out of the capsule into her bowl before breakfast and she gobbles it up. It's kind of like cooked egg yolk texture.

The Boys get Swanson's EYL, which is very powdery. I dissolve theirs in a tiny bit of water, along with their probiotic and mix it right into their food. Again, 1/2 capsule daily.

The brushing daily is always a good idea. Depending on her hair length, Zoom Grooms work great on short haired cats. Callie and Tinky have medium length fur, so we find that a comb actually works better than a brush, because it allows us to penetrate all the layers and get down to the skin.

The food you feed can also have an effect on hairballs. What are you feeding her?

I have been giving my cats the Natures Plus EYL and it seems to be helping a lot. I ordered a new bottle, the company has changed the labeling and it looks like their formulation is different. One of the ingredients is magnesium sterate and now is two capsules for the same does of capsule with the old formulat. Do you still recommend this brand?

 

[fionasmom]

Welcome to The Cat Site! This is an old thread, but fortunately mrsgreenjeens is here.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Welcome to The Cat Site! This is an old thread, but fortunately mrsgreenjeens is here.

I am indeed still here, but unfortunately, Callie is not, and she was the only one in the household who would eat the Natures Plus EYL. But I did switch up the boys to dried egg yolk, which was just what the old Natures Plus reminded me of, and the dried egg yolk is supposed to be excellent for hairballs. Here is a link to the product I use: EZ Egg Yolk