Okay, so, the cat HAS been to the vet, and we're waiting for bloodwork results in the morning. He's also been put on pheno..b...the seizure drug. Sorry, I can't spell worth a shit. Anyways, I've been trying to read up on feline epilepsy which is a suspect here but what's worrying me is the seizures aren't supposed to be this frequent in them. So. um. well here we go.

So- last night, Snitch has an episode of drooling/head twitching. We are all, wtf. He goes about his normal way but gets a vet trip, I am not aware of this but at 6 30 am he has apparently what my roomate recognizes as a petite mal seizure. Vet finds nothing wrong , bring him home.
Over the course of the day he has at least 3-4 more small drooling/twitch episodes, i mean we're talking LOTS of drooling here. (he's got water so and as far as we can tell drinking and eating normally).
Take him to the vet, bloodwork/urine tests done. About 1/2 an hour after that (3 more small episodes), he has a grand mal seizure tossing about on the floor. At this point he gets put on the drugs which i dosed him at at about 5. He's had SEVERAL small episodes since then according to the roommate (he normally stays in there), but no more large ones.

Of the seizures we have counted in the past 24 hours we're talking at least 12 (1 of them the larger kind).

Anyone have thoughts? Obviously we're waiting on bloodwork results but this is strange.
Also- no other symptoms we're aware of, at all.

For what it's worth, he's 4, and has always had a nervous tick in his hindquarters but this is nothing lke that. At all. No other health problems anyone knows about, and he's fixed. He's not at the vet's right now because basically they said there's nothing they can do for him till they have lab results other than just dope him up with the same drug I gave him at home.

[Edited on February 6, 2008 at 7:36 PM. Reason : .]

2/6/2008 7:35:12 PM

this couldn't have gone in the OTHER cat/vet thread on this very same page?

2/6/2008 7:51:53 PM

Yes, it could have look - sorry. I'm a little upset, and a little sleep deprived. Sheesh.

2/6/2008 7:55:08 PM

I work at a vet clinic. I was a receptionist, and am now an administrative assistant, so I know more of the scheduling and business end than the medical end. But for what its worth I've heard of pets with similar stories, and while I don't know the specifics of the individual cases, I can't recall any instance where a pet ended up severely impaired or deceased due to the symptoms. The labwork and blood testing sounds pretty routine to me.

In short, I don't know whats going on, but I've heard of things like this before, so you're not the only one, and it hasn't ended badly in my experience.

2/6/2008 8:03:21 PM

obviously a nuerological disorder hopefully not a degenerative disease...but if it has been getting worse and worse then its possible

how old is the cat?

2/6/2008 8:06:31 PM

I work at a vet clinic. I was a receptionist, and am now an administrative assistant, so I know more of the scheduling and business end than the medical end. But for what its worth I've heard of pets with similar stories, and while I don't know the specifics of the individual cases, I can't recall any instance where a pet ended up severely impaired or deceased due to the symptoms. The labwork and blood testing sounds pretty routine to me.

In short, I don't know whats going on, but I've heard of things like this before, so you're not the only one, and it hasn't ended badly in my experience.

2/6/2008 8:08:10 PM

Correction - closer to 3.5 years than 4. But that's how old he is.
(I forgot, 04 birthday was LATE 04 and it's early 08)

2/6/2008 8:08:32 PM

Just curious, did the vet do a neuro exam and if he did, was anything abnormal that he noticed?

2/6/2008 11:27:57 PM

i assume the vet gave kitty a "loading" dose of phenobarbitol

if not it will take a while for the phenobarb level to become "therapeutic"


it works this way in people as well


this is sounding suspiciously like some sort of brain lesion/tumor


if so you will probably get a referral to the vet school or some other specialty vet hospital.

2/7/2008 5:26:56 AM

I hate to say it but if it's a brain tumor I don't really have much option but to put him down. No a neuro exam was not done, I guess that would be the next step after bloodwork. That said, we're talking upto 10 drooling episodes an hour now. This just can't go on.

2/7/2008 7:23:20 AM

not to hijack the thread, because my cat's problem doesn't seem nearly as bad as this. this makes me sad

but here we go...i posted a few weeks ago because my cat got a tapeworm from fleas. mmmm. so she went to the vet, got the dewormer. i did the second dewormer like a little over a week ago. i have been noticing that every once in awhile, like every other day maybe, she has had soft, light brown stools, very soft, with mucous-y blood in them. this morning i scooped one of them up and put it in a bag. should i call the vet? just take the stool sample in? what could it be? i mean blood in stool seems like it wouldn't be a good thing, but i just didn't know if it could be left over from the worms?

2/7/2008 11:30:01 AM

sorry my post went twice, i was having internet problems.

so as not to start another vet related thread, i thought i'd share here an ad we just posted on craigslist and a few other places, just to share it with more people in the triangle area.

Love Animals? Veterinary receptionists with team-oriented attitude wanted to work 20 to 30 hours a week. Must be able to multi-task with great attention to detail. Computer and customer service skills a must. Will require evening and/or weekend work. Experience preferred but not required. Please send resume to carrboroplazaveterinaryclinic@gmail.com

^For blood in stool I'd atleast take a sample in. A fresh one is usually best. We usually reccomend it within two hours. There are bland diets they can probably try like Hills ID or purina EN, or meds like metronidazole for diarrhea, or more detailed worm tests incase its not a normal worm. disclaimer: i'm not a medical person at all, so call your vet.

Best wishes ladywolff, your kitty is in my thoughts.

2/7/2008 12:14:36 PM

Take it in, it couldn't hurt anything and dropping it of isn't very expensive. Just make sure you tell them you're concerned about the blood and it's not just a worm re-check. That way they can do a smear exam and look for bacteria and such as well. I'd try that first.

2/7/2008 12:17:00 PM

bttt...How long has he been on the phenobarb? Phenobarb can take a couple of weeks before it begins to reach therpeutic levels in the blood. So, it might be just a matter of giving it a little more time. If it's he has been on it a while and this is happening, I would definitely suggest measuring the levels of the drug in the blood (this is routinely done at the vet). Was that what bloodwork they sent off or do you know what tests they were going to run (CBC, chemistry, etc)? If the levels are within a therpeutic range and it's still not working, usually a benzodiazepine is added for cats with epilepsy. This would be something like valium (use with caution in cats though - causes liver failure) or some other benzo like clonazepam. One other thing to consider is that it's always important for the vet to try and figure out the underlying cause of the epilepsy. If that can be corrected, then obviously no more seizures. Hope that helps!

2/7/2008 7:02:08 PM

So what's going on, did you find out anything new yet?

2/7/2008 7:09:11 PM

Initial bloodwork came back normal - this one was the one that does a lot of things, glucose, white blood cells, a bunch of things I can't name, basically to rule in/out bacterial infection of any sort, diabetic, liver/kidney problems etc.

He is not on a loading dose so it may take a while to come up to speed. He is still having small seizures a lot and a grand mal about once every 24 hours. Currently in one hell of a mood.

I've contacted his real owner (in chicago), and we're coming up with the money to run the next set of tests for things

toxoplasmosis -curable
FIP/FELV/FIV - non curable, fatal. Which i will have to hope/see if he gave it to the other cat (mine) we have. I'm really hoping that this is NOT the case.

And waiting to see if the pheno barb will start helping at any point.

If it's epilepsy and we can control it, we're okay.
If it's toxoplasmosis- we will have him treated.
Otherwise it's looking like he's going to have to get put down - because we'll have ruled out a lot of the possible causes, and past that point it's a House-style go down the medical list and test hunt that really isn't affordable and honestly isn't likely to be treatable.

Myself and the roommate who adores the cat are both pretty stressed/torn up about this and it doesnt look like it's ending anytime soon. And I feel terrible about that because I want to help him, but I know the cat and everyone involved is miserable.

I asked the vet about brain tumors and they said that it is a very sudden onset for that kind of thing and typically more gradual and in cats older than him.



[Edited on February 8, 2008 at 4:21 PM. Reason : .]

2/8/2008 4:06:22 PM

Did he do a neuro exam...I would think that would be one of the first things done especially with seizures, and when you said he has had leg tremors pretty regularly prior to this whole ordeal.

Is he an outdoor cat? Or has he at some point gotten loose for a period of time?

Is he eating and drinking? Keeping it down? Using the bathroom pretty normally? Has he been urinating or defecting more frequently?

What vet are you currently taking him to?

What were those next set of tests the Doc wants to run?

2/8/2008 8:49:31 PM

Snitch was put down this evening. He went into a state of constant twitch/drooling and became aggressive for it. Autopsy is being done. (he was rabies vaccinated and indoors for allt he timei had him but we're checking anyways b/c of how it eneded)

No he didnt have a neuro exam. The tests done ealrier today were toxoplasmosis, FELV, FIP, FIV. FELV and FIV came back negative already. Autopsy is still out.

He was indoors when i had him (4 months solid) but indoor outdoor prior for about 6 months, and indoors only prior to that.
He was eating untill this afternoon. and also using the bathroom normal.

We took him to six forks animal hospital, and honestly I'm not dissapointed. No maybe they could have done a neuro exam but - the whole thing was pretty damn bizzare.

They were closing when we called to see about putting him down/what to do next, so they redirected us to Quail Corner. I dont think I liked any of their vet techs but the vet was nice and honestly...all we were needing at that point was the cat to be euthanized.

I know it was the right choice given what was going on, but i hate myself, a lot. right now.

[Edited on February 8, 2008 at 11:20 PM. Reason : .]

2/8/2008 11:18:41 PM

this made me really sad

2/9/2008 12:56:40 PM

i still think a nuero shuold have been done

thats what i said to begin with

sounds like some kind of tumor or at least glandular problem that has caused a chemical imbalance or pressure in areas that would case this in the cranium.

im impressed you care this much to do the necropsy(autopsy is on a human. AUTO, meaning self)

hate it ended this way for you, best of luck tho, if you would like a new cat there are plenty out there, i recommend you getting another soon

2/9/2008 2:52:20 PM

^ I appriciate the condolenses, and I will ask about a neuro exam if I ever see this kind of bizareness in a cat ever again. I'm sincerely hoping that I don't. He was shared between me and one of my two roommates, and I've already told the roommate who is more upset that he has all my permission in the world to bring in another cat whenever he's ready. Be that tommorow or a year from now or whenever.
I still have my other cat- Ripley- thankfully.

The necropsy was done in part because roommate is a bio/chemistry person and while not a vet, does labwork every day and he wants to know, and in part ot ensure that it's not something that poses a danger to Ripley or any humans in the household. The cost of that was pretty minor compared to all the other stuff.

[Edited on February 9, 2008 at 3:08 PM. Reason : .]

2/9/2008 3:07:49 PM

Wow, I'm so sorry it ended that way. I'm sure it was really hard to continue to see your pet in that kind of state. But really kudos to you! That was a hard decision to make and there's a lot of people out there that would prefer to prolong the inevitable and allow their pet and themselves to suffer. You knew when to say enough is enough, and that takes a lot of courage.

Let us know what the necropsy results were. Hopefully it'll give you some piece of mind knowing you did all that you could!

2/9/2008 7:17:24 PM

That's really sad



My cats have been having problems... one guy has been having blood in his pee and sediment... The vet I go to was pretty useless so i'm thinking of changing. She didnt say anything about feeding him wet food or anything... just that she wants to do more xrays etc and get a professional in to do a radiograph or something. Never asked about my cats diet (I'd been feeding him dry food, so I think that was the majority of the problem). She didnt see bladder stones, but he might have kidney stones.

Also, I took my other cat in to see her, and he has stud tail, which she didn't note. Now, one of them is pooping loose stools that has blood in them It may be because I changed their diet, but I'm not sure.

Any vet people have advice for really smelly soft stools with blood and blood clots in them?

Gonna start looking for a cat vet....I really miss my old one in morrisville

2/24/2008 4:39:35 PM

^sylver- I was happy with Six Forks, and was recommended there, but it's not anywhere near campus. Sorry I dont have better advice for you.

and since ^^ wanted to know what came of it all -

For the record- the necropsy came back on snitch
Rabies came back of course negative, but the vet who did the necropsy said that there was brain degeneration of an unknown cause (but made no mention of tumors). FIP test also came back negative in the end. Which rules out cancer, stroke, etc etc - and leaves unknown and probably stranger causes.

I suspect that's all we'll ever know about this - which bothers me a bit but Ripley (my original kitty) seems to be fine other than stressed out that the other cat went spazzy then vanished - so at least for that.

[Edited on February 24, 2008 at 4:57 PM. Reason : .]

2/24/2008 4:53:19 PM

Well my initial instinct, especially with the drooling and water intake was that he ate poison, I can't believe nobody else mentioned that...

2/24/2008 5:48:25 PM

it could have been, but his bloodwork would've come back abnormal. there's no way you can consume enough poison to trigger seizures and show normal lab results...if indeed it had been poison.

[Edited on February 24, 2008 at 6:35 PM. Reason : .]

2/24/2008 6:35:14 PM

^^ That was our first conclusion with the vet before I posted here, and we ruled it out with the first round of bloodwork. Trust me, we searched EVERYWHERE in our apartment to see if there was possibly something he got into that was toxic. But we keep what little we have that would be very dangerous to cats or children pretty well locked up. And nothing looked like it had been gotten into.

[Edited on February 24, 2008 at 9:31 PM. Reason : .]

2/24/2008 9:31:17 PM

I actually live in durham.... I used to live in morrisville right next to a cat hospital... all I had to do was walk him down there. It was a really nice place too. This other place looks nice in the front rooms, but when I've gotten glimpses of the back its rather depressing

2/24/2008 10:57:28 PM

I know this topic has been dead for a month. To the person with the cat that had neuro symptoms...do you have dogs?

4/15/2008 1:31:33 PM