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has anyone got any experience with this?
out of the blue, all of a sudden, over the last two days or so, my cat has been having these sort of convulsive fits when she's sleeping (not when she's awake). it's a little scary, as she twitches and seems to flinch the way they do when they're dreaming, but then it gets much much more severe and dramatic, sometimes it wakes her up in the process (since her body's being jostled around).
I looked online and found some information about kitty epilepsy, which seems possible, and I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow, but the epilepsy descriptions I read seem to involve, also, frothing at the mouth or the kitty peeing as part of the seizure. these aren't part of her symptoms -- she just starts twitching like crazy, and more and more dramatically, when she's asleep.
help!
has anyone got any experience with this?
Alx
out of the blue, all of a sudden, over the last two days or so, my cat has been having these sort of convulsive fits when she's sleeping (not when she's awake). it's a little scary, as she twitches and seems to flinch the way they do when they're dreaming, but then it gets much much more severe and dramatic, sometimes it wakes her up in the process (since her body's being jostled around).
I looked online and found some information about kitty epilepsy, which seems possible, and I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow, but the epilepsy descriptions I read seem to involve, also, frothing at the mouth or the kitty peeing as part of the seizure. these aren't part of her symptoms -- she just starts twitching like crazy, and more and more dramatically, when she's asleep.
help!
has anyone got any experience with this?
Alx
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Unsu...
Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Thu, January 26, 2006 - 7:19 AMwow! not to that extent. just the regular dreaming, paws contracting, mouths twitching, a little bit of movement. i hope it's nothing bad. but i hope your vet is able to explain it. let us know.
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Thu, January 26, 2006 - 9:35 AMmy cat sometimes does it, but she usually vocalizes too. It's disturbing. I just wake her up and she's completely normal. My dog also sometimes does it. I attribute it to nightmares. -
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Fri, January 27, 2006 - 4:44 PMMy cats do it - but my dog does it to the extent that your cat does. He will literally jiggle himself all over and bark suprisedly . I wake him up and he is dazed, but ok. If your kitty is not showing the other symptoms of epilepsy I think it would be safe to say that it's just part of their dream state. But you know your kitty best, if you think there is more to it - then take them to the vet. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Sun, November 12, 2006 - 2:29 PMYES!!! Our kitten does the same thing! It has gotten to the point that her "seizure" will send her across the room- many times she has hit her head hard enough to give herself a concussion!!!
None of the vets we have been to have any clue as to what is going on with her... did you find anything out?
Please let me know- we are really worried about our baby!
THANK YOU! -
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Sun, November 12, 2006 - 7:17 PMAsk your vet if it's possible your cats might have a condition called a "liver shunt." I have a friend whose cat has that and the cat has seizures. I don't know much more about it than that. -
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Unsu...
Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Mon, November 13, 2006 - 3:34 PMMy cats did it when they were kittens and once I could not wake one of them.
They are two years old now and doing fine seldom any siezure or trembling activity.
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Mon, November 13, 2006 - 7:16 PMSeizures are scaaaary things because they can be caused by just about anything--as individual as the cat itself. As a vet, it can be very difficult to diagnose, definitively, what's going on with an animal, especially if the vet doesn't happen to see the event (even seeing the seizure only helps a little bit in diagnosis). The danger of seizures is that very often the brain doesn't get oxygen during the seizure, or it could be caused by intracranial pressure that might also impinge on the respiratory centers and cause cessation of breathing. So it is always best to take your beloved pet to the vet--at the least, they might put her/him on a low dose of anticonvulsants to see if that stops the seizures. Diet change is also a frequent management technique. Anticonvulsants are not preffered as a be-all-end-all though because the animal builds up tolerance and has to take more to achieve the same results over time, and it is also a liver toxin.
I don't have any specific advice for you, but I wish you the best with your kitties, and I thought you might want to have a little more insight into seizures (i'm a 2nd year vet student). -
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 7:28 AMAlyssum,
For cats who having several siezures a day -and the vet gives them anticonvulsant medication .
Do these medication have similar side effects as the kind for canines .
Appearently in some dogs the medication keeps the dog heavily sedated for weeks -at least in the case of my sister the poor dog had seizures while drugged but was not hurting itself.
My cats had the siezures shortly after their vaccines and the siezures where mild and short lived .
The cat seemed to be able to readjust coherently within a minute or two after the episode.
They have vaccine dates coming up and they have not had siezures in a year -it will be interesting to see of they do after this years serious of injections. -
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 4:43 PMThere are different anticonvulsants (Potassium Bromide, phenobarbital, pentobarbitol, etc), but they are given to felines and canines alike, and, yes, they have similar side effects.
Does your vet know that your cats had seizures after vaccinations? Sometimes they can have reactions to the adjuvant (what the active part of the vaccination is suspended in), so, depending on the particular vaccination you're getting, you may be able to administer the vaccination with a different adjuvant. If that doesn't work, I would suggest getting your cats' titers measured in the future before vaccinating.
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Fri, December 29, 2006 - 12:20 PMMy mother's Dalmation was epileptic and took anti-seizure medication for years. He never seemed heavily sedated, but eventually went into full renal failure as a result of the medication (I believe?) and had to be put down.
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Day 4 of seizures
Thu, February 1, 2007 - 7:05 AMJust wanted to ask you more about your cat having seizures as my cat is in day 4 of having seizures every 10mins or so. We basically rescued our cat 1 month ago, he had been living outside my partners Nans house for over a year! We took him straight to the vet to have a check over before taking him home. He was basically de-wormed, de-fleaed, tagged and had his first lot of vaccines. He was then poorly with sickness and diarrhea and had severe weight loss so his second lot of jabs were put on hold. We then had him tested for Cat Aids and Leukemia as he seemed to have all the symptons which with great relief came back clear. He seemed alot better so he had his second lot of jabs. Since his seizures he has now had all the tests done for Kidney, Diabetic, liver etc and they have come back all clear so the vets have told me he is either Epiletic or has some kind of tumour! He is on day 2 of tablets to control these fits but as of yet there has been no improvement. He seems to either fall over stiff and then fit or he slowly wobbles to the ground and has a fit. They last a few seconds and he seems to wake up a bit confused but then carries on as normal, or he goes back to his bed and sleeps it off! Has anyones Cat had the same symptons or any suggestions would be greatly appreciated????????
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 4:08 AMHow does she seem afterwards? I'd get her blood pressure checked, too. I wouldn't wait long on this.... may not be a big deal.... but it could be something that needs quick addressing. -
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 7:29 AMFire -how does one check kitty's blood pressure? -
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 10:35 AMBy taking her to the vet. ;)
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 9:49 AMmy little dog (miniature pinscher) has seizures from epilepsy and he doesnt froth or foam at the mouth either when hes has one- he twitches quite severely when he has one. .
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Fri, January 5, 2007 - 7:27 PMso Alx, what did the vet say? how is your kitty?
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Wed, July 15, 2009 - 9:52 PMour 6 month old baby kitty just recently passed away, and he had seizures before the vet sedated him and eventually told us that it would be wise to put him to sleep. we are devistated and i felt awful because i did not think anything was seriousely wrong initially and could have taken him to the vet sooner. we still don't even know what he had that caused the seizuers, it could have been anything.
I have since taken a careful inventory of household cleaners, products and plants, as well as switching catfoods and paying a visit to the vet for our 8 year old cat, who hadn't been to the vet since he was a kitten and got all checked out and nuetured.
two times since i have seen him having what looked like seizures in his sleep (and not at all while waking) and i'm thinking from these posts that maybe it has nothing to do with the seizures the baby was having (who was awake), but rather the vaccinations he got at the vet... he just had another episode where his eye was half open and i could see his eyes m oving back and forth fast... maybe normal REM but i am so nervous now and trying not to communicate my nervous energy to him... thoughts? -
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Re: cat having a kind of seizure when sleeping?
Fri, July 17, 2009 - 11:49 AMI'm really sorry for the loss of your kitten. Just to clarify, this is your 8 year old kitty you're talking about in the last post? If you've already taken him to the vet and they didn't find anything, what makes you think anything is going on? Does he have any other strange symptoms? How is he when awake?
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