It’s 3 a.m. and Quivs just had a grand mal seizure. She was spent afterward and now is running like a crazy person all over the front room eating kitten kibble and spilling it everywhere. I cannot get her to calm down- her eyes are almost spinning and I jumped online to try and figure out if there is something I can give her to calm her. Holding her doesn’t work- she is all over the map.
I keep immaculate records anytime a kitten is sick. Here is the sequence of this morning’s events:
9/11/2015- woke to Quivers having a grand mal seizure under my bed. Grabbed a flashlight and watched as she lay on her back- legs straight out ahead of her (caught in the guard rails of the hospital bed) and shook and trembled- loss of urine and poop (solid) during episode. Seizure time less than a minute. Tongue out of the mouth- rapid breathing, eyes wide open, pupils fixed and dilated. Because of where she was located, all I could do was lie on my stomach and stroke her gently and talk her through it. Afterward, she shook herself and then shot out from under the bed and started running circles in the room. Almost as if she was chasing her tail . She was slapping at the air with her front paws and I was unable to hold her without her becoming extremely aggressive- which she is not. She ran to the food tray leaped into the middle of the tray and started gobbling food as if she were starving. She seemed to not know me or where she was- her pupils were still dilated, she was hot to the touch but taking her temperature not even an option. She was jerking in slow motion as she tried to eat. She would race away from the food bowl only to return a few seconds later to continue eating.
Took her about 20 minutes to calm herself down and the only way I could hold her was to wrap her in a towel and walk around the room. I could feel her jerking in my arms and the minute I stopped walking, she became agitated and aggressive to me. She only let me hold her about 5 minutes before jumping down and then she went off chasing invisible bugs (no other way to describe it) in the air. This continued for a few minutes until she crashed into a heap and slept. She is still sleeping where she collapsed. Total time of seizure activity 38 minutes. Will give her a bath later and clean her up and take her to the vet first thing in the morning.
Quivers arrived here on: Sept. 1, 2015 the woman said the kitten had been having 3 seizures a day and they didn’t know what to do. Eradicating all the damn fleas on this poor baby safely would have been a good start! My feline specialist said it best. It should be criminal for people not to kill fleas where there are so many methods to how they could do this safely. Unfortunately for Quivers, her last owners did not use their heads when it came to her care.
We owe a tremendous amount of monies to the vet right now- tremendous. But despite that, I will do all I can to get her help however this plays out in the end.
That poor cat. There’s something noir right with her nervous system. I hope she calmed down soon after you wrote about it.
Poor Quivers! I’m sending lots of purrs her way.
Have 2 cats that have seizures.One goes into full convulsions about every 60 days-almost to the day.The other has irregular panic attack like seizures about at the same interval.I give the first a dose of Valium rectally before she fully gets back awake to prevent a second seizure which sometimes occurs.The other if it last longer than a half hour she gets it orally.Pheno does not prevent the seizure only lengthens the time between them.Because my cats only get them every other month it is not worth the liver damage of the Pheno yet.If they become more often then I’ll put her on it but that has not happened for years.The time between seizures is the factor to log and what if anything might trigger them.Pheno will just make the cat groggy all the time and the seizure does not hurt them more than the Pheno over time.When she goes into full seizure I wrap her in a blanket to make sure she does not injure herself.You will get to know the signs when it is about to happen.Even the Valium does not always prevent a second seizure but it keeps it from being so severe and traumatic for the cat.If the seizure is being announced by erratic behavior learn to squirt it orally and it might not occur.It is no different than living with a person who has them.
Haven’t been reading this blog much lately, our son Thom just passed away this past August. So I’m reading Sept 11, about the vet debt now. We wondered if the vet will accept Visa payments directly. Is the vet debt still really high? Would more people donate like that? God bless you and your furry little critters. JoAnn
Jo Ann,
I am so sorry that you lost your son. I do know that pain well. My prayers are with you. As of today, our vet debt is $2,831.18 and yes, they will accept direct payments over the phone or by mail. The clinic is Faithful Friends Animal Clinic in Lebanon Oregon 541-451-1319 The account is under my name Mary Anne Miller but they also know me as CATS Inc., Again, I am so sorry about you son. it is a pain a mother should never have to feel.
God Bless
I called your vet yesterday and paid $50.00 on the kitty national debt. I hope to be able to do that on occasion. Do you keep track? Or wouldn’t you know if a payment is applied? I don’t want to bother you with having to answer unnecessary contacts. I was sidelined by a URI yesterday (YUK!), sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Also thank you for your condolences, apparently you too have lost someone dear to you. God bless you for all you do. JoAnn Sasser