Gandalf had a grand mal seizure last night

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Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin

Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin

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This was his first one and my first one. very scary. I heard a commotion from the cat room and by the time I was going in there I realized it came from where Gandalf had been lying and he was having a seizure. I knew it before I even saw him writhing on the floor. I knew it was not a hypo situation because he had tested at 160 only an hour before.

He recovered quickly, although he was very mad and did not want me to touch him for a while afterwards. he has arthritis and I'm sure all the twisting around and posturing (when I saw him his front paws were straight as boards and toes flexed, with the rest of him kind of thrashing like a hand was shaking him from side to side) hurt him. The whole thing lasted maybe 15 seconds. The noise I heard was him hitting the bookcase he was lying next to and probably claws catching in the carpet.

I am concerned for reoccurrence and cause, although I read that a lot of times it can't be determined. Jennifer, if you read this, did Tucker have any seizures? I can't remember if you said he did or not, I believe he circled because of his tumor? I also read that hypertension can be a cause and this has been a concern for Gandalf, but his last blood pressure did not show too high of levels. He stresses badly to go the vets so it's difficult to determine how accurate the tests are. He has cataracts and his eyes are dilated most of the time now, which I read is a sign of hypertension, but I had assumed the cataracts weren't letting in enough light and causing the dilation. No vet he has seen recently mentioned hypertension as a cause.

If anyone here has experience or suggestions, that would be appreciated. Vet I spoke to last night at our ER clinic said just watch for more seizures and if they cluster, he could be put on Valium to control them. I know phenobarbitol is also an option.

We go through an awful lot because of our kitties and that was probably the scariest next to a hypo. I just held on to him to keep him from hurting himself more and try to keep him calm because I knew he'd be freaked out.
 
Oh no !! How scary!!! Sending lots of "get better hope it doesnt happen again" vibes to Gandalf and cyber hugs to you. No personal experience tho. Keep us updated. I am sure his muscles are sore especially if he already has arthritis.
 
Vicky, I'm so sorry. Poor sweet Gandalf. It's scary to witness. Tucker(GA) did not have seizures, we believe he did have a stroke, but not a seizure. He started Prednisolone after that for his brain tumor, he was circling a lot before the pred, couldn't walk, sit or stand without circling to do it.

My Lucy(GA) had a seizure, she was climbing up to a perch and started to seize, fell over and all I remember is grabbing her and rushing her to the vet. They gave her valium immediately and gave me some to take home for her. We were to keep her confined for the next two days. Lucy had hypertension and about 8 months later when I came home during my lunch break, I found her in the living room, eyes dilated, she was blind. She was on BP meds but unfortunately they weren't enough and she never regained her vision. She was over 18 when it happened, not sure of exact age, she was around 16 when my father in law had to give her up. After the vision loss, we increased her BP meds, saw some specialists but she passed away a few weeks later, so I can't say if she would have regained her vision if she were younger and healthier.

Lynda and Scruffy has experience with phenobarbitol, maybe you can PM her, if you can't reach her, let me know and I'll contact her.

I hope that Gandalf pulls out of this quickly. Sending tons of healing thoughts and hugs.
 
I am so sorry, seizures are so scary!

I had a cat who lived to be 19 and started having seizures when she was 2. We ran every test, tried everything we could think of but nothing helped .... Her seizures would get so bad that she would chew on her sides when they happened and we had the second problem of huge sores and then they became open sores .....

If we were home when they happened we would hold her. In fact, I still have the scars from the stitches used to close up my thumb that got caught in her mouth during one of her seizures ....

Valium wonked her so bad that she had no quality of life ..... by accident on one vet visit they gave her a shot of pred. and she had no seizures for 6 wks.!

So, as long as she got her shot every 6 wks. no seizures .... it didn't work with the pill form, it needed to be injected. I hope you can find the reason it happened, if not there are many options for stopping them and still give quality of life. I hope everything works out, Payne and I are sending hugs and prayers.

Nancy and Payne
 
My dog Sculley had seizures. I noticed that I could tell when she was about to have one, she would suddenly become sort of clingy. I could manage her seizures with phenobarbital so that instead of her having them almost daily, she would only have 2 or 3 a month.

It is scarey, especially the first time that it happens. I would keep her comfortable while it was happening to keep her from hurting herself. She never seemed to be in any pain afterwards.
 
Vicky, Oh no! I am so sorry this happened to Gandalf. I have no experience with seizures, but am sending healing thoughts and prayers.
 
Thank you everyone for the kind words and well wishes.

Jennifer, I will have his BP checked next week because you are the second person to confirm high BP can lead to seizures, Lynda was the first, yes I did contact her. I feel that very possibly could be the cause, the pupil dilation pretty much clinches it for me and I'm a little upset that neither vet we have seen recently put 2+2 together on that. Did your Lucy have that before or after she went blind? I have noticed for a while now that he is loosing his sight.

I gave him a little bupe I had from January this evening to calm and relax him hopefully. He zones out on it and I'd like to keep him comfortable. When I had him in the bathroom for his shot, he got mad about sitting and heaven forbid I should touch his bony hips. That's where his arthritis is worst for him, so he has to be very sore to get even madder than usual about that area.

I need to cover some metal bench legs with towels in the cat room in case he has another when I'm not here. He likes to lie either on or near that bench (it's in the big double window, always his favorite) and I'm afraid he could get a foot caught in the bench legs as they are curled up on the ends. Did you do anything like that for Lucy? I;m afraid he'll have one when I'm not here to keep him safe.

And I was told to watch his mouth during a seizure and not get my hand near it because they will clamp down and can't let go. Thank you Nancy for the info about Valium. Interesting about the steroid too. Valium was one thing the ER vet mentioned giving him if he began having cluster seizures. I hope it was a one time thing and that if he does have high BP he will respond to those meds. Thanks again. Any more info or other experience is welcome. Right now I would give anything to just be worried about his diabetes!
 
We tried to keep towels in the areas she mostly had the seizures and when one started we would grab a towel and use that to hold her and make sure her mouth was okay, and yes ..... once they clamp down on something, like my finger, they cannot let go .... I got 11 stitches learning that one! ohmygod_smile ohmygod_smile
 
Vicky, as you know I don't really have seizure experience (not in cats anyway). Just hoping for the best with Gandalf and sending healing thoughts and prayers his way and hugs to you.

When he isn't so mad and sore, give him a pat from me. cat_pet_icon
 
Viicki I am so sorry for your Gandalf It must be so very scary to see your baby in a seizure Sending beautiful healing green vibes and angels to keep him safe.I just started Schooch 17 year old on OldTimes for his arthritis in his back legs and hips also Tripsy for his kidney .I got it from Pets Wellbeing I will keep you updated if it helps him .Wish I could do more for our babies Hugsssss to both of you.
 
With Lucy it's harder for me to explain since I got her so old. I knew her most of her life but she was my inlaws cat and it wasn't until she was over 16 that she came here.

I was busy checking on her hearing, she was deaf when I picked her up, but she wasn't before that, and I was trying to regulate her hypert, but I'm pretty sure her eyes were strange before she started hypertension meds. Her seizure and hypertension were a result of unregulated hyperthyroidism that she probaby had for years, she was a big chubby kitty most of her life, but only 7 pounds and tiny as a kitten when I got her.

I remember taking her to a local eye specialist and then having to go back to my vet who checked BP then starting Norvasc. I've had so many special needs cats at the time and since that I just can't recall the exact timing of all of this.

She had the one seizure that I saw, then many months later I came home and found her blind, she may have had a seizure that morning, but I don't know. After she lost her vision we didn't change much, she knew her way around but stayed close to the wall, so we picked up cat toys and any clutter. We also put Tucker's large bed(kitty couch) in her area, it was only a couple of inches off the floor so she would not have to jump up or down, for her safety we showed her how to get on and off and she did great at it.

Being deaf and now blind, my attention at the time was how to treat her without startling her constantly and causing her blood pressure to rise. I probably should have covered hard objects but hadn't thought of it, she walked so slowly and carefully and we only knew of the one seizure.

I hope that you can find the cause of all of this and that Gandalf improves.
 
(((((((Vicki and Gandalf))))))) no words of wisdom here. I have yet to experience that freight but want you to know I'm thinking of you two.
 
hello to you Gandalf and Vicki too!

I am going thru my 14 yr old have seizures all the time. We have done all the tests except for mri.... nothing to cause the bp problem, and now her little heart muscles are so tough from probably living with it all her life, it cant be changed. She takes 2 heart meds: Norvasc 2.5 mg - she gets 1/4 every am, Aternolol 25 mg - she gets 1/4 every am; a breathing med: Aminophylline 100 mg - 1/4 tab every 12 hrs as it is now hard for her to breath; she gets phenobarbitol 1/4 every evening and a med for potassium as she is also in CRF. She seems better, as the first seizure she had was really bad and we went to the er on a Saturday and she stayed til the following Monday, 7 days later a smaller one with her little legs sticking straight out in front of her, only to have another one once in the er. I would take her to the er 3 times a day and they made several visits to do the bp.... hers was 290 when she was seizing the time at the er.... She still has incidences... all are different.... she has very bad days where she follows me around alllllllll day. She circles around me to the left to get to her food bowl.... She went in circles and could not stop the last one, she will act as tho she is walking on ice and cannot get control of her footing..... she will act as tho she was going to scratch over her shoulder and wont come out of the posture for 15-45 seconds.... then she is disoriented, eyes dialated and a little "pissy", and seems tired for the rest of the day. She lays to drink her water and mommy has now put down a very low to the ground water bowl. She also seems to have great difficulity getting in the laying position, walking and squatting. The xrays show a small amount of fluid around the heart which dont help her but the breathing meds are a God send as she is not labor breathing anymore. The BP last week was 180! Wanted to celebrate. I have also invested in some serveillance cameras that I put in the living area and kitchen where she eats. While I am at work, I video her and can (have not watched it all) watch when I get home to see how many she is having while I am gone to work. I am trying to get the system set up so that I may watch her via internet while I am working. And maybe adding 2 more for each bedroom.

After her first seizure, there was some retina damage that the meds did heal, but she still has problems judging distance, and she will just act weird: ex: looking off to the side while she is looking at me, looking up at the ceiling for "something"????, The vet says it could be permanate damage from the seizures or there could be a neuro. problem that we dont know about. It is so hard determining what the heck is happening and how to correct it

This week has not been that great for her, she is acting very tired and just worrying me to death.... we have our couch time where I have to lay with her to get her to rest and not follow me around everywhere...PRICELESS :-D

I have looked everywhere for a bp machine and have not found a way to purchase one yet... would like to learn how and take at least 2 times a day....

I dont know if any of this helps, but perhaps it will....
HUGS AND PAW HI FIVE FOR YALL!
Mommy to sugar bean, civvie slappy and heart patient/crf gumpy
 
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