My baby had a seizure?

Status
Not open for further replies.
monkeykisses

monkeykisses

Member
Hello,

It's been a while since I've been on this site. My baby (Peanut) was diagnosed with diabetes back in 2002. With the help of this site I was able to control his diabetes and he went into remission about 2 years ago. He went for an annual check-up last October and vet said he lost 2 lbs since the last check up (went from 18 lbs to 16lbs in one year). Vet order a CBS which showed that his Urea Nitrogen was 37 (normal 14-36) and his Creatinine was 2.7 (normal .6 - 2.4). Doctor did tests for thyroid, echocardiogram (he has a heart murmur), and ultrasound to see kidneys (check for stones, etc). Heart had no change since last echo 5 years ago but the kidneys looked enlarged (no stones or tumors). Vet wanted to put him on KD Hills. Did some research and found some commercial foods lower in phosphorus (not as low as hills prescription) and started him on that (he was on fancy feast for a long time and california naturals dry).

He recently had diarrhea so took him to the vet because it went on for 2.5 days (took him to different vet than in October check-up). Ran a CBC and his Urea Nitrogen is now 33 (within normal ranges) but his Creatinine increased to 3.2! They tested stool but no sign of parasites. He still had an appetite and otherwise seemed normal. Vet put him on Metronidazole (Flagyl) twice a day (125mg per day) for his diarrhea issue. She also suggested kidney disease food (she sells purina). I have been giving him the flagyl for 2 days. Tonight he went to his food or water (not sure) and suddenly I saw him sort of twisted and loosing his balance. I quickly ran to him and had him lay down and petted him. He seemed disoriented and eyes were so big. Lasted for about 2 minutes. Then he sort of seem to start coming to. Finally about a minute later he was back to himself. I tested his blood sugar levels (one touch meter) and it registered 68 which i didn't think was low. But I gave him some treats which he ate up and a little bit of honey. I later gave him some wet food. He now seems to be resting comfortably.

I don't know what to make of this. Is this kidney failure? Is it the medicine? Was it hypoglycemia? Is it hypertension? I will certainly be monitoring him and will be calling to vet (not sure if she is open on Monday due to holiday). I am so worried.

~Monica
 
oh monica! i don't know about the medical issues, but it can't be a hypo episode. if i understand your post, he's off of insulin right now - hypos only happen if there is injected insulin.

it sounds more like a seizure. i hope you can get some help from your vet. hugs! :YMHUG:
 
The side effect of metronitizole:
Side Effects

Side effects are not commonly seen with this medication unless the patient is taking especially high doses (general anti-diarrheal doses should not be a problem) or moderate doses for a long time period, such as months. Side effects seen can relate to nausea or appetite loss, or they can be neurologic, such as staggering, head tilt to one side, dilated pupils, bizarre back and forth eye movements called nystagmus, and even seizures, which are seen particularly in cats. Most cases of toxicity involve very high doses or chronic use (months) use of smaller doses. In cases of toxicity, recovery from neurologic signs typically takes 1 to 2 weeks after the drug is discontinued. This recovery period can be shortened to less than 48 hours by using a diazepam treatment protocol that was published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine (May/June 2003). The actual mechanism for the development of neurologic signs in toxicity is unknown as is the mechanism for recovery using diazepam.

above from:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... &A=532&S=2

You said the dose was: twice a day (125mg per day)
So that was 62.5 mg AM and 62.5 mg PM?
 
Julie - yes, he is no longer on insulin and has not been on it for 2 years. thanks for the hugs.


Larry - yes, he had 62.5 in the am and 62.5 in the pm. thanks. I did review the side affects. based on what i've seen i didn't think this dose was too high and he's only been on it for 2 days. to be safe i don't want to give him any more until i speak with the vet. he seems to still be ok. i had very little sleep because i wanted to make sure he wasn't going to have another one.
 
HI Monica, it does sound like maybe your kitty had a petit mal seizure. Some medications can cause this - my cat Sitka developed seizures after being put on an antihistamine for her allergies (I took her off the med right away but unfortunately it triggered epilepsy so she continued having seizures). I think it was wise for you to discontinue the flagyl until you can talk with your vet about it. Hopefully if this was medication related your kitty won't have any more. If it does turn out to be feline epilepsy that is a yahoo board that is like this board and very helpful.
 
Gumpy started having seizures out of the blue one day. the vet and er thought it was due to high blood pressure. Has the bp been checked? If it is high, there are also meds for that. Gumpy was check 2 times a day for a very very long time... Lots of meds that should have helped but we still could not get it under 190 and it was usually 270+.
I would check that if it has not already been done....
 
Thanks everyone. I spoke with the vet yesterday. She does not think it was medication. We have not checked BP and I did mention to her that if she thought it was this. She didn't think so - plus he had surgery in October and this was not something they raised (assuming it was checked prior to surgery). He did not have another one. However, vet said if he has another to bring him in and they will run full blood work (we only ran CBC during last visit). I'm also wondering if it was dehydration as he had diarrhea for almost 3 days.

He is getting food that is lower in phosphorus (for high Critanine levels) and lower in sodium since November. I will definitely be bringing him in for a check up in 3 months just in case. I will ask for them to check BP this time.

Again, thank you all. :YMHUG:
 
Civvie Gustav had two seizures last spring, and once at the vets and we measured his blood pressure it was 250 (very high). Since then he has been on two different bp medications, amlodipin and Fortekor, and have not had any seizures since we started with the medications in June last year.
 
Yes,
Gumpys bp was sooo high and they could not medicate enough to bring it down :cry:

I was sooo sad to watch her over and over. I just could not watch her go down and down anymore...she went to the bridge with mommas help on 7/16~still just cant stand it some days...but, I would definately ck that out if it has not been done yet... I did not even know that was an issue until it happened to us. We also did an ultra sound to see the heart and the muscles were sooo thick by then the er said it was probably like that most of her 14 yrs.
 
ohbell, Gustav's ultrasound of the heart also showed thickening of his left chambers - I am not sure what came first, the hen or the egg, but the vet said he said the thinkinig of the heart was followed on and was secondary to the high blood pressure.
 
Ann,
Exactly, that is what the vet told me as well.... the high bp that she probably had all her life caused the thickening and there was no reversal of that condition.... I was giving over 9 meds a day and nothing was stopping the da*m seizures, or the small strokes.
 
ty ms ann ~ that she was! :cry:
visit the gallery ~ my Sugar Bean has a bit of photos with all her sisters~ lol, I love pix.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top