question - is this a seizure?

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Cindy and Tritone

Cindy and Tritone

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Hello all, and happy post-Thanksgiving.

My civie Bluegrass has been doing this over the last several months, I have seen it maybe 5 or 6 times. I will be taking him to the vet pronto, but wanted to see if anyone here recognized this.

He will be lying peacefully, then suddenly start licking hard at the fur on his lower back. Then its like he loses control of just the back part of his body and his back legs start kicking violently. His front legs remain firmly planted, but he kind of goes in circles trying to reach his lower back by his tail. He looks for all the world like a bucking bronco in a western movie!. The whole thing lasts about 30 seconds, and when its over he has usually leaked some urine.

At first I thought he was being bothered by fleas - we had a terrible infestation over the summer, despite regular frontline plus treatments. Now the fleas are gone, but it is still happening. It just happened now - I reached down to smooth the fur where he had been licking, which seemed to trigger the - whatever it it.

He is fine once it has passed, but feels guilty about the leaking, which he knows shouldn't happen. Poor little guy.

Any advice/insights?
 
Was I supposed to post this on health? I'm all confused, thought that was for just diabetic health...Well maybe I will crosspost...

Sorry, Powers That Be!
 
(I inadvertently posted this on community too)

Hello all, and happy post-Thanksgiving.

My civie Bluegrass has been doing this over the last several months, I have seen it maybe 5 or 6 times. I will be taking him to the vet pronto, but wanted to see if anyone here recognized this.

He will be lying peacefully, then suddenly start licking hard at the fur on his lower back. Then its like he loses control of just the back part of his body and his back legs start kicking violently. His front legs remain firmly planted, but he kind of goes in circles trying to reach his lower back by his tail. He looks for all the world like a bucking bronco in a western movie!. The whole thing lasts about 30 seconds, and when its over he has usually leaked some urine.

At first I thought he was being bothered by fleas - we had a terrible infestation over the summer, despite regular frontline plus treatments. Now the fleas are gone, but it is still happening. It just happened now - I reached down to smooth the fur where he had been licking, which seemed to trigger the - whatever it it.

He is fine once it has passed, but feels guilty about the leaking, which he knows shouldn't happen. Poor little guy.
 
Cindy and Tritone said:
Hello all, and happy post-Thanksgiving.

My civie Bluegrass has been doing this over the last several months, I have seen it maybe 5 or 6 times. I will be taking him to the vet pronto, but wanted to see if anyone here recognized this.

He will be lying peacefully, then suddenly start licking hard at the fur on his lower back. Then its like he loses control of just the back part of his body and his back legs start kicking violently. His front legs remain firmly planted, but he kind of goes in circles trying to reach his lower back by his tail. He looks for all the world like a bucking bronco in a western movie!. The whole thing lasts about 30 seconds, and when its over he has usually leaked some urine.

At first I thought he was being bothered by fleas - we had a terrible infestation over the summer, despite regular frontline plus treatments. Now the fleas are gone, but it is still happening. It just happened now - I reached down to smooth the fur where he had been licking, which seemed to trigger the - whatever it it.

He is fine once it has passed, but feels guilty about the leaking, which he knows shouldn't happen. Poor little guy.

Any advice/insights?
Click to expand...

Hi Cindy,

It does sound like a seizure to me. Bindi (epileptic) often bites the fur off her shoulders during petit mal seizures. When she was a kitten she often lost control of her bladder during grand mal seizures. Best to see the vet to be sure. If it's not happening more than once a month (epi-cats are considered regulated at one or less per month), you may not need meds. There is a lot of good information on the yahoo epi-felines group if you need it. So sweet that Bluegrass is embarrassed about the leaking. What a good boy! Please keep us posted!

Karen
 
We just had a similar post but for the life of me I cannot remember who or what the seizure disorder was called. Please use the search function and look for other posts with the word seizure in them...

Good luck!
 
That does sound like a seizure. Before I lost my dog Sculley, she suffered from seizures for years and her seizures were very similar.
 
Might also be feline hyperesthesia. You can google numerous results and even videos on You tube. You tube also has vids of seizures.
 
Jeanne and Charcoal has experience with some condition that sound like this---having to do with "crawly skin". You might try PMing her.

Meanwhile, I will move this to Health, but keep a shadow post here on Community.
 
also cindy and mousy had this experience. she posted some video's of the behavior that were on u-tube.
 
Hi Cindy

Yes that does unfortunately sound like a seizure (in a cat). I think someone else is thinking hyperesthesia, too. Can you keep your phone or camera nearby and get a video of it? After it's over, does your cat seem mentally normal or a little lethargic, or overstimulated or hungry .. anything abnormal? Defintely try to catch as many episodes on video that you can.
 
That's what I've seen when cat's that are seizing come in to vet's office when I've been working there. Legs kicking wildly. Like Jess said, try to get it on video even after you get back from vet should it happen again.
 
Thanks, everyone! I did a little research on hyperesthesia, and think that may be it. It could have been triggered by the fleas we had earlier this summer. It certainly did come on quite suddenly. My vet is closed on Wed. (and Sun.) so will try to get him in tomorrow. Meanwhile, I read that some cats with hyperesthesia respond to acupuncture, so I will try that before drugs.

Hi Jess!! He does seem kind of anxious lately. Besides the fleas, (or partially because we had fleas) my house is in disarray as I rip up carpet, so there are piles of stuff everywhere and furniture in the middle of rooms. BG doesn't like when things are moved.

I'm really hoping it is psychological and we can turn it around. Menawhile, I am trying to pet and brush and squeeze him really hard, in case that counteracts whatever he is feeling that makes his skin ripple and triggers the need for excessive licking and then the seizures.
 
Hi Cindy,

Please keep us updated on what you find out from the vet with Bluegrass. My civvie, Honey, has had hyperesthesia ever since I rescued him several years ago. He has feral tendencies so I never took him to the vet for this. Just about a year ago he had his first seizure that sounded exactly like what Bluegrass went through, with the biting at the back of his tail and then going into uncontrollable twitching, and then the urinating. He had a few more seizures, including one where I stupidly thought I could "snap him out of it" by touching the top of his head. Somehow my hand got into his mouth during one of his seizures and he bit me so hard I thought I was going to need stitches. I didn't need them, but a couple of days later it got infected and I had to go to the ER. So don't do what I did! With Honey, I believe it was flea related. As soon as I treated him with fleas his seizures stopped.
 
Re: question - is this a seizure? - UPDATE

Hi folks - Some of you had asked for an update on Bluegrass:

I didn't actually take him to the vet. I first researched feline hyperesthesia (thanks to you guys) and that sounded right - he has the rolling skin, the twitchy tail, the excessive licking...I read that this condition can indeed be brought on by fleas, and we have had a terrible infestation - every time I think I am on top of it, I find a few new fleas. I read that acupuncture can be very helpful, and also capstar, which is a safe pill that kills all fleas, larvae, and eggs on the cat within 2 hours. The pill only lasts 24 hours, and it is safe to give every day. It's expensive, though...

Anyway, I had a phone consult with my vet. He said he has only seen feline hyperesthesia lead to seizures a few times in his career, He agreed with what I had discovered - that there is no diagnostic test for this - there are only tests to rule out other stuff. He thinks Bluegrass has developed a hyper-sensitivity to flea bites, which may or may not be at least partly in his head. He said we could give prednizone, but we both have the same fears as to where that can lead. He said its safe to give cats benydril,which may help, and something topical like oatmeal, but I don't want to encourage even more licking.Dr. H also confirmed that the seizures are not dangerous.

So, plan of action is:

acupuncture appt. today at 11:30
more capstar ordered from Dr. F & S
vacuum vacuum vacuum
continue to take out the carpet in my house, bit by bit.
 
One of the best things I have ever found to control fleas is Advantage. We also had a horrible infestation last year...must have been that new Chinese New Year...The Year of the Flea...lol

But Advantage is one of the topical monthly treatments, it kills all stages of flea and kills 98% of them within the first hour. I literally saw them jumping of the critters and dying. Swept up dead fleas for days. But it also kills them in the enivorment. The formula is the same for both dogs and cats, so with 10 cats and a large dog, we get the one that is for the biggest dog and then use a syringe (without the needle) to divide it up among the cats. Works like a charm here.

Mel & Max
 
We had a bad flea infestation here as well... and I have wondered if there's maybe still some about... yikes! We have spent all of our money on Lulu at this point, and the Advantage is so expensive... never thought of getting a larger doggy dose to split up with the four of them

My question is how much do you administer if you split it up. Lulu is no longer our largest, but Jez is rather small. I would love to know how to split the dose up and only buy one treatment.

thanks...amanda and the kitties
 
The syringes I use I get from the Pharmacy are called Baxa Exactamed, they come in 1ml & 5 ml size, but are normally for oral meds so no needle. These fit snuggly in the top of the Advantage vial. Then turn the vial upside down and draw out the dose for each cat. (use the 1ml for kitties)

Dosing: under 9lbs .4ml
over 9 lbs .8ml

Now you figure in the large dog size you get 4ml per vial I can treat all my kids with 3 vials, little over one for the kitties and 1 full one for the drooler (75lbs). So for in the neighborhood of $60 everyone remains flea free. If you order the Advantage from Dr. Fosters and Smith the shipping is free. Anything you don't use you can just recap and use later. Just remember to wash your hands well after dividing it up. I can do $60 every other month but it would cost a ridiculous amount of $$ to try to buy it per pet.

Mel & Max
 
Re: question - is this a seizure? - flea treatments?

Years ago I came to the decision that Frontline Plus was the best/safest flea treatment. Now I don't even remember why I thought that. Is advantage just good/safe? What about Revolution?

Oh, and by the way, my vet recommended Siphotrol spray for the house. It is hormone based, kills fleas and eggs for up to 30 weeks, and isn't so toxic to pets and humans as some other treatments. Not cheap, though. I bought my first can from the vet, then bought two more on Amazon.
 
Personally I have used regular Frontline and Revolution ( not Frontline Plus) and it didn't even begin to touch the flea problem. Advantage kills them dead everytime. I love it. Now if you are going to try spliting up the dose for dogs to use on cats it has to be the plain Advantage, not the Advantage Plus stuff. But I have used Advantage on even tiny kittens just use a very small drop and never had any problems with it.

Mel & Max
 
Don't forget that the fleas and eggs are in your vacuum bag so you need to get rid of the bag or treat with flea stuff.
 
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