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My cat has seizures / fits, while sleeping (twitches, weak legs, foams at mouth, ear mites, fleas)?
Carpet Floors - the soft and comfortable side of living.
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Hello, I intended on just adding my story to other associated links on here but there are so many that could connect to it, I thought my own page will be better then people can just read it if they chose to. I've included as many seizure associated keywords in the title so hopefully it is easy to find. I've just realised that due to the amount of words, I might have to put it onto 2 messages.
I thought it might be a good idea to tell my story as I think it could help people. My cat Poppy is 16 and has been having seizures / fits for the last year. She?d just turned 15 when I woke up to very loud banging and her bell so ran down knowing something was wrong. I found her on the opposite side of the living room to where she slept, I really thought she was choking, jerking around the floor with foam all over her, tail puffed up massively and she was kind of glaring, while still appearing to choke. Not knowing anything I checked her tongue, got chewed but knew she wasn?t choking on it, I scooped her up but in a way that her legs could still kick around (one hand under hip area and other under shoulder area) and legged it up stairs screaming as I thought she must be choking on something and placed her on the bedroom carpet where she continued to seizure. I cupped my arms around where she was to keep her from moving too far and hitting anything but firmly tapping her back, It seemed like it was never ending but it was literally 1 minute or so till she suddenly stopped, went still and I really thought that was it for her but she kept breathing and within 30 secs or so she started to look around. I was continuously stroking her and gently talking to her, she was very twitchy, pulses going through her arms, and sudden noises or movement made her jumpy. She didn?t wee on this occasion but ended up very weak in the legs. I placed her on the bed and cleaned her foam off with a warm wet cloth, she liked it. I then got my boyfriend to grab some food which she wolfed down. She?d lost so much energy having the seizure. About an hour later she finally relaxed and tried to sleep. From about 4am that day all I?ve done is watch, research, observe, experiment etc. I started with the vets, got every test done that they suggested and nothing, everything was fine infect pretty great for an old lady. She was impressed with her health. I had a few questions for the vet which they did not mention to me, now a year on I don?t understand why they fobbed me off but I asked ? can fleas in anyway cause seizures? Whether it be through bites or irritation? as Poppy had sensitive skin and in the past fleas have caused her to get scabby. Fleas are easily available off the local hedgehog and I?m forever battling them. She answered in a way that made me feel pretty stupid for asking saying basically no. 2nd question can you please look into her ears as she?s always had itchy ones and on occasions her ears would actually tip downwards due to itching. I always thought ?just itching or fleas? so sprayed her. It?d calm but come back eventually so I just thought fleas still. She looked in with the thing and said ?nothing in there? I asked what about the condition of her ears then? As she had brown speckles, she said ?looking good?, So she hasn?t got ear mites? ?No?
After around 6 visits and nothing to work with, all they could suggest was a brain tumour but only a scan for £1000 (miles away too) would confirm it. I simply can?t afford £1000 and poppy wouldn?t handle a drive 2 hours away. But I did strongly feel my baby hasn?t got a tumour, she can?t, she?s so happy, normal, healthy etc, I couldn?t let it rest so went into one with my own research. Each month from he dates of 25th-5th she?ll have a fit in her sleep, so I thought maybe a pattern ( 2 separate months in total she has managed to escape a fit). I seen on the net that ear mites cause brown speckles, I seen that both ear mites and fleas can cause seizures as both can irritate in a bad way on things such as the inner ear / canal. I found fleas and ear mites have a cycle similar to each other (3-4 week cycle) which fit in with Poppy?s monthly cycle, I literally studied for hours and hours watching her, observing what happens. Included obviously was the treatment of ear mites. While researching still, I found out virgin olive oil slightly hand warmed soothes their ears and smothers the mites but if mites are definitely there then some sort of treatment is needed. It is best to get hold of a proper drop bottle and if lots of muck ends up visible then a soft warm cotton ball (definitely not a bud on stick) will gently wipe it away. Don?t go down in the ear though. So in the meantime when I noticed her start to twitch (which she seems to do leading up to a fit) I?d put a couple of small hand warmed drops in each ear and guess what? she?d calm down.
I also read that flea spray kills some ear mites that travel the body then return to the ears (as ear mites are apparently happy living on the tail, tail base and neck/face so if you look back to the beginning somewhere you?ll see that this will be why when I thought fleas were itching her ears, I?d spray her then her ears itch would calm down, it?ll have been killing off ear mites that I didn?t realise she had. So I got hold of some Johnson?s ear mite treatment but didn?t really like how it was so cheap, so easily available and stinks of pine cleaner, it?d calm for a few days but then she continued having fits. So I started looking into better products that aren?t that easily available (found revolution £20-£30 inc delivery from Australia) monthly drop that kills lots of things including fleas, flea larvae and ear mites. It also should clear up dermatitis caused by mite and fleas irritation on the skin. So I?ve finally got it and put her 1st drops on last month, and her 2nd last
saturday. It?s the 2nd drops (I think) that should really start killing off their cycles. It needs putting on 100% correct for safety and best results. There?s a video on you tube that shows an American vet putting it on in the best way she recommends).
So to date I?ve gave in with the vet. Sampled with a more natural diet (natures menu from pets at home) she drank loads more water from eating this which was a good sign but the fits continued.
Tried just flea spray, no real change, fits still happen.
Tried normal Johnson?s ear drops, no change. But I am so convinced by all of my observing her that it is ear related, now I have what I believe could be the product for the job, this is it really. By this time next month I?ll know if the revolution works and hopefully stops the fits. Otherwise I?ll have to maybe accept it?s possibly a neurological problem with age, and just continue with flea and mite treatments to try and keep them away but mostly with a little oil to sooth and
smoother as this for me has the most immediate result for her twitching irritated ears. It may sound like wishful thinking but I don?t believe she has a tumour. She is so normal all the time, no signs of confusion, no visual signs like swelling etc. A few other bits and bobs I?ve found over the year are: a cat seems to love water from a normal human bowl, and not too cold. She loves her water now she has one. When a cat has had a fit her muscles are likely to be very tense and weak. Sometimes even collapsed back legs. Poppy once spent 4 days not able to walk due to a fit when she wasn?t quite used to them yet. She struggled in her tray and obviously going for a poop was very painful for her with tense muscles. Again virgin olive oil in her meat, just a few drops or so, mixed in well will hopefully have her going within a day. I went a few days giving oil when her legs collapsed and it seemed to do great.
I couldn?t leave Poppy at first when she started having fits but eventually
came impossible. I?m lucky as I have a spare room that I made ?fit safe? cleared everything away, have a waterproof sheet for when she wees while fitting but most importantly where she can?t sleep up too high. She fell off the bed once and hurt her face so I worked at making it soft and where she can?t fit furniture etc.
While a cat is having a seizure all you can do is arch your arms around the area to keep her close but still free to move. She can?t choke on her tongue so don?t worry about that. But most importantly don?t hold her down, her body needs to move how it wants to, just be there to sooth her back to normality, if there is anyone who can grab some food and warm water with a cloth to gently wipe her wet legs and foam but try and not leave her alone until she?s normal again, 20 mins or so, at that point I?d put her on the living room floor and get her bed to try and settle her nicely. Then I go and clean up any mess she made.
She gets embarrassed if she finds her wee so I keep her away till its all cleaned up :)
It?s important to clean her tray after every time she uses it. When her legs are really weak she stumbles around in it and all cats hate messy legs.
My thoughts about her fitting while she?s asleep only are that when she is in a deep sleep she isn?t scratching at irritations in her ears etc, therefore they keep biting, hatching etc and her nervous system can?t really handle it so the seizure begins. I?ve noticed a few times she seems to really aggressively rub her face into things while fitting which made me think he face was really irritated. I haven?t witnessed Poppy?s fits actually start but have been to her within seconds. I?ve seen on many occasions her in a deep sleep and her ears, Whiskas, arms will start twitching, if I just watched it would start getting aggressive,
so always wake her up, on 2 occasions I really struggled to awake her calmly which showed me she was in a very deep sleep. On the net I have seen a video of someone?s cat about to have a fit. I could see clearly that the cat looked very annoyed at something irritating it?s tail, the tail then puffed up hugely and it started trying to get to the tail, going in circles, I couldn?t actually continue watching for the fit start as it?s not my cup of tea, but that was enough for me to see it seems irritated.
A fit always seems longer than it really is but always try and keep a log of time length. Poppy hasn?t had a very long one (normally 20- 30- 40 - 50 seconds) but if they are seeming too long then it?s important to see someone ASAP for tests. Obviously I recommend tests first anyway as I now know everything else is good but long fits are likely to be caused by something I haven?t looked into. I must stress that all of this research has been over the year, treatments can?t be used close
to each other and I think nothing can be used the same time as revolution, obviously the info included will tell you. Overall including an out of hours emergency visit , 6 consultation fees and then blood tests for a range of things like kidneys, blood cells, leukaemia etc, and a test for Toxoplasmosis (gondii antibodies) the total came to about £500, harsh but I was pleased to know cancer, kidney failure etc were ruled out. Even though I still need to wait a month for the revolution results, I?m happy that she has kept going through it all and reached her 16th.
I?ve tried my hardest to put as many keywords in my story so hopefully as many people find it that also don?t know what is going on and hopefully this could possibly help.
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