Conference misery::feline

    When anything goes wrong, all of us "kitty-parents" start to look for
    trouble.  Alex and Rico can't TWITCH wrong without both of us leaping
    on them (usually making Rico run is sheer terror) to see what health
    problem they could be developing, since Tiki died.
    
    I STILL say, go to the vet, but tell them everything straight out, that
    other than the seizure, everything else is okey-dokey, but you would
    STILL like to have her checked.  (Ooooo...any English teacher would
    have my head on a silver platter after THAT sentence!)  :^)
    
    Good luck...fingers and paws crossed!
    
    K.C.

    
    	Katie has an appointment for 2:45. We'll see what he says...
    

    
    I don't have anything helpful to say except "me too".  About a month
    ago one of our 4 fell out of the bathroom window with a siezure exactly
    the same as you described. It was the middle of the day and luckily I was 
    still on maternity leave or I would never have known about it.  I took
    Sophie to the Vet that afternoon and she could find nothing wrong with 
    her.  The vet asked lots of questions and examined Sophie's eyes but
    there were no hints to why she had a siezure.  The Vet said to keep an
    eye on her and that sometimes cats just throw the odd siezure and no
    one can find a reason for it.  (reassuring isn't it?)
    
    Try not to worry,
    
    LaDonna

    
    I'm sorry to hear about Katie. I logged into this account because my
    Smokia is sick and had a seizure on Friday. She was sick all day,
    throwing up mucus and blood. My roommate called me and told me Smokia
    was real sick. I made an appointment for 3:15 that day, but my roommate
    called me at 2:30 and said Smokia was having a seizure. At the vets,
    they could not determine what was wrong with her. I had to admit her
    over night. They did about 40 blood tests and all kind of X-rays. They
    can't find the problem. She is an indoor only cat, and my other cat
    aren't sick. She eats dry Perfom cat food and water. That's it. I
    picked her up Saturday morning and they told me to try to feed her
    Sunday morning, but very little. She has not ate or drank since. She is
    still getting sick about 6 times a day. I just had to take her back so
    they could put some fluids into her because she must be dehydrated now.
    They are also going to do more X-rays. If they don't see anything he
    might want to operate to see if there is something stuck in her
    intestines that the X-ray didn't pick up. My poor baby. She looks so
    sad and sick. I hope they find the problem soon without operating.
    
    This has already cost me a few hundred dollars. I wish vet bills
    weren't so expensive. I'm in the process of moving and really can't
    afford to pay another $300. But I guess I'll have to. Smokia is my baby
    and I love her. But what if I let them operate and they still don't
    find anything????? I could take her for another opinion somewhere else,
    but they might do all the same tests again that already cost me $250. 
    
    Well, I just had to get this off my chest. I've been so worried about
    her, and no one  really understands that she is like my little baby. 
    
    The vet did tell me that Seizers were very uncommon in cats and could
    be serious. I guess they scared me for nothing after reading your
    notes.
    
    Does anyone have any ideas what the problem could be?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Stephanie

    It sounds to me like your vet is right to be concerned about Smokia; 
    she seems to be showing a lot more symptoms than one isolated seizure. 
    Please let us know what the vet says and how she is doing.
    
    (Do you have any house plants that she might have eaten some of -- some
    plants are poisonous to cats.  Or could she have gotten into anything
    harmful, like a cleaner?
    

    
    My Vet just called and it doesn't look to good. Friday that put some
    chalky white stuff into her and did X-rays to see it go down to see
    fi anything was blocked. It stopped before her stool. I picked her up
    Saturday and the vet figured the chalky stuff would come out when she
    passed her stool. he did an X-ray today, and she passed her stool, but
    the white stuff has not moved. He is going to give her fluids, keep her
    over night, and do another X-ray in the morning. If it still hasn't
    moved he will have to do exporatory surgery. My poor baby. I hope he
    calls with good news tomorrow.
    
    I don't have any house plants or cleansers that she could have got
    into. I've been going over and over everything in my mind. There just
    could have been a little something on the floor somewhere that she ate. 
    
    Thanks for the concern. I'll keep you posted. I'll also ask more about
    seizures while I'm at it. 
    
    Stephanie

    Sherry and Steph...good thoughts and prayer are coming your
    way and we have all hands and paws crossed for both Katie and
    Smokia!
         
    Please keep us posted...
    
    Sandy

    
    	Katie checked out okay physically, now we are awaiting results
    	of a CBC, FELV, and FIV tests. Dr Heller says it could just be 
    	one of those weird incidences, and it could never happen again.
    	
    	If the blood results don't show anything, the other biggest 
    	possibility is a brain tumor, but I honestly don't believe I
    	need to worry about that. 
    
    	Sherry
    

    If it's any consolation, my cat Lucky, started siezures two years ago. 
    After about a year on cortizone type medication his siezures became
    more frequent again and for the last year he has been on phenobarbital
    daily (new inventive ways of pilling a very cranky cat) and has been
    fine, with (touch wood) no siezures.  His test results showed nothing. 
    We came to the result of a possible slow tumour - but we do not have
    access to a large medical (vet) facility - so we may never know.  But,
    so far so good - so fingers crossed that your Katie was a one off
    thing, but don't despair - I'm sure something can be worked out. 
    
    

    I don't know if this is the same or even similar, but...
    
    Both my mom's and my sister's dogs recently started having seizures. 
    My mom's vet said that blood must be taken within about 1/2 hr in order
    to find the cause of the seizure, and even then they may not be able to
    find the cause.  Both vets could find anything wrong with the dogs, so
    they chalked the seizures up to epilepsy and put the dogs on Primidone
    (a barbituate).  Both dogs were so drugged out they just dragged
    themselves around and slept all day.  Both vets finally agreed to lower
    the dosage, and the dogs are their normal selves now with no seizures
    since.  The frustrating thing for me was that they over-dosed the dogs;
    can't they tell how much the dog should get by how much it weighs??? 
    My sister's vet had her 50lb dog on the same dosage of the same
    medication as my mom's 112lb dog!!
    
    Oh well, they're both okay now.
    
    I'll get off my soapbox now...
    --Michelle

    What kind of dogs?  I understand this is very common in beagles;  my
    borther's beagle had it.  he was fine with medication.
    

    
    	Epilepsy is MUCH more common in dogs than in cats, according
    	to my vet. In fact, I think he said he had only seen one cat
    	in two decades of practice who developed it. In cats, the most
    	common causes for seizures are poisoning, brain tumor, or no
    	apparent cause where it never happens again.
    

    The big one is a golden lab mix, and the little one is a
    shepherd-huskie mix.

    
    re -12. That is exactly what my vet told me. Seizures are much more 
    common in dogs then cats because cats don't usually get Epilepsy. You
    listed all the same reasons that my vet said cats can get seizures. 
    
    The reason Smokia had a seizure was because she was getting sick so
    much, that she problaby started to choke and stopped breathing. That
    put her into a seizure. 
    
    They operated on Smokia yesterday and found that she swallowed some
    green ribbon. I had mentioned that to the vet on Friday because that
    was the only thing out of the ordinary that I had out Thursday night. I
    did put it all away when I was done, and I didn't see her around me
    when I had it out, but obviously she was. She is doing much better. I
    wanted to pick her up today, but they want to keep her for another day
    because she still has a fever and she isn't eating. What a relief to at
    least find the problem. Now shw is on the road to recovery!!
    
    How is Katie doing? Did you get the results back yet?
    
    Stephanie

    
    	Glad to hear Smokia is going to recover!  Katie's tests all
    	came back normal. All we can do now is wait to see if it will
    	happen again, but assume that it won't. Let's all keep our
    	fingers and paws crossed, but I don't feel that it will happen
    	again...
    
    	Sherry
    

    
    	Well, exactly two weeks to the day, Katie had her second 
    	seizure. This one was a little shorter, and she had some
    	motor control halfway through it, she tried to run away
    	and ended up sitting into the corner until it had passed.
    
    	Dr Heller feels now that it's probably idiopathic epilepsy.
    	He wants to watch her a little longer to see if she develops
    	a pattern before we determine how much and how often she 
    	should be given medication for it. Poor thing, she isn't even
    	two years old yet! 
    
    	We've ruled out brain tumor for now, because she is not 
    	exhibiting any unusual behavior, ie undue agression, walking
    	in circles, etc. I can't afford to have a cat scan done at
    	this time, anyways, especially if he thinks it won't show
    	anything.
    
    	Sherry
    

    It sounds like this is something that medication can keep controlled; 
    I know it must be scary for you, but I hope it's a relief to have a
    good idea of what it is.  
    
    Karen
    

    
    	Up to five seizures now, we have an appointment next week
    	to look her over again and put her on medication. I think
    	he's going to use phenylbarbitol - anyone have experience 
    	with it? How will she act? (does it tranquilize her?). 
    
    	Thanks,
    	Worried Mommy

    See note .9.  The first few days until you find the right dosage can be 
    "interesting", dopey, falling over. Our 4lb kitten could knock over
    Lucky (14lb) and frequently did so "just for fun".  It took about a
    week or two to find out the correct dosage and now he's been fine for
    over a year.  Only one drawback is that once they are on the medication
    it's for life.  We have become very ingenious in hiding the pill!
    
    If she is difficult to pill (Lucky is VERY bad) - take a higher dose
    pill and chop it up.  I have 60mg chopped into 4 (15mg), this is easier
    to hide than 1 15mg pill.  True it can be wasteful but the medication
    is very cheap (12.00 for 100 (60mg) pills).
    
    Linda

    
    	After several months of doing well, Katie began to have worse
    	seizures a couple of weeks ago. It was obvious that she was 
    	beginning to suffer because she wouldn't be herself for more than 
    	a day afterwards.
    
    	Katie was euthanized this afternoon. I will miss her, she was a
    	little clown, always did the weirdest things.
    
    	Sherry
    

         So sorry, Sherry ...
    
    					- Andrea

    My sympathies to you Sherry.  Remember all the smiles Katie brought.
    
    - Lauri
    

Sherry,

So sorry to hear about Katie.  

Hugs,
Laura    

    My heart and prayers are with you.  Keep all those wonderful memories
    close to your heart....
    
    Sandy

    So sorry to hear about Katie. Please know you did the right thing for
    her. Katie will be added to the Silver Lining Memorial.
    
    Love,
    
     Yonee

    We are sorry, too, Sherry.  Katie had a good life, and knew how much
    she was loved.
    
    -Roberta, Kelsey, Taja, & Herbie
    

    I'm so sorry.  I know how hard it is to say goodbye, but it's harder to
    watch them suffer.  You did the loving and right thing.
    
    Steffi

    Sherry,
    
    I'm so sorry to hear about Katie!  I've seen her pictures, and she was
    a beautiful little baby.  And I know how much you loved her.  I'm sure
    she knew as well.  
    
    HUGS!
    
    Holly
    

    Hi Sherry,
    
    I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.  I'm sure Katie was loved
    very much and knew so.  You did the right thing, and I know she
    appreciates it.
    
    Pam

   first of all, to Sherry, my sympathies on losing Katie......

   I hope you don't mind, but rather than starting a new base note, I
   thought I'd just put my questions/comments here ........if you or
   the mods rather I put it elsewhere, just let me know..........

   It appears Cuddles, my son's cat, is having seizures now - we thought
   a while ago this was true because of her behavior going to the vet
   for the usual checkups/shots, but at that time, they (vets office) 
   thought it might just be motion sickness.  

   In the last week, she's had some strange episodes which my roommate
   talked to the vet about yesterday when she brought her cat in to be
   checked (another story !) - we haven't actually *seen* the episodes
   but rather the after-affects which is what was described to the vet.
   Based on the behavior and the fact that Cuddles is white (she's part
   siamese, don't know what else, she was a 'rescue' cat, had been abused)
   and mostly deaf, the vet believes she is having seizures and has
   given us Phenobarbitol to try - 1/2 pill 2 times a day

   Behavior : The stuff we had seen before on rides to the vet were
	frothing/foaming at the mouth and continual lapping type sounds,
	sorta like constant swallowing that a human does when s/he feels
	like going to be sick but not yet - lapping sounds are lately 
	what's drawn my son's attention during the night - when he hears 
	them, she's usually WET along the side of her head and/or backside - 
	loud, not-good-sounding crying is the other thing that's drawn 
	our attention, scared my son enough the other night that he woke
	my roommate to have her see what was wrong & when my roommate had
	the cat, her side was soaking wet, thought maybe she had tripped
	over the water dish or something but no water on the floor, no
	signs that she had spilled any - had to find her the other night 
	listening to her cries which break your heart to hear - when she's
	found, wants to be held but then while holding her, she'll
	mouth your finger or arm - doesn't really bite down as in
	breaking skin with teeth, but sorta biting (?)......

   Now my questions :

   (1) what tests (if any) can be done to find out what/why this is
       happening ?  Not sure if I want to deal with the expense of
       the tests if the Pheno works, but if it doesn't, I want to be
       prepared understanding what we can do

   (2) we've racked our brains in terms of "did she get into something?"
       and the *only* thing we can come up with is *maybe* some small
       piece of hand soap - some broke off in my son's shower and he left
       it on the shower floor - all cats have access to the upstairs
       bathroom during the day as that's where one of the litter boxes
       are kept - could SOAP cause this strange behavior ?

   (3) I read this string on Katie and others comments - any other positive
       things I can tell my son ?  He's worried that she's going to die -
       asked me yesterday if dogs/cats go to the same heaven as people
       do & when I asked why, he told me he prayed the night before to 
       his Poppi (grandfather) and asked him if anything happens to 
       Cuddles and she goes to heaven, would he take care of her for him !
       BROKE MY HEART !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We tried to tell him that the
       vet says he sees this often with white, deaf cats and that the
       medicine will help control the seizures - and I told him I'd check
       this file to see if others have had experiences of the same nature
       and what they had to say...............

   (4) anyone know where I can get a PILL CUTTER ??  These little things
       are SMALL and they're not grooved, so trying to split them in half
       was a real pain last night !  The good news is I got one down her
       without too much trouble and gave her a treat after, so she wasn't
       too upset about it - bad news is with the rush this morning, I
       forgot to give her her morning half !

   Thanks in advance,
   Debbi

    RE: pill cutter
    
    I saw them in CVS this weekend. I think it was about $3.00; it was in
    the same sectin with the oral syringes and eye droppers.
    
    Good luck,
    Deb

    WEll we had another emergency trip to the vets this weekend...
    and this time it was because of Moses who is 4 years old and
    has been very healthy to date. 
    
    On Saturday morning at 4:00AM I woke up to some weird noises...only
    to find Moses having a seizure on the floor.   The seizure only
    lasted about 1 minute...then he appeared dazed for another 1
    minute and then he started walking around/eating like nothing
    happened.   The blood work came back with nothing out of the
    ordinary...other then maybe a little dehydration...his heart was
    fine...and the vet could not find anything wrong with him.  SO..
    as of right now we are just going to sit back to see if he does
    have another one and then we will do further tests.
    
    In the meantime...I have a good tip!!!  NEVER NEVER put your fingers
    in a cats mouth while he is having a seizure.   I know it was VERY
    stupid..but when I first woke up I thought Moses was choking so
    I took my finger and wiped the inside of his mouth...and boy did
    he bite down hard.   I have a nasty bite mark on my finger which
    is very infected and I'm on mega doses of antibiotics which are
    making me very sick.
    
    Can you believe just since January I have had one cat diagnosed
    with Diabetes, one with Thyroid, one with bumps which they can't
    figure out what it is...and then one that had a seizure.  1997
    CANNOT continue like this.....sigh!    
    
    Sandy 

    Gosh, Sandy. This year isn't off to a very good start for you. Poor
    little Moses! If he was dehydrated, his electrolytes could have been
    fouled up which I think could cause some strange behavior. I sure hope
    that this was a one time occurance!
    
    And I hope that your finger heals all right, too. I remember when
    Mikael bit me and my hand was like a catcher's mitt. The doctor put me
    on amoxcilian and boy did it make me sick! Since then, I've often
    wondered how our cats are able to take it and not have these problems.
    I found I could tolerate it a little better if I took it in the middle
    of a meal. 
    
    Deb

    Oh Sandy -  how sad for you and Moses.  If you're not better by Sunday
    (volunteer day) don't worry because we have the extra help with John.
    
    Of course - you could always come by and be our cheer leader/kitty
    cuddler!
    
    Gita

    Sandy, I'm so sorry to hear about yourself and Moses.  1997 hasn't been
    a good year for us either.  At least it's almost 25% done!
    
    Healing vibes to both of you ...
    
    					- Andrea
    				  	  Loki & Midnight

    My goodness.  Hugs to you both and the other kitties.  I took
    an antibiotic recently as did my mother, and we were both told to 
    take them with food to help prevent upset stomachs.  Amoxy is what
    always makes my cats throw up also.  If food doesn't work, maybe your
    doctor can prescribe a different antibiotic.  Please let us know
    how Moses and you are doing, and how are the other kitties as well?
    
    I have the dim idea that a person having a seizure has to be prevented
    from "swallowing his tongue".  Is that some old wives' tale?...
    
    Karen and the kitties
    

    
    
    Big Hugs.. 97 will get better !

    >I have the dim idea that a person having a seizure has to be prevented
    >from "swallowing his tongue".  Is that some old wives' tale?...

    Karen,

    last night Chronicle (WCVB, channel 5 in Boston) had a show on medical
    emergencies in the multiple choice quiz format. One of the questions
    had to do with what do you do when someone has a seizure, and the
    incorrect answer was to "put a spoon in their mouth" to prevent them
    from chocking on their tongue". They said that the person having the
    seizure can't swallow their tongue, and that the only thing that it is
    liable to do is cause someone to get cut or bit.

    Deb

    I'm on an antibiotic called Augmentin...which is the best
    one for cat bites.  The darn pills are like horse pills.  I
    am finding that if I eat a little bit every hour...I feel
    a bit better.   
    
    Thanks for all the good thoughts and hugs.....the kitties and
    I need them!!!  Hopefully the rest of the year won't bring
    more cat problems.
    
    Sandy 

    Sandy,
    
    I took my augmentin with yogurt.  It really did help quite a bit.  The
    Doc told me totake it with food, and I was on it for a month from a
    spider infection.  
    
    meg

    Augmentin; now that I think of it, that's what I was on; isn't that a
    combination of amoxcillian and clavomax? 
    
    Deb (who's stomach is turning just remembering the stuff)

    Augmentin is what they had me on when Mac shredded me.  I don't recall
    it ever making me sick though.  But, I seem to have a cast iron stomach
    when it comes to most medications.  I had the 500mg variety for the cat
    bites and later took the 875mg to help me over whooping cough.  They're
    definitely horse pills. 
    
    I still have the bottles from both of those events.  I was given more
    than 10 days worth between the samples they gave me and the actual
    prescription.
    
    Augmentin 500mg - amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium tablets
    	amoxicillin, 500mg as the trihydrate
    	clavulanic acid, 125mg as clavulanate potassium      
    
    Augmentin 875mg - amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium tablets
	amoxicillin, 875 as the trihydrate
    	clavulanic acid, 125mg as clavulanate potassium 
    
    
    Jan