[my5kitties]

and very scary sense of déja vu.

This morning started off like every other morning. Star was asleep next to me, curled up and against the backs of my thighs. At approximately 6:30 am PDT, I was woken up by the distinct sound of him getting ready to hork up a hairball. Then, after the initial horking, he acted like he was going to hork again, but instead, he started convulsing. It only lasted a few seconds, but it brought me back to the night of January 14, 2011, the night I lost Smokey. For those brief seconds, it wasn't Star I was seeing, but Smokey. I yelled, "Star!! What's the matter!?!" After the brief seizure, he was just laying there. And for a very scary second, I thought my baby boy was dead. I put my hand on his side to see if he was still breathing. Thank God! He was still breathing. I've been watching him like a hawk and he seems to be okay, but I'm wondering if this is something we should bring him to the vet for. I know it's gonna be like pulling teeth to convince my ex-husband to take him, especially since we took him to the vet about three weeks ago because of weepy eyes.

Even though he seems to be fine right now, I am still very worried about him. If it were you, would you take him to the vet or would you just keep a very sharp on him?

 

[BotanyBlack]

If any of my cats had a seizure they would be at the vet pronto. If not I would not be able to sleep and i would constantly be checking them.

Good luck and hope Star is feeling much better.

 

[Mitts & Tess]

Holy crap Renee. Im so sorry this happened. Youve been thru a lot lately!

Im guessing its either a long large hair ball or epilepsy? One of my blind kitties did just what your talking about. It was the longest hair ball we ever saw. Lots of people have dogs and cats with epilepsy. Its very treatable with meds.

Keep us posted. ~Smokey look out after Star!~

 

[my5kitties]

Botany Black--I want to take him to the vet, but our vet is only open for another hour and half today and my ex isn't here right now. And it's also a money issue. If we take him to the e-vet, it's going to cost around $200-$300, but if we took him to our regular vet, it would be about $45-$50, but they only take appointments in the morning (at least on Saturdays). As of right now, he seems to be okay. In fact, he drank some of the milk from my bowl of Froot Loops that I had earlier.

Merry--Star is a short-haired boy, so I doubt it was a large hairball. In fact, now that I think about it, I didn't see any hairballs, though I did see some hair. Would epilepsy just appear out of nowhere? I've had Star ever since he was born and this is the first time he's ever seized like this.

 

[Mitts & Tess]

Yes it can appear out of no where. I think your safe to wait till your regular vet opens on Monday. I know your heart for your kitties. Plus how tight money is for you right now. I would take him to a good vet who is cat savvy so you wont waste money. Most vets arent great cat vets unfortunately. Hopefully your with a good one. keep us posted.

 

[LadyK]

Poor Star. One of my dogs has had a few seizures and it's so scary to witness. I'd recommend that you write down this episode while it's still fresh in your mind. Stuff like the time it happened, how long it lasted, what he was doing before, what he ate yesterday, what the weather has been like, etc. If it would ever happen again, you can refer back to your notes to see if there is a pattern. Hope everything turns out to be normal and this doesn't happen again.

 

[maggie23]

very scary! i'm so sorry this happened

yes, hopefully your own vet can give you some comfort or at least an idea of what might have caused that seizure. i can understand you panicking so much unfortunately and i'm so sorry you're having to go through this. if it was a seizure, i would think the vet MUST be able to give you some idea of possibilities and advise you on what to do. good luck. i am thinking only good thoughts for you both.

 

[my5kitties]

Whatever it was, it appears to be over, though I'm still keeping an eye on him. I just hope that he'll still sleep with me. He had his seizure on my bed, so my bed may not be very tempting to him tonight.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. It was just so scary because when Smokey died, he went into cardiac arrest and his body seized. I certainly do not want that to happen to any of my other cats, so when it happened yesterday, I pretty much panicked. I'm much calmer now and Star seems to be over his episode. I will make note of everything that happened so if it does happen again, I can let the vet know the details.

 

[Kitty-The-Cat]

Were the 2 cats related? If not, it seems odd that 2 cats living in the same house would get the same kind of seizure?

 

[my5kitties]

No, Star and Smokey aren't related. Smokey's seizure was probably brought on by severe anemia due to being FeLV/FIV+.

 

[Alpaca]

Oh that is very scary indeed. I hope you were able to get to the vet yesterday and got him checked out.

 

[my5kitties]

I wasn't able to get to the vet. Money is really tight, so I'm going to call the vet, tell them what happened, explain our financial situation, ask what all they would do (blood work, CT scans, etc.), and get a price quote. Once I have that, I'll let my ex-husband know so he can finagle the budget so that we can have Star looked at. He knows how much Star means to me, so he'll find a way to make it work.