My cat had a few random seizures, and is acting very disoriented. Please help.

Yesterday morning around 5 am, I went upstairs to go to sleep (had a very long night). My kitty was sitting up on the landing where she usually does, acting normal. I pet her and continued to my room. Sometimes she follows me to my room so I turned around to check, sure enough, she comes walking around the corner.

I went to pick her up, and as I did, i picked her up from here belly along with back hip support but something happened. She flipped out and kind of rolled in my arms, trying to jump out. I don't know what set her off, maybe I accidentally did something when picking her up. She jumped out of my arms and landing on the ground, but not on her feet.

Then she looked really scared and started what looked like a seizure. Her paws went far out in front of her, she was backing up (into a wall), and her neck was twisting back and forth with her chin to the ground.

after this happened she seemed totally out of it, and almost like she had no idea where she was or what was around her. She then went to my room and hid underneath a chair. I sat next to her worried, comforting her. For about five minutes she still seemed disoriented and then she walked into my closet looking scared again.

Another seizure. I tried to comfort her as much as I could. I pet her gently and noticed that she had been losing a significant amount of weight, and was very bony. She had been losing weight over the last couple weeks, but it was never THIS bad. It was like she hadn't eaten in days. We have accessible food & water all the time for our cats. She is a 6 year old, indoor/outdoor female calico named "Kitty".

This is very rare for her. She's always been the really sweet kitty that comes and rubs against your leg purring. Meowing as if to say, "hi".

We took her to a vet as soon as we could. However our vet conveniently didn't have a doctor in, they sent us to another place. We brought her in and filled out the paperwork. After a few minutes a lady came out and talked to us about prices for exams/tests, and they were incredibly steep. Currently unemployed, our household has no money to pay those kind of prices.

The vet did however simply look at the cat and figured there definitely WAS something wrong, and it might be neurological. She said that blood work and urine tests could help us find out what it is. I've never noticed anything like this with Kitty, she's always been a very healthy cat.

We ended up taking her to another place where they examined her, a very low 5.5 lbs, regular temperature. By this time she had about 30-40 more... I don't think seizures, but more toned down kinds. I'm not sure of the term. She would be laying on her stomach, and then out of nowhere, flip over once or twice, like she didn't know which was was up.

This doctor also recommended blood work. But it is simply too much money. If we had it, we would have done it. After given knowledge of our financial state, the doctor recommended a simple 'Shotgun' antibiotic approach. They gave us Amoxicillin as well as Clindamycin Hydrochlorida to give to her every twelve hours.

A full syringe of the Amoxicillin (about 1 ml), and 1.3 ml of the Clindamycin Hydrochlorida.

So far she has not been seizing anymore, but seems quite unbalanced and disoriented. She tends to lay up against walls, I'm guessing because they provide her support. She seems like she is heavily leaning towards her right side. She got up and tried to walk, but immediately started falling to the right, with her feet trying to catch up with her.

I'm very worried about her. She has never been really sick or shown any odd signs. She is young and is the sweetest, nicest cat you'd ever meet.

Please help me by sharing any ideas you may have of what it may be, comments, suggestions, and insight.

I would also like to ask that your prayers be with us.

[athlyt17]

Here are a few terms that I found on the website that may describe her symptoms a bit better.


• SEIZURES
• UNABLE TO WALK
• PALE GUMS OR LETHARGY
• SUDDEN COLLAPSE WEAKNESS OR LOSS OF COORDINATION
• NOT EATING OR DRINKING FOR LONGER THAN TWO DAYS

[Thomas Dock, CVJ, Vet. Technician]

Wow...what a scary experience you must have had with your kitty over these last 24 hours.   How is your kitty doing now?

As you have found out, diagnostics testing of our pets is so vitally important in order to tell us what is going on.   Your description of the occurrences is great and a physical exam is helpful, but since the pet can't talk to describe her own pain or thoughts, bloodwork and other diagnostics are really the only way to firmly head down a path towards a diagnosis.  The "shotgun" approach can work, but just as often it can lead you away from the true problem.

One thing I might recommend is that you post this question over in the Ask A Vet forum under the General Health forum.   We have several dozen veterinarians available to help answer questions and although they won't be able to give you a diagnosis, you might find some helpful advice, some questions to ask your veterinarian, and maybe even one of the veterinarians has seen this kind of behavior before.

Another thing to consider is personal financing through companies like carecredit.com and chasehealthadvance.com.   Finally, the American Animal Hospital Association has a Helping Pets Fund for disadvantaged owners.  Your veterinarian needs to apply for it on your behalf, but you can find details at aahahelpingpets.org.

I wish you the best of luck...keep us posted.

[athlyt17]

I called my regular vet as soon as I read this post and the options we may have with CareCredit and AAHA.

However, they closed about an hour ago.

I will try again tomorrow morning 8.