kitty suddenly begins having seizures.

[Neekolassify]

my kitty cat inky, who is a black angora, about 4 years old and has been having seizures for like, 5 months... since december, at least. she was 3 when she started having them. well, after the next few seizures we took her to the vet and did extensive bloodwork and even checked her stool for parasites. everything was normal, except she tested positive for exposure to the feline coronavirus. she's been alive since then and no other symptoms have appeared. and.... she has been having seizures only at night and at weird points in time.... she has seizures when there's barometric pressure drops, thunderstorms, and full moons. last night she had a seizure, and today, it's gloomy and cool and raining, like a front moved in!

this is what happens when she seizes: there's an hour of weird behavior before, like last night she went to sleep and jerked awake, and seemed jumpy at every little slight noise. it's like she has panic attacks  before the initial seizure, and she runs as fast as she can and as low to the ground as she can and bumps into doorways and collapses and starts violently seizing, with foam at the mouth... she grunts and growls as she's seizing, her eyes are open, but they're twitching as well... then there's a pause, but her muscles are tense, and then she begins to paddle. it only lasted about a minute, but then she lays there, panting, and her muscles relax, and she wakes up, all dazed and starts to purr as loud as she can, rubbing against my legs. (sometimes, she does this, then gets paralyzed and can't walk, and plops onto the ground, and her muscles tense again. i've read on the internet and haven't heard of any other cats doing this. her front paw raises sometimes and she can't put it down and she falls on her side, and she still continues to purr.) this lasts for a few HOURS and someone has to stay up to watch her to make sure she doesn't fall into another seizure.

so... is there any chance that this could be FIP?
does it sound like epilepsy more than FIP?
is this status epilepsy, and is the paralysis the seizure still continuing?
should we put her on phenobarbital? the doctor said we should watch her for more seizures but i really just want to help her. D:
and, does this sound like a brain tumor?

thanks, i'm hoping for a good answer. sorry this is a huge wall of text and i hope that i can get a good answer from this. :P

[Neekolassify]

actually, we didn't test her for FIP. we just tested for coronavirus. the doctor said we shouldn't test her until it's really necessary. thank you. :3

[nancyjac]

Secondary epileptic seizures can result from  FIP, and since she is corona virus positive, FIP is always a possibility and could show up at any time, now or as she gets older. I assume she has tested negative for FIP at this time?  There are also a whole host of other things from cancer to strokes that can cause secondary epilepsy.  Phenobarbital is the primary drug of choice of most vets for seizure management, but some cats can have adverse reactions.  So if you do decide to put her on phenobarbital, you need to observe closely for any side effects of the drug itself.  Often seizures, while they can be quite dramatic and frightening, are not in and of themselves life threatening for the cat as long as they do not result in secondary injury from falls or other accidents during the seizure.

[Neekolassify]

thank you for the input. :3

[opus88]

hi and welcome, so sorry to read about kitty's seizures. I really don't personally know much about this problem but I will give you some links that could better answer your questions.

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesandconditions/a/CW-CatSeizureTypes.htm

after reading that article be sure to scroll down to the sections highlighted in blue re: seizures in cats.

we also have a Vet on Medhelp that you should direct your questions to

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Animal-Health---General/show/112?camp=msc

and lastly another site that gives information about phenobarbital and other anticonvulsant medications..good luck with your search. I do think its time kitty was taking something for this disorder the seizures sound like they could be becoming a life threatening situation. keep us posted♥

www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/seizures.aspx