My 18 yr old cat now has had 3 seizures (that we know of) since Easter. She seems to shake them off within an hour or so, but they are miserable and traumatic to witness and I’m sure horrible to actually experience.
Other than these seizures, she seems to be doing pretty well. I don’t want us to come home to a dying/dead cat, nor do I want our house/cat sitter to witness that during the times we are out of town.
I know cat is not going to get better, I just don’t know when we should give up on her. Haven’t taken her to the vet, she’s 18, they wouldn’t do much for her anyway.
I had a cat that began having seizures. It didn’t take long to figure out that Lucky had a brain tumor (he soon began “going around to the left”, since one half of his brain wasn’t functioning properly; this is a dead give-away that there is a brain problem). I cared for him for a few months until one day he was gone. The body was still there, but the cat inside was gone, I mean. It was one of the saddest, most pathetic things I’ve ever been witness to and I had him put down ASAP. I loved that cat and I’m glad I was able to make his last weeks comfortable and loving, but I wish I had spared both of us that last bit.
So please, for both your sakes, take your cat to the vet.
Yes, take the cat to the vet. It may be treatable. It may be treatable. It may not. Either way, it’s better to know, so that you can make an informed decision.
No one expects you go go whole-hog and see a neurologist and get an MRI and all that. As far as I’m concerned, an 18 year old cat, well, it’s something bad and even if the neurologist thinks it’s surgical and wants to cut it out, the surgery alone is a huge risk. While there are some who would go this route, I personally don’t think it’s fair to the kitty. It’s just too much.
What I do think is reasonable is to see the regular family veterinarian, talk about what’s going on, vet will want to do some bloodwork which is always a good idea, and then try her on phenobarbital for the seizures, and possibly a corticosteroid if he suspects lymphoma. It can really give her some good quality time. The phenobarb levels have to be checked, first after a few weeks and then every 6 months after that to make sure she’s not building up too much in her liver.
I have a cat with known brain trauma (we don’t know how it happened but she came to the shelter with motor skill issues and much later discovered old scar tissue in the back of her right eye when it had to be enucleated and sent to pathology). She started having a very specific type of seizure about two years ago around the age of 10-ish, and all I’ve done for it is phenobarbital. She’s been doing great. She’s awful for vet appointments (seriously screams like she’s being killed) so there’s just no way I would put her through the whole neurology thing.
The problem with letting seizures run their course over time is that each one can cause additional neurological damage. Your kitty’s may be few and far between enough right now to not cause anything obvious with her brain having time to recover, but if they start coming closer together, she may start having coordination issues, or cognitive issues that keep her from safely going about her day.
While it doesn’t sound like it’s the case here, my mom has had a few elderly cats which she thought were having siezures, but turned out to just have fleas.
For me it comes down to quality of life. If your kitty is still enjoying life. Is generally not in pain. You watch them for changes. As I understand it, seizures aren’t painful.
When my kitty was getting old, she started really losing weight. She was still getting around well, and seemed happy and pain free. I didn’t take her to the vet because it was so traumatic for her. I just watched her and waited. One morning, she came to me, leaned against my leg crying. It was time. The family hugged and kissed her goodbye and I took her to the vet. I held her as she slipped away.
This is far and away the oldest cat I’ve been around. Most my cats have lasted into their mid teens. I want the kitty to be comfy and I’m not investing a lot of money into extending her life by a few months.
It is so hard for me to read about your kitty’s seizures, it brings back some awful memories of losing our Fancy. I believe a polyp in her ear grew into her brain. One minute she was fine , the next she had a huge seizure, and continues through the night to have small ones. We got her to the vets and I am not sure that they didn’t put an already dead cat to sleep. It hurt so much and I can sympathize with your predicament. As long as your cat still has some quality of life I would keep her . At 18 she is a very old kitty, so I have a feeling she will let you know when she has had enough.
Having a seizure every month doesn’t sound like it’s bad enough to warrant the conclusion that the cat’s quality of life is significantly diminished. They are awful to watch but even if they are horrible for the cat, it’s just a small part of her life and it doesn’t sound as if they are taking an emotional toll on her.
Given her advanced age, I’d even say taking her to the vet is probably not going to yield a solution and may only cause her stress and pain. Just keep her comfortable and happy for as long as you can and when it doesn’t work anymore, that’s the time to say goodbye.
You know those medications also have long term risks and side effects. Wrestling pills into a cat daily, sticking it with needles, and repeatedly taking it to the vet is not enhancing the cat’s enjoyment of life and is also quite expensive. At some point, the cat will probably have cognitive/coordination issues, since it’s probably not immortal.
Phenobarb for my dog’s seizures runs about $60/month, and she’s probably 3x the weight of a cat, so medicine may not be particularly expensive. She may even accept it crushed into her food.
I would agree that it’s worth at least giving the vet a visit.