nepenthe
Member Since 2010
My 16.5 yr old Bengal had a seizure last night.
He has been diabetic since 2008 and pancreatitis as well. He had three reabsorbtive teeth removed on March 2. At that time his creatinine was 202. He did recover from the surgery well and held that way until the last week of May when I noticed he'd lost weight. On May 30th, his creatinine was the same however, at 205.
On June 2, he had an abdominal ultrasound which showed pancreatitis (his Spec fPl was 11) and one irregular kidney, maybe inflamed.
The past few days, I've beeb noticing neurological symptoms/twitching with him, pretty much since that ultrasound early this month. It was subtle until last night.
Example, yesterday am he was on my desk beside me and I saw his front paws twitch, then moments later his abdomen, and then his head. His attention and pupils seemed normal though. Later on when he was on the floor beside my desk, I moved my chair back and he twitched about a half dozen times or so. So, I would call this some sort of exaggerated startle response.
Then I tried to replicate the twitching last night so that I could show my vet, and this triggered what looked like a grand mal. I was finding that all day he would startle to auditory stimuli, so this time I tried to replicate it by tapping my fingers on the door frame beside where he was lying, and seconds later he had what looked like a grand mal. Within 3-4 minutes, he was back to normal again and eating (so, doesn't look like a stroke/ischemic event):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzccQr4bJuL0VXp0enkwZlJEa2s/view?usp=sharing
That tapping my fingernails against the metal door frame triggered a massive seizure at that moment which looked exactly like this in this Youtube video of someone's cat having grand mal:
After the seizure last night, I took him to an emergency clinic and the only thing in all of his blood that was elevated was creatinine, which was now at 331. His USG was 1.016 and the weird thing is that there was no protein in the urine (it is still being cultured).
There is no drooling, vomiting, hiding, crying, weakness, head drooping, depression, other abnormal behavior, etc and otherwise seems fine/interested in food and friendly to me. He is eating, and the only thing is very noticeable PU/PD. His blood sugar has also been good the past 4 days or so too.
This morning I took him to my regular vet to see if they could overnight him on IV, and she said that I am better off to keep giving him subq fluids at home, as this particular cat doesn't do well at the clinic and gets super stressed there, and that they worry that if he had another seizure, there is no one there overnight. She told me that the seizure and the elevated kidney values are likely due to two different causes. She said that if he seizures again, he would have to go on Phenobarbital to prevent this. (she also said that it could be a brain tumor, but then there are no other symptoms other than him twitching to auditory stimuli; he doesn't startle when touching him unexpectedly, no confusion, not using the litter box etc etc. So this is very weird)
The only drugs he has been on since the beginning of the month of June are Cerenia (8mg/day, 2 on, three off) and metronidazole 50mg/day for about three weeks straight. I mentioned to her that metronidazole can cause neurotoxicity, but she doubted that it would at such a low dose.
She did send me home with Clavamox in the case there is a kidney infection and to up his daily subqs and re-test his creatinine etc again in a few days to see how its trending. I think that ever since the dental surgery he hasn't really been the same and worry that a latent infection could have been causing this rise in creatinine.
I wonder if the seizure could be due to some aspect of the diabetes?
Edit: from what I could Google, this sounds like something called Startle syndrome (Hyperekplexia). So, like an exaggerated startle response.
He has been diabetic since 2008 and pancreatitis as well. He had three reabsorbtive teeth removed on March 2. At that time his creatinine was 202. He did recover from the surgery well and held that way until the last week of May when I noticed he'd lost weight. On May 30th, his creatinine was the same however, at 205.
On June 2, he had an abdominal ultrasound which showed pancreatitis (his Spec fPl was 11) and one irregular kidney, maybe inflamed.
The past few days, I've beeb noticing neurological symptoms/twitching with him, pretty much since that ultrasound early this month. It was subtle until last night.
Example, yesterday am he was on my desk beside me and I saw his front paws twitch, then moments later his abdomen, and then his head. His attention and pupils seemed normal though. Later on when he was on the floor beside my desk, I moved my chair back and he twitched about a half dozen times or so. So, I would call this some sort of exaggerated startle response.
Then I tried to replicate the twitching last night so that I could show my vet, and this triggered what looked like a grand mal. I was finding that all day he would startle to auditory stimuli, so this time I tried to replicate it by tapping my fingers on the door frame beside where he was lying, and seconds later he had what looked like a grand mal. Within 3-4 minutes, he was back to normal again and eating (so, doesn't look like a stroke/ischemic event):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzccQr4bJuL0VXp0enkwZlJEa2s/view?usp=sharing
That tapping my fingernails against the metal door frame triggered a massive seizure at that moment which looked exactly like this in this Youtube video of someone's cat having grand mal:
After the seizure last night, I took him to an emergency clinic and the only thing in all of his blood that was elevated was creatinine, which was now at 331. His USG was 1.016 and the weird thing is that there was no protein in the urine (it is still being cultured).
There is no drooling, vomiting, hiding, crying, weakness, head drooping, depression, other abnormal behavior, etc and otherwise seems fine/interested in food and friendly to me. He is eating, and the only thing is very noticeable PU/PD. His blood sugar has also been good the past 4 days or so too.
This morning I took him to my regular vet to see if they could overnight him on IV, and she said that I am better off to keep giving him subq fluids at home, as this particular cat doesn't do well at the clinic and gets super stressed there, and that they worry that if he had another seizure, there is no one there overnight. She told me that the seizure and the elevated kidney values are likely due to two different causes. She said that if he seizures again, he would have to go on Phenobarbital to prevent this. (she also said that it could be a brain tumor, but then there are no other symptoms other than him twitching to auditory stimuli; he doesn't startle when touching him unexpectedly, no confusion, not using the litter box etc etc. So this is very weird)
The only drugs he has been on since the beginning of the month of June are Cerenia (8mg/day, 2 on, three off) and metronidazole 50mg/day for about three weeks straight. I mentioned to her that metronidazole can cause neurotoxicity, but she doubted that it would at such a low dose.
She did send me home with Clavamox in the case there is a kidney infection and to up his daily subqs and re-test his creatinine etc again in a few days to see how its trending. I think that ever since the dental surgery he hasn't really been the same and worry that a latent infection could have been causing this rise in creatinine.
I wonder if the seizure could be due to some aspect of the diabetes?
Edit: from what I could Google, this sounds like something called Startle syndrome (Hyperekplexia). So, like an exaggerated startle response.
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