All was going well with Milkshake. We loved him dearly. He'd gained weight, he was an enthusiastic eater, he was attached to us and to the other cats, and he was a total delight.
Seizure #1: In the evening, on Friday, March 23, 2007, 11 PM, I was watching television, and Milk was napping on the couch. All of a sudden, he sort of stood up, lurched forward against the back of the couch, with foam all over his mouth. He had a kind of vacant, stunned look. He got down off the couch, and began to circle the living room rapidly. I had no idea what had just happened. I thought it must have had something to do with the foaming - like he'd choked or something. The thought of a seizure did cross my mind - I've seen humans have seizures, but never a cat. After he stopped circling, he came over and was very clingy. He let me clean off his face and neck where the foam ended up. Very upsetting.
Seizure #2: Saturday, March 24, 2007, 3PM. I didn't actually see this one, and it didn't register what had happened until later. I was in the kitchen at the computer, when I heard a "clunk" in the living room. Milk had been sleeping on the highest place on the new cat tree, and apparently fell off it. I didn't see foam, but he was acting oddly, and he's certainly never fallen off there before.
Seizure #3: Saturday, March 24, 2007, 10:30 PM. Another evening seizure that occurred while he was sleeping on the couch. There appears to be nothing triggering these seizures; they just happen.
Seizure #4: Sunday, March 25, 2007. In the morning. Milk was napping on the footrest of my recliner when the seizure started. Somehow, and I'm not sure how because it was so quick and horrifying, he ended up laying on the floor beside the chair. Lots of foaming. Same circling behavior afterwards. I didn't think to offer him food.
Monday, March 26, 2007. I took Milk to the vet. He examined him and said he didn't see anything obviously wrong. Suggested blood work, but I was in such a state I didn't follow up on it. I was hoping, also, that it wasn't going to happen again.
Seizure #5: Tuesday, March 27, 2007. About 2:00 AM. I didn't write down the details of this one, which makes me think that maybe I had been asleep and he woke me having the seizure. There was lots of foam.
Seizure #6: Thursday, March 29, 2007, 6 AM. This was a bad seizure - the worst yet. He'd been sleeping on the bottom of my chair. He woke me at 6 AM in the middle of the seizure. It started on the chair, but he ended up on the floor because he was quivering so hard. Once again, there didn't seem to be any trigger. He did a lot of circling afterwards, with plaintive meowing. I gave him food and he ate rapidly and with a sort of compulsive aspect to it.
Seizure #7: Saturday. March 31, 2007, 11 AM. He was again sleeping on the top of the cat tree when the seizure started. I was sitting in my chair, but didn't realize what was going on until he hit the floor. He bounced around and seemed to have wedged himself under the overhang of the end table. (I rearranged the furniture over there and put afghans and padding on the floor, and put a basket over the top level of the cat tree, so no one can sleep up there any more. It's not all that much closer to the ground if they're in the tunnel, but it made me feel a little better.) I went over to him immediately, and he was meowing and obviously shocked. He paced a little. I gave him food, and he ate voraciously.
Seizure #8: Sunday, April 1, 2007, 5:30 AM. Again he was sleeping on the couch when he had the seizure. Prior to it, he'd been acting very fearful - there was a heavy rainstorm going on, and I don't know what he remembers about storms, since he was so young last spring. He also had been hiding and wouldn't come when I called him. Seizure include foaming and jerking, with meowing and pacing afterwards.
Seizure #9: Monday, April 2, 2007, 11:00 PM. Violent movement from couch to floor, with his whole body quivering. Pupils were very dilated. Afterward, he let me pick him up, but then wanted down and started pacing and meowing. He seemed to recover a little faster this time and was a little less disoriented. He wanted to rub against the other cats.
Seizure #10: Tuesday, April 3, 2007, 3 AM. The worst seizure yet. He had fallen from the bottom of my recliner, where he was sleeping between my feet, onto the floor. He jerked and jerked, with some paddling movements for the first time. He also made a noise for the first time - sort of a high-pitched moaning noise. There was saliva all over him and the floor. He was doing some tooth-snapping, I now think - wasn't sure what it was before. Like banging his teeth together, or his jaws being tight or something. He let me hold him for a long time until he stopped jerking and shaking and started breathing normally. When I put him down, his coordination was very poor and he would react jerkily to sounds.
Seizure #11: Wednesday, April 4, 2007,In the PM. I didn't see this one - but when I got back from taking Busy to the vet (and got a prescription for phenobarbital for Milk), his neck and face were all wet, which happens from the foaming saliva. He was meowing and ravenous. STARTED PHENOBARBITAL, 15mg bid.
