Emma had two grand mal seizures today. Her first ones.
Why today? Not that there is ever a good day for a couple seizures, but… Well.. When it rains, it pours.
Luckily I was home shortly after the first one, and we were at the vet for the second one. Luckily the vet was open and they know me (and Emma) well so I was able to rush her over.
She’s never had them before, and we’re not quite sure what triggered them. The vet is doing a full blood panel to see if there are any additional clues.
We’ve got several theories, but that’s all we’re going on. Most likely: I treated parts of the house (inaccessible to the cats) for ants. If one of the ants came in and Emma decided to eat one, she ingested a tiny bit of something icky. However, the vet said it would’ve been very little and this kind of reaction is extreme. (Plus, Emma likes to watch bugs & bat at some of them, but I haven’t seen her eat one before.)
This might also be due to some neurological issues. Her low vision is due to being hit by a car, and she has a couple other neurological issues from the same incident. Seizures might just be another one of those things we get to deal with in her life.
The vet doubts it has anything to do with Monday’s lime sulfur dip, but it is possible that her body got more than they planned because she likes to groom Andy & Rumi, and that hasn’t slowed down even though they smell like rotten eggs. Still, we won’t treat Emma next time, only the boys.
The symptoms of seizures are pretty clear. I recognized them from taking pet first aid / CPR (from the American Red Cross) and working with epileptic cats & dogs as a pet sitter and also while I worked as Mud Bay’s Knowledge & Research Manager.
I hope I don’t have to see this again with Emma, but if I do at least I’m getting more first-hand experience with them.
it goes without saying that i am sorry you are having to deal with this…but, on a selfish note, i totally miss hearing about all the cat drama that goes on in your house!!
Oh Kari, so sorry to hear this! Hope both you and Emma are OK! I’d be freaking out!
Thanks, Nancy.
I WAS freaking out for a while. I kept my head & got into “go” mode, but was having a mild freak-out as I drove to the vet. I also panicked a bit when they took her back to draw blood. She was back there for 45 minutes because her blood pressure dropped dangerously low & they wanted to stabilize her before drawing blood. That wait was horrible!
She’s been stable since we got home yesterday afternoon. She’s still kinda wobbly, spacy, and fragile. She’s doing some uncharacteristic things, but nothing alarming. And these things might just be the valium combined with her usual neurological issues?
Oy.