Friday night reading a post on my facebook page (Thank you Cecile) about a cat having seizures from low potassium and it showing okay in the blood but something about the muscles; I went to go back and look at Trinity’s bloodwork. I realized I’d never looked at it, just went on Greeville’s Dr G. saying everything but her phosphorus was normal. EOS was also low, Cholesterol was high and potassium and GGT were normal but on against the line to being low.
After the toxo and cryto came back negative and I mentioned the almost low GGT and K to my cousin / vet Dr. S. also noticed her blood work wasn’t done until 17 hours after her first seizure. She said ideally it’s good to take it as close to the seizure as possible to look for the seizures cause. Also she said blood pressure was also an important test to be done as close to the seizure as possible to outrule high bp even though she doesn’t have kidney issues. She said seizures can be from bp, low K, glucose etc.
She tried to call Greenville to get the bloodwork that had been done the night of the 9th but none had been drawn. She also noted the blood pressure test needed wasn’t done even while they did one that didn’t tell the whole story during her heart ultrasound.
Now I do realize that at the time of her first episode everyone was leaning toward heart not seizures with her VPC but without the bloodwork or bp it’s not really showing all the possible causes.
I did call my local vet to take her in Monday morning before giving her the mornings phenobarbital to have her bp check and electrolyte / potassium checked. Dr. S neurologist consult said the Phenobarbital would affect the bp. He is also the one who suggested the Zonisamide over phenobarb because it is less sedating and is less irritating on the liver. I also realize that I can’t continue to just stay at home and stare at her whenever I’m not sleeping.
Okay, appointments made and then Saturday she was out of it all day.
She’d been sleepy and uncoordinated, dopey acting but it had been worse from about 30 minutes after giving a dose to 2 hours or so afterward. Saturday she was zonked out all day. She let me hold her against my chest and didn’t care. She only likes laying on us on our legs facing out. She was very wobbly and I never felt I could leave her unwatched at all today for fear she’d fall trying to get on or off something.
I called my Dr. S again because being my cousin I could reach her to ask her after hours on the weekend and because I trust her educated opinion. She said since her seizures were short and she hadn’t had one since Sunday the 22nd that we’re aware of to cut her dose in half for tonite and Sunday. She wondered if something else was going on, either her bp, potassium or simply taking a turn for the worse and it was worth the risk of a short seizure to observe how she acted. To try to see if it’s just the Rx that she acted different on than she had been. She did tell me that lethargy was indeed common especially during the first 2 weeks but that it was worrisome that today was different as phenobarb doesn’t build up in the system and today shouldn’t have been worse than the last five days.
I plan to skip church and just watch her. She did eat and did drink when I picked her zonked out self up but as soon as she sat back down she was falling asleep and when she was laying down she’s really out. Sounds that normally scare her she doesn’t even open her eyes for. Her gums are pink and slick, her shoulder blade skin snaps right back. She is biting at her feet while she’s awake but that wasn’t much today. Sleeping isn’t quite a strong enough word but I can’t come up with one.
Monday when I’m at Dr. M I need to have those two test done and I need to get the printed results for the Toxo IGG/IGM and cryto antigen test plus I don’t have Tyler or Trinity’s last blood work print outs. Depending on how she acts today and the test I’ll also need to get more anti seizure meds as she’ll run out on Tuesday if I counted right.
3-29-15 7:30 am So she’s not herself on 1/4 of a tablet but she’s not comatose acting like yesterday. Now we went to bed 9 pm so we observed very little of the change to less dopey overnight.
I’m assuming even after 2 weeks she’ll still not be like her old self ever while taking any anti-seizure drug. I just don’t want it forever like she can’t do anything but sleep and be wobbly where I worry about her falling all the time.
Wondering if Zonegran (generic: zonisamide) really better on the liver than the phenobarb? Is it way more expensive? Has the generic been tested on cats too?
Now I’m hoping it’s bp or low potassium instead of a brain tumor and all this anti-seizure talk will not be needed but I got my hopes up on the toxo/cryto too.
8:15am I went with ¼
9:10 am – she’s out.
I will say that worrying about her has helped me ignore my annoying tinnitus and anosmia!
Covers, Cats & Clicks by KiM 