We bought Polly as a kitten from a family in a nearby town to keep our cat Pixie company. She was perfectly healthy until around February 2013 when she had her first fit.
My sister was home and Polly was sleeping on the dining table and all of a sudden she threw herself of the table then collapsed on the floor on her side and her little body started convulsing and she began dribbling. The first fit did not last very long around 30 seconds but it felt like minutes. When the fit ended my sister held her like a baby and Polly was breathing really fast and her pupils were dilated and she was just starring into space. After a minute or so she then started whaling as if she was scared and then wriggled to be put down.
She did not have a fit again for a couple of months, one night I was in bed asleep and I woke up as it felt like one of the cats had jumped on the bed quickly and I could hear this sound like someone was choking and I turned the light on and she Polly was having a fit by the side of the bed. I have never been so scared in my whole life. This was the first time I had seen her have a fit and you feel so hopeless as you can't stop it.
She did not have another fit until mid May 2013 where she began having more than one a day and they were becoming more violent she would throw herself against walls and one night she had a fit on my bed and actually wet herself. My sister took her to the vets while I was at work one day and were told that they had never seen a cat so young who was having fits like Polly was. They told us that if we could not manage to control her fits we would have to put her down because the fits would cause her to have a heart attack. I was heart broken by the thought of losing her and I would do anything we could to try and help her.
The vets ran some test to see if there was an underlying condition that was causing her fits it was very expensive but I was prepared to do anything we could. Her results were normal so the vets were able to rule out that Polly had what they call secondary epilepsy which is when a tumor or disease can trigger seizures. They diagnosed Polly with primary epilepsy and this was the first case of primary epilepsy our vets had every seen in such a young cat. We were given a drug called phenobarbital and she had to take half a pill two times a day.
The drug is very strong and when she first started taking it, it made her very sleepy and we were worried about the quality of life she might have. However, she got used to the medication and she is now back to herself. The medication also made Polly initially gain weight but she is now back to her normal weight.
Polly managed to stay fit free for 6 months however, in May 2014 she began having fits again where she wet the bed and she had to be rushed back to the vets where it was decided to increase Polly's dose of Phenobarbital to 1 and half tables a day. This did settle her seizures however is June 2014 she had 2 mini fits and the vets advised me that it does take a while for the medication to regulate so to allow more time.
My sister was home and Polly was sleeping on the dining table and all of a sudden she threw herself of the table then collapsed on the floor on her side and her little body started convulsing and she began dribbling. The first fit did not last very long around 30 seconds but it felt like minutes. When the fit ended my sister held her like a baby and Polly was breathing really fast and her pupils were dilated and she was just starring into space. After a minute or so she then started whaling as if she was scared and then wriggled to be put down.
She did not have a fit again for a couple of months, one night I was in bed asleep and I woke up as it felt like one of the cats had jumped on the bed quickly and I could hear this sound like someone was choking and I turned the light on and she Polly was having a fit by the side of the bed. I have never been so scared in my whole life. This was the first time I had seen her have a fit and you feel so hopeless as you can't stop it.
She did not have another fit until mid May 2013 where she began having more than one a day and they were becoming more violent she would throw herself against walls and one night she had a fit on my bed and actually wet herself. My sister took her to the vets while I was at work one day and were told that they had never seen a cat so young who was having fits like Polly was. They told us that if we could not manage to control her fits we would have to put her down because the fits would cause her to have a heart attack. I was heart broken by the thought of losing her and I would do anything we could to try and help her.
The vets ran some test to see if there was an underlying condition that was causing her fits it was very expensive but I was prepared to do anything we could. Her results were normal so the vets were able to rule out that Polly had what they call secondary epilepsy which is when a tumor or disease can trigger seizures. They diagnosed Polly with primary epilepsy and this was the first case of primary epilepsy our vets had every seen in such a young cat. We were given a drug called phenobarbital and she had to take half a pill two times a day.
The drug is very strong and when she first started taking it, it made her very sleepy and we were worried about the quality of life she might have. However, she got used to the medication and she is now back to herself. The medication also made Polly initially gain weight but she is now back to her normal weight.
Polly managed to stay fit free for 6 months however, in May 2014 she began having fits again where she wet the bed and she had to be rushed back to the vets where it was decided to increase Polly's dose of Phenobarbital to 1 and half tables a day. This did settle her seizures however is June 2014 she had 2 mini fits and the vets advised me that it does take a while for the medication to regulate so to allow more time.