Kitty with seizure disorder

hyacinth003 · ‎03-12-2010

My kitty, Percy, has had a seizure disorder for a few years. He's about 6 years old, very large and long haired. He would be near impossible to pill, and we are very experienced pillers. I think he is more ornery on the medication, but hard to tell sometimes.

He gets phenobarbital gel on his ears twice daily. He seems to have had an uptick in seizures recently. We talked to the vet today, who increased his dose again. I think he has room to go up per his phenobarb level recently. There is an issue of limitation of dose via transdermal gel for the ear.

Has anyone used a different medication, or 2 medications, or any other solutions for seizures?

Hyacinth

cindyNC · ‎08-01-2019

Know nothing about kitties, but I hope you can find answer to make him more comfortable and seizure-free.

FancyPhillyshopper · ‎05-02-2017

You need to take the cat to a specialist (board certified neurologist) to see if he/she can determine the actual reason for the seizures. Your cat is still quite young.

This is a more rare condition in cats.

Neither pills or phenobarbital are solutions to the issue, just temporary treatments. Has your cat had an MRI?

Nutrition plays an important role in cat brain health.

Unfortunately, you may end up paying thousands of dollars and still not be able to resolve the problem.

I have had cats for five decades, currently own six (oldest is 15), and have spent a fortune on all of my animals (cats, dogs, birds, fish) because I love them so!

Marp · ‎03-09-2010

As painful and bothersome as my hands and fingers often are I still treasure them so would not attempt to pill my cat.

She is on compounded phenobarbital that is administered via syringe and is available in a variety of flavors and in the concentration prescribed by the vet (currently 20mg/ml). She is currently on .75ml twice a day and is seizure free. Another advantage is if the dosage amount needs to be adjusted it is as simple as drawing more or less into the syringe.

Although she doesn't like getting it she is pretty good about letting me syringe the medication followed by three or four Temptations treats.

The eyes through which you see others may be the same as how they see you.

Trailrun23 · ‎05-31-2022

I would find a vet specialist who treats seizures in cats. There are many meds out there for seizures....the phenobarbital is rather old school, so maybe he needs one of the newer drugs on the market now.

Renata22 · ‎03-16-2010

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. We had a dog years ago that had this. We used phenobarbital and I think valium also. It's a terrible thing to see them having seizures. I hope you find the answer soon for you and your kitty.

cozyseeker · ‎03-11-2017

Our 14 year old cat has had seizures for almost 6 years. She is on phenobarbital twice daily. She takes it in a pill pocket coated with some food. She loves the pill pockets and thinks they are treats. I would never be able to pill her, ever.

I did not know about the gel form of phenobarbal. She is on the 16.2 mg twice a day and has about two seizures a month, not huge seizures as she did at the start.

I am going to ask about the get, what a worry free process that must be. Good luck with your kitty.

Also, I would NOT spend a fortune with MRI and neurologists. My vet said after all that they may still never know what causes seizures. If the meds are working, stay with it.