Question ~ Hoping Someone Can Help

[iluvcats]

Hello Everyone!! I have a question and hope someone can help me. My 4 year old spayed female cat has been sick lately. I was wondering if anyone here has had any similar problems or might know what is going on. Here is what has been happening:

Saturday August 23rd: She was sleeping on the couch and all of a sudden jolted up, jumped off the couch and ran to the middle of the room and started yowling (like when cats are in heat). She yowled for about 15 seconds. Afterwards she was a little scared and jumpy. She seemed pretty fine the rest of the day just a little tired. That night she was sleeping on the bed with us and woke up at 3am and yowled once and I comforted her and she fell back to sleep.

Sunday August 24th: She was sleeping in the corner of the dining room and all of a sudden I heard her yowling and went in to see what was wrong. She was laying on her stomach and looked like she was in pain, drooling a little and then continued to have a bowel movement (somewhat hard and dark in color) in the corner and then would not move. This all lasted about 1 minute. I finally scooted her away and cleaned up and then I comforted her and she went back to sleep. She again seemed fine the rest of the day just tired and really jumpy when awake.

I called the vet and the soonest appointment was September 11th so I took it. He told me to keep an eye on her and call him if anything else happens.

Monday August 25th & Tuesday August 26th she did not have any episodes, but did sleep alot and was very jumpy.

Wednesday August 27th: She was sleeping on the computer room floor and got jolted out of her sleep once again and started running across the room and slammed into our bookcase and then layed down and started yowling for about 30 seconds. She got a little bit of a bloody nose and then her nose ran clear. She slept most of the rest of the day and was jumpy.

Thursday August 28th: I woke up in the morning and she seemed like her normal self. She was following me around and meowing and rubbing against my legs. I came into the computer room to check my e-mail and she followed me and sat next to my chair and was meowing for some treats (this is our normal morning routine) . I tapped the computer desk for her to jump up and she did and I layed her treats on the desk. She proceeded to eat them and as soon as she sniffed the treat she jumped straight into the air about 3 feet and came down and landed on my keyboard. She then jumped straight up in the air again and did a flip and when she came down she ran into the corner of the computer desk and yowled. She also sprayed a little urine when she ran to the corner of the computer desk. This all happened in about a minute.

I called the vet and he told me to bring her in first thing Friday morning. I took her in and he kept her most of the day checking her and taking blood tests. He said that her heart, lungs, eyes, skin look excellent, but some kind of liver count is at 240 which the normal range is between 80-130. I am not absolutely sure what he said because when he called I was at the grocery store with no pen or paper. When I went to pick her up with all my questions he was already gone. They sent some blood away to get tested, but because of the holiday weekend they won't know any results until Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. They sent home Phenobarbitol to give her twice a day until next week so she isn't so jumpy. I got her to take it Friday night and Saturday, but Sunday she would not take it and she hasn't taken it since.

They had to sedate her at the vet to do all the tests so I couldn't feed her the night before or Friday morning which she was hungry. When I got her home from the vet she ate about a half of a bowl of food. Since then she isn't eating and she drinks very little. She sniffs her food once and then just turns away. It is almost like she can't smell it or something. She urinates about once a day, but still no bowel movement.

I am sorry this is so long, but I wanted you to know everything in case someone might know what is going on.

Thanks for any help!! Katie (Me) & Mandy

[2_sox_squared]

this sounds exactly like what happened when my dog started having seizures. i am no expert at all, but i think that she is having seizures. our dog had to be put down, he was not eppileptic, he most likely had a brain tumor causing the episodes. i hope that is not the case with your cat! just wanted to suggest the possibility of seizures to you if you hadn't already considered it. our dog would be sleeping, jump up and preform unusual movements, lose control of his bladder/bowels, and afterwards become very sleepy. it was very similar to what you just described. good luck...

[Traci]

Katie,

Ask your vet about testing the bile acids for indications of a liver shunt (intra vs extrahepatic), biliary obstruction or toxin ingestion. Key enzmyes to test would be Ammonia, bilirubin, triglycerides, AST, ALT and ALKP including bile acids.

If these have been tested, and above conditions ruled out, please seek a pro opinion by a feline neurologist ASAP. Right now, you need to contact your vet immediately about the phenobarb administration, it was prescribed for a purpose (your vet probably suspected seizure activity, pending lab results), and if you skip doses, if a seizure occurs, it will be pointless to administer the tablets. Call him immediately and get that addressed.