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    Peaches0864's Avatar
    Peaches0864 Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Sep 14, 2012, 10:33 PM
    Possible seisure
    My cat has been having a gagging cough for awhile now, And today I, saw him throw up and right after he ran and crashed into the door and wall fell to the side and got stiff, Could this be a mini stroke or a epileptic seisure? Worried:(
    tickle's Avatar
    tickle Posts: 23,796, Reputation: 2674
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    #2

    Sep 15, 2012, 06:29 AM
    Stroke is a [possibility but not common. It would not be an epileptic seizure, animals are not wired that way.

    From your description, the running etc would not a stroke symptom; stroke symptoms are immobility.

    A parasite, tapeworm for instance, could be the culprit. Suggest a trip to the vet immediately. At times the tapeworms will work their way up the throat from the intestines, triggering a gagging reflex trying to expel it, sometimes successfully, and not pleasant to see, trust me. The tapeworm usually comes out whole.
    grammadidi's Avatar
    grammadidi Posts: 1,182, Reputation: 468
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    #3

    Sep 16, 2012, 01:21 PM
    It certainly seems that your cat appears to be distressed for some reason and without a thorough examination and history it's difficult to be sure of a diagnosis. Regardless, I do think your cat needs to be taken to the vet. It could be something as simple as a tapeworm as tickle suggested, although generally you will see symptoms such as small white granules (similar to rice) around the cats anus. There are a number of possibilities though, and clearly, if the cat has been gagging for quite a while now and with the recent throwing up, running straight into a door and falling over stiff it is prudent to seek veterinary advice.

    From my experiences, in my opinion the symptoms could be a number of different things, including seizures. Your cat could be ingesting poison somewhere. He might have something stuck in his throat like a small bone, needle or even an elastic band. In fact, cats (and dogs) do get epilepsy - I have treated many through the years I worked as a vet assistant and I also was owned by a cat who suffered from epileptic seizures.

    Seizures in cats can be a symptom of many different things. Most of us think of a seizure as being when the person/animal just falls over and convulses however they actually come in many different forms. One of my dogs, for instance, has seizures that manifest in different ways. Sometimes he jumps up from sleep and runs away, while looking at his behind as if someone just stabbed a needle into him. Other times he exhibits "fly-snapping" behavior. His seizures are caused by cancer which is beginning to affect his brain. When I worked as a vet assistant I saw a cat with seizures that we finally realized was slowly being poisoned by eating poisonous mushrooms that were growing in their backyard. In another instance I saw a cat that went totally beserk - actually climbing up the walls of someone's home and attacking the owners. They thought it had rabies but we immediately recognized the signs of it coming out of a seizure in it's eyes. They wanted the cat destroyed. Instead, she was put on medication for epilepsy and they stilll had the cat many years later.

    I urge you to seek veterinary advice. Your poor boy definitely is suffering if he is gagging and throwing up at best. I actually fear that he may have something in his throat. Hopefully he is still eating and drinking normally.

    Finally, I want you to understand that seizures, if that what your cat is experiencing, can be a side effect of some kind of brain trauma. That can be from injury, poisons, cancer and viral or bacterial infections including rabies, feline infectious peritonitis, feline immunodeficiency virus, etc. All of these are serious conditions requiring veterinary care. For that reason It is important that you seek medical treatment both for your sake and the cats. I hope that he is up to date on all of his vaccinations, especially FIV and rabies.

    I hope this helps you out a bit. Please do let us know what the vet says.

    Hugs,
    Didi
    tickle's Avatar
    tickle Posts: 23,796, Reputation: 2674
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    #4

    Sep 16, 2012, 02:39 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by grammadidi View Post
    It certainly seems that your cat appears to be distressed for some reason and without a thorough examination and history it's difficult to be sure of a diagnosis. Regardless, I do think your cat needs to be taken to the vet. It could be something as simple as a tapeworm as tickle suggested, although generally you will see symptoms such as small white granules (similar to rice) around the cats anus. There are a number of possibilities though, and clearly, if the cat has been gagging for quite a while now and with the recent throwing up, running straight into a door and falling over stiff it is prudent to seek veterinary advice.

    From my experiences, in my opinion the symptoms could be a number of different things, including seizures. Your cat could be ingesting poison somewhere. He might have something stuck in his throat like a small bone, needle or even an elastic band. In fact, cats (and dogs) do get epilepsy - I have treated many through the years I worked as a vet assistant and I also was owned by a cat who suffered from epileptic seizures.

    Seizures in cats can be a symptom of many different things. Most of us think of a seizure as being when the person/animal just falls over and convulses however they actually come in many different forms. One of my dogs, for instance, has seizures that manifest in different ways. Sometimes he jumps up from sleep and runs away, while looking at his behind as if someone just stabbed a needle into him. Other times he exhibits "fly-snapping" behavior. His seizures are caused by cancer which is beginning to affect his brain. When I worked as a vet assistant I saw a cat with seizures that we finally realized was slowly being poisoned by eating poisonous mushrooms that were growing in their backyard. In another instance I saw a cat that went totally beserk - actually climbing up the walls of someone's home and attacking the owners. They thought it had rabies but we immediately recognized the signs of it coming out of a seizure in it's eyes. They wanted the cat destroyed. Instead, she was put on medication for epilepsy and they stilll had the cat many years later.

    I urge you to seek veterinary advice. Your poor boy definitely is suffering if he is gagging and throwing up at best. I actually fear that he may have something in his throat. Hopefully he is still eating and drinking normally.

    Finally, I want you to understand that seizures, if that what your cat is experiencing, can be a side effect of some kind of brain trauma. That can be from injury, poisons, cancer and viral or bacterial infections including rabies, feline infectious peritonitis, feline immunodeficiency virus, etc. All of these are serious conditions requiring veterinary care. For that reason It is important that you seek medical treatment both for your sake and the cats. I hope that he is up to date on all of his vaccinations, especially FIV and rabies.

    I hope this helps you out a bit. Please do let us know what the vet says.

    Hugs,
    Didi
    Excellent information Didi.

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