Cat Seizures: What to Do During and After One

A seizure is the most frightening thing most owners ever see, and the instinct to hold the cat still and put something in its mouth is almost universal. Both are wrong. A seizing cat is unconscious, cannot swallow its tongue, and cannot feel pain the way you fear; it can bite through a finger with a jaw it does not control.

The useful things are unglamorous: clear the space, time it, keep the room quiet, and film it. Those change the diagnosis more than anything else you might try.

What a seizure actually looks like

The classic generalised seizure has three phases. First a short change in behaviour: hiding, restlessness, staring, sometimes crying. Then the seizure: the cat falls on its side, all four limbs paddle or stiffen, the jaw champs, saliva froths, and it may urinate or defecate. That lasts 30 seconds to two minutes, then comes a post-ictal period of disorientation, pacing, temporary blindness and sometimes aggression, lasting minutes to 24 hours.

Not every seizure looks like that. Focal seizures produce twitching of one side of the face or one limb, sometimes with drooling. Cats also have episodes that are not seizures: vestibular attacks with a head tilt, syncope from a heart problem, or the head-pressing and circling of a brain lesion. A phone video settles it.

How urgent is it? Three tiers

• Go now. A seizure lasting more than three minutes, or a second before the cat has recovered. More than two in 24 hours. A first seizure ever — call on the way. A seizure after suspected poisoning, a fall or a head injury. A seizure in a kitten, a pregnant cat, or a cat with known heart or liver disease. A cat that does not regain consciousness, breathes irregularly, or has a temperature over 40°C.
• Go today. A single short seizure with full recovery in a cat with no history. A known epileptic whose seizures have become more frequent, longer or different.
• Watch and log. Only a cat with an established diagnosis, on medication, whose seizure followed the usual pattern and who recovered within an hour. Write down the date, duration and what happened, and report it at the next review.

What to do right now

1. Start timing. Note the clock time. Three minutes is the line that decides whether you drive or call an emergency clinic.
2. Clear the space. Move furniture and anything the cat could hit. Do not move the cat unless it is in danger, in water, or next to a heat source.
3. Reduce stimulation. Dim the lights, turn off the television, and ask people to leave the room.
4. Protect the head with a folded towel or cushion under it, without restraining the body.
5. Let the seizure run. Do not touch the limbs. Cats cannot be "held out" of a seizure.
6. When it stops, keep the cat warm and quiet in a dim room away from stairs. No food or water until it is fully steady.
7. Call the vet while it is happening if it passes three minutes, or if a second one starts. Say "seizure now, three minutes" — that is triaged immediately.
8. If breathing stops, start CPR and keep going while someone drives.

What not to do

• Do not put anything in the mouth. No spoon, no fingers, no water, no medicine. A cat in a seizure has no control over its jaw.
• Do not hold the cat down or wrap it tight. Restraint prolongs the seizure and can injure both of you.
• Do not pour water on the cat or put it in a bath. Unless the cause is heatstroke, cooling does nothing and aspiration is a real risk.
• Do not give oral medication during or straight after a seizure. It will be inhaled. Use a prescribed rescue medicine only exactly as your vet instructed.
• Do not assume it is epilepsy. In cats a first seizure is more often caused by something outside the brain than it is in dogs.
• Do not crowd the cat afterwards. Post-ictal cats are confused and bite the hand that feeds them.
• Do not stop or change medication because the cat seems better. Sudden withdrawal can trigger prolonged seizures.

What can cause a first seizure

In a young cat, poisoning leads the list: permethrin flea products, lilies, slug bait, rat poison, cannabis, chocolate, antifreeze, and human antidepressants or ADHD medication. Low blood sugar is common in kittens, in diabetic cats on insulin, and in cats that have not eaten for days. Liver disease, kidney failure, abnormal calcium, thiamine deficiency and high blood pressure are all treatable causes. Brain tumours and inflammation become more likely with age, and heatstroke or a head injury can cause seizures too. Our toxin checker covers household exposures.

What to tell the vet, and what happens next

The video is the most valuable thing you own. Alongside it: how long the seizure lasted, how many there have been, whether the cat lost consciousness, which body parts moved, whether it urinated, and how long the confusion lasted. Mention anything new in the house — a plant, a flea product, a dropped pill, a fall from a height. At the clinic, expect blood work, blood pressure and a glucose check first. The vet may give a drug to stop a seizure still running. Next steps may be X-rays, an ultrasound, or referral for an MRI.

Living with a cat that seizes

Keep a seizure diary: date, time, duration, what happened, recovery time. Patterns guide medication changes. Pad sharp corners, keep the cat away from stairs and open water. If the cat has clusters, ask your vet for a written emergency plan in advance, so a 2 a.m. seizure is not decided in panic. Most cats with well-controlled epilepsy live a normal lifespan. Day-to-day care for a cat on long-term medication sits in care.

This is general information, not a diagnosis. Call your vet or an emergency clinic.

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