12:00 AM - New problem: seizures
Sigh. It's been a long weekend. At about 3:45am on Saturday morning, Squeeker started meowing loudly over and over. We rushed into the computer room and set him on the couch with us. He started purring and making bread immediately, but was still very frightened and his wide eyes were looking all over the place.
He finally seemed calmed down enough that we went back to sleep. A couple other times we heard him meow once or twice but it didn't sound as urgent. Then, around 6:30am, he came into the bedroom and started meowing as he had before. We both got up, and I followed him around the apartment as he started doing some very strange things. At some points he would just start shaking, his eyes getting huge, and his head looking around quickly as though he saw some monster right in front of him. Other times, he hunkered into a half-crouch that cats get into when they're going to stalk something, and stalked in a quick but measured stalk in a tight circle, his tail (which is rather short) no more than 3 inches from his nose as he circled.
I took him to the emergency vet at 7am after outlining his odd behaviors, and he had another odd thing he started doing. He did it three or four times too. His eyes would take that scared look, and he'd drool a bit, and he'd smack his teeth. The odd thing was, while he looked like he was sort of biting at something unseen, the quick jerking motion in it was not when he shut his mouth, but when he opened it, as if that was the emphasis.
His temperature and pulse were normal, although he weighed in at only 6 1/2 pounds (I had already known he'd lost weight from a lack of appetite). After a bit, the doctor came in to see him, asking the routine questions (Had he possibly gotten into anything?). He'd been in the room less than 5 minutes when Squeeker freaked out like he hadn't ever before. When I picked him up to comfort him, he fought me and the doctor told me to put him down. Before I even got him all the way to the floor, he went into a seizure. The doctor immediately picked him up and rushed him into the back.
After a few minutes of leaning against the door frame crying, a vet assitant came back to tell me Squeeker was fine and that the doctor would be back to talk to me in a few minutes. I was able to stop crying and waited for the doctor. When he came back, he said they were able to stop the seizure without giving him any Valium, which he said was good, and that after a seizure they like to keep an animal for 24 hours after the seizure for observation. Also, he recommended a complete blood workup, which I of course okay'd. He left again, and another assitant came in after a few minutes with a low and high estimate of costs, depending on how long his stay was, if he had anymore seizures (he was on an IV catheter in case he did), whether he needed fluids or other medication, etc. I followed her out and paid the $200 deposit (the low estimate, which I ended up paying, was $238.25) and sat down to wait for the test results.
The vet finally came back w/ the test results, and basically the blood work showed nothing that would indicate a cause for his seizure. His pancreas levels were a teensy bit high, possibly indicative of pancreatitis, but not an immediate concern. He also had low blood sugar, but also not low enough to be the cause (I will be checking this out though, as it's still not a good thing). He said the next step, after we had him back, would be to consult with his regular vet to explore possible treatments and/or more tests (i.e. a neurological workup to see what if anything may be causing this).
I called in the evening to check on him (I wasn't allowed to see him so there was no point in driving up to do this) and they said he'd had one more small seizure at around 11am (I'd left at about 9:30) but nothing since then. Of course, that meant him staying at the vet for at least another couple hours over what he would've had to, but I'm glad he had good people to look after him, and that he was okay. I picked him up today at around 1pm (after stopping to buy some fresh kitty treats) and paid the rest of what I owed, and Squeeker was very subdued. He'd spent most of his time there sitting in his litter box! What a silly guy. The vet assitant even washed his tushy off before she brought him out, but it still smelled pretty bad. Anyway, while I was still waiting for him to be brought out, I snagged an 11:40am appointment with at the regular vet's office, so we'll see what happens.