Cat cramps - causes, symptoms, treatment

People who even have a lot of experience keeping cats are often lost when a pet has seizures. Convulsive seizures in representatives of the cat family is very similar to human. Adults suffering from epileptic seizures take medications that reduce the risk of their occurrence, intensity and frequency. In cats suffering from epilepsy - the only hope for the owners.

Cramps in these animals can be triggered by other causes. To understand what they arise from, requires the help of a specialist - a veterinarian. As a rule, this phenomenon is quite unexpected, when a healthy animal begins to suffer from convulsions and can lead to loss of consciousness.

Their signs are similar to the presence of paralysis, but the cat continues to breathe. After attacks, the animal behaves as before.But after a certain period of time convulsions may recur. To provide the necessary assistance to the animal, the owner must carefully observe the pet during the attack. Such an observation will provide an opportunity to understand what exactly the cramps arise from.

Characteristic symptoms

Most of the human population of the world is well aware that muscle cramps are accompanied by severe pain. The same thing happens with cats when they have a similar attack.

You can suspect the presence of a seizure in a cat by observing the following symptoms that are characteristic of them:

1. At this time, there are unusual movements of the paws, or vice versa - an unnatural lack of movement of the limbs with their chaotic twitching. They can be tucked under themselves, and the fingers of the paws are compressed into a “cam”.
2. When trying to change the position of the body of animals, it may experience difficulties. Often, the desire to move is suppressed by the fear of pain. There may be foam from the mouth or involuntary urination. The cat does not respond to the call of the owner, ceases to recognize him during the attacks.May show to him some aggression or caution.
3. When the seizure ends, the behavior becomes natural again. After some period of time, the cat may start to get lost, moving around the apartment or get lost on the way to the sofa or to the kitchen.

Many owners, who have never seen anything like this before, do not consider it necessary to seek qualified help until they become witnesses of the seizure recurrence. Just the same behavior is erroneous. After all, the earlier an appeal to the doctor occurs, the greater the chances for recovery. Causes of seizures are often diseases that are dangerous.

How to find the cause?

The cause of convulsive seizures in representatives of the cat family is a lot of all kinds of violations, which are often considered quite dangerous. The first thing that the owners of the cat, who have cramps, are thinking about, is what they come from. To identify the exact cause is possible only with the help of a veterinarian who has sufficient experience in this field.

In order to find the exact cause, the owner will need a certain amount of time to observe the animals very carefully. The doctor will be appointed diagnostic measures, including all kinds of blood and urine tests, X-ray examination, cardiogram of the heart, ultrasound examination of the peritoneum and MRI of the brain.

For the period of examination and diagnosis, veterinarian prescribes anti-convulsive drugs that will help reduce the frequency of such events, their intensity and risk, in fact, their occurrence. Vitamin-mineral complexes with vitamins of group B can also be prescribed as part of the means to strengthen the nervous system and the general protective forces of the body.

Diseases that cause convulsions in cats

Seizures are most often a symptom of epilepsy, however, there are many other diseases that cause muscle spasms. Among them, those that provoke disturbances in metabolic processes are evil and benign formations in the brain, intoxication caused by poisoning. Although epilepsy is the main cause of seizures,they can be caused by other inflammatory processes.

Toxoplasmosis, distemper, rabies and damage to the body by various fungi can cause this. More than 10 pathologies affecting the central nervous system have been identified, which result in damage to brain cells.

In addition, convulsive seizures may occur later traumatic brain injuries, vascular diseases, tumors of different localization and degree of malignancy, lack of vitamin B1.

The cause of cramps can be hypoglycemia - lack of glucose in the blood. Also, sometimes convulsive seizures develop due to liver disease or diabetes. A reduced amount of calcium can also lead to convulsions. This condition is also called hypocalcemia. It often occurs due to the presence of kidney disease and endocrine disorders.

The provoking factors of convulsive seizures can be many more, for example, intoxication in case of poisoning with poisonous plants, heavy metals, rat poisons, as well as intestinal diseases that are caused by parasites. Cause seizures in cats can be a violation of the thyroid gland.

For the reason that the cat has a lot of developmental factors of convulsions, the determination of their exact causes is a rather complicated and laborious process.

What to do?

Owners are usually lost when such conditions appear in an animal for the reason that they do not always know what can be done in this situation. The first rule that will help protect a cat is the exclusion of all objects from its environment, which can lead to traumatization.

1. During a convulsive seizure, the cat needs to be well covered with a blanket and gently hold it rolled up for some time. This will make it possible to alleviate the general condition of the animal and provide protection against the possibility of injury. To protect yourself from possible aggression of a cat in such a state, you must wrap your hands in a dry towel.
2. As a rule, convulsive seizures do not last more than 5 minutes. After it ends, you need to try to psychologically support the cat, talking to her in a low voice and occasionally stroking. Most often, animals come to life after a certain time after the incident.
3. If an attack of seizures has occurred, then you must immediately contact the veterinary clinic for advice. For transportation, it is best to use a closed carrying.
4. It is not necessary to resort to the use of drugs without appropriate purpose. This can cause irreparable harm to the health of the animal. The only thing that can be used is drugs like Corvalol or Valocordin, as well as Valerian infusion. They can drop the animal on the tongue. Such medicines will help the cat to calm down, at the same time, reducing the risk of recurrence of seizures.
5. After a convulsive seizure, you should not give your pet food or drink, but the water should be in an accessible place so that the pet can quench their thirst when needed, when it comes to a little. It must be borne in mind that after an attack of a cat for a certain time, they may lose coordination and orientation in space.

What is important for diagnosis?

Collecting anamnesis in this situation will play a large role in making an accurate diagnosis.For veterinarians it is important what happened before the attack of convulsions, how they manifested themselves and how long they lasted. If this happened more than once - the role is played by the fact when it happened, during sleep or during wakefulness.

Also, special attention is paid to whether there are other diseases in the cat, what medicines were used, and whether poisoning was possible. The doctor will ask about what the animal eats, whether it was eating raw meat or fish.

Seizures in cats look scary enough, and many owners may become confused by watching something like that. However, you should pull yourself together and try to help your pet: protect it by wrapping it in a blanket and carefully monitor the condition. At the end of the seizure, you need to urgently seek help from a veterinarian to determine the exact cause and take timely treatment.

During such attacks in an animal, it is important to protect not only him, but also himself from the sudden manifestation of aggression.Being in a state of confused consciousness, the cat can wound the owner with claws, so it is important to protect the hands. Do not bend over to the animal face to calm him down, it is enough to speak in a gentle and soft voice, occasionally stroking him. After the attack is over, you can give the cat a sedative medicine in small quantities, dripping onto the tongue or with a syringe, and then deliver it to the veterinary clinic for consultation and examination by a specialist.

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