Feline Epilepsy

Re: Feline Epilepsy

WeeWeegie — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:51:00 GMT

My wee cat is now 13yo and she started taking seizures about 4 years ago. This was controlled well by oral phenobarb BID and dosing her was not too much bother(!)

I would have quite happily carried on like this, but she seemed to develop dysmetria and circling with a head tilt. She didnt do this all the time but I thought it warranted referral. She wasnt insured and I shelled out £850.00 for MRI and work up as I was scared she had a meningioma or something. Thankfully all came back -ve and it turned out that she was diagnosed with - idiopathic epilepsy, luxating patellae and an inner ear problem which all together pointed to something serious

I think a work up is worth i,t as just guessing might have led to me making the wrong choice a few years back.................. :-(

I sooo wish I'd have bought insurance!!

Re: Feline Epilepsy

chanel clydesdale — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:32:39 GMT

Hey sorry for the late reply, with the time difference and working I havent had a chance! Thanks for your advice, Im calling the insurance company on Monday to explain my situation and hopefully try and persuade them that the claim wasnt made before as it wasnt above a level worth claiming. She's a three year old ragdoll so from what investigations ive made on different forums, it appears its quite common in the breed at this age.

Im not so fussed about the whole meds and bloods thing as thats manageable but If i could claim for referral it would be useful as its a heck of a lot to pay out at once if I dont have to. Im just not sure if im acting to prematurely and maybe I should give the meds time to kick in a bit longer? The plan is to do bloods in a couple of weeks but I think this week has been bad for her and therefore stressed me out to the point of questioning everything.

Why are vet nurses pets ever simple!!

Re: Feline Epilepsy

emmadilemma — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:59:41 GMT

I had an epileptic cat for 12 years and had very few problems with him once he was stabilised on epiphen. I did try to take him off his meds a few times through the years but the symptoms started again so put him straight back on. I didn`t bother with an mri as he was brought into work with a head trauma when he was 6 weeks old so figured that was why he developed it.

He was insured but i rarely even claimed for the epilepsy as the meds were cheap and the only other expense was the odd blood test. I was stressed at the start too it was horrible but once he got stabilised it was a doddle!!!

Re: Feline Epilepsy

Nicola Smith — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:02:19 GMT

I think initially get the claim into the insurance explaining that it wasnt put in initially as it was not known whether it would go onto be part of a recurring problem, and push them to get your claim sorted asap, push them saying you may need specialist referral and need to know if covered - not sure if they do pre authorisation?? At least then you know you can go for referral +- MRI etc if indicated. I have known them pay out even if not notified within 30 days, I think it is amatter of getting a covering letter including from the vet if needed explaining why. You will need to get her blood levels checked to see whether dose of epiphen in therapeutic range but think they need to be on it for a minimum of 3 weeks before testing- correct me if I'm wrong!

I havent known many epileptic cats compared to dogs but I suppose only way to definitvely know 100% it is idiopathic epilepsy would be to go for referral to a neurologist. How old is she? The cats I have known have stabilised on meds well.