Ad. Quesnel et al., CLINICAL MANAGEMENT AND OUTCOME OF CATS WITH SEIZURE DISORDERS - 30 CASES (1991-1993), Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 210(1), 1997, pp. 72
Objective-To determine outcome of clinical management of cats with sei
zure disorders. Design-Case series. Animals-30 cats referred to the On
tario Veterinary College for recurrent seizures. Procedures-Treatment
was dictated by the cat's seizure frequency and by the underlying caus
e. Cats that were having cluster seizures or status epilepticus at the
time of admission were treated orally with phenobarbital and with con
stant IV administration of diazepam. The other cats were treated with
long-term oral administration of phenobarbital if the frequency of the
ir seizures justified it. Follow-up included evaluation of seizure fre
quency, serum antiepileptic drug concentrations, and hematologic and s
erum biochemical values. Outcome was documented on the basis of surviv
al and seizure frequency at the end of the followup period, which rang
ed from 3 to 21 months. Results-6 cats were euthanatized without any t
herapeutic attempts al the owners' request. Twenty of the remaining 24
cats were alive at the time of final follow-up. Seventeen had a good
outcome; 11 were not having any more seizures and 6 were having a low
frequency of seizures. For 3 other cats, seizures were not well contro
lled. Four cats had been euthanatized (2 because of intractable seizur
es, 1 because of post craniotomy complications, and 1 because the owne
rs did not want to pursue treatment). Clinical Implications-Results su
ggest that severity of seizure disorder in cats is not a good predicto
r of outcome and that aggressive treatment is often rewarding, even in
the most severe cases.