96 The Cat’s Meow? Feline Warning of Imminent Seizures

Abstract

Study Objective

Cats may respond to seizures with a threat response (Strong, 1999). Detailed description of this for seizures or pseudoseizures has not heretofore been described.

Method

Case study: A 29-year-old right handed female, two years prior to presentation, developed onset of seizures which last approximately one minute, almost on a daily basis. These are associated with shortness of breath and postictal blurred vision. During these epoch, she would experience temporary amnesia; a feeling as if she had lost a couple years of memory which gradually returned within an hour. Pain and stress would precipitate a seizure. There were two different types of seizures. The first type was with an aura of white visual entopias in the center of her visual field without postictal amnesia. The second type is without aura, but there is amnesia for the event. In neither type would she bite her tongue nor manifest urinary or fecal incontinence. Just preceding either type of seizures, her cat, would uncharacteristically meow, saunter over to her, and nudge her head against her legs or scratch her with her front paws. In response to this, the patient would move as fast as she could to a safe place where she would be cushioned if she were to fall. Less than a minute after the cat would warn her, a seizure would manifest. During this event the cat would meow and lay beside her “as if guarding me” until the seizure would resolve. The cat has never displayed these behaviors unless a seizure was eminent. She admitted to daily panic attacks which the cat appeared to ignore.

Results

Abnormalities in physical examinations: General: 1+ bilateral pedal edema. Neurological examination: Mental status examination: Digit span: 7 forward and 2 backwards. Able to spell the word “world” forwards but not backwards. (CN) examination: CN III, VI and IV: Right lateral rectus weakness. Reflexes: bilateral 3+ brachioradialis and quadriceps femoris. Absent ankle jerk. Positive jaw jerk with clonus. Bilateral positive Hoffman’s reflexes. Neuropsychiatric testing: Clock drawing test: 3 (abnormal). Go-No-Go Test: 6/6 (normal). 72-hour EEG normal.

Conclusion

Olfactory emanations occur (Brown, 2011) several hours prior to seizures (Litt, 2009; Rajna, 1997) which the feline may be sensitive due to its superior olfactory ability. The cat’s comportment may have induced anxiety in the patient, which then may have precipitated the seizure. The animal thus may be an epileptogenic animal rather than a warning animal. The cat may detect changes in emotion, which predicts the pseudoseizures. On the other hand, the cat may have been acting as an anxiogenic agent, precipitating a pseudoseizure. There may have been a misattribution error, such that she recalled the cat in a position of warning seizures but did not recall when the cat did not warn the seizures. Further investigation in the use of alarm cats as warning for imminent seizures is warranted.