I take this as a good sign
About two weeks ago, Ursa had a fit. Not “he got upset at something”, but literally - had a fit. Managed to tear up a set of sheets (and add another rip to my comforter cover), was nonresponsive for a little bit, walked a bit wobbly afterward…but it didn’t happen again, and after about 5 seconds of seizing and maybe another five minutes of slowly recovering, he carefully got down from the bed and walked around the house.
The night after his fit he slept on the bed as usual, and in the morning he came down and ate his breakfast as usual. He climbed on the cat tower, he used the litterbox, he demanded that I turn on the tap for him in the bathroom, he curled up on the bed for his first mid-morning cat nap, all the normal things. I took him to the vet for full blood and urine tests (it was about time for his one-year checkup anyway) and the tests all came back negative for diabetes, cancer, FIV, any of the more common causes for one-off seizures in cats. He seemed to be doing well. I got wind of a pet-food recall by the company that makes and distributes the food I had all three cats on earlier, and while this was a different food than I was feeding him and was confined to the other side of the continent - and specific lots besides - one of the effects this food could have was neurological problems. I switched all three cats to a new kind of food, and also started feeding them all a little bit more of the wet food - partially because Ursa’s got to have another tooth removed in a month or so because you can see it’s out of position; and partially because Monkey’s getting thinner now that she’s coming hard up on 14 years of age.
Last night I heard scratching and rustling. I looked over the side of the bed, and there was Ursa. Playing. Gamboling. Frisking. Throwing his mouse up in the air, bounding after it, batting it around, throwing it up again. This is the first time in about a month, possibly longer, that I’ve seen him behave like this!! Maybe it’s the greater amounts of wet food. Maybe it’s the switch away from the old dry food. I don’t know. All I do know is that cat-napping is better than having fits, even little ones…but playing like this? He was acting like a kitten again. I can’t imagine cats doing that if they’re feeling unwell in the slightest.
So I’m vastly relieved. And Ursa is sleeping again, after an exhausting morning of pushing the feather-toy under the open bedroom door, running to the other side, and pushing it back again.
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