Objective: To determine clinical signs, results of diagnostic testing, underlying cause, and outcome in cats with seizures.
Design: Retrospective study.
Animals: 17 cats with seizures.
Procedure: Only those cats in which an underlying metabolic abnormality causing the seizures had been identified, diagnostic imaging of the brain and CSF analysis had been done, or a necropsy had been performed were included. Seizures were classified as being a result of metabolic disease, symptomatic epilepsy (ie, epilepsy resulting from a structural lesion of the brain), or probably symptomatic epilepsy (ie, epilepsy without any extracranial or identifiable intracranial disease that is not suspected to be genetic in origin).
Results: 3 cats had seizures associated with an underlying metabolic disease (hepatic encephalopathy), 7 had symptomatic epilepsy (3 with neoplasia and 4 with meningoencephalitis), and 7 had probably symptomatic epilepsy. Six of the 7 cats with symptomatic epilepsy died or were euthanatized within 3 months after the diagnosis was made, whereas 6 of the 7 cats with probably symptomatic epilepsy survived for at least 12 months after the diagnosis was made.
Conclusions and clinical relevance: Results suggest that cats with probably symptomatic epilepsy may have a good long-term prognosis.