SAWYER’S VET REPORT & FILL-INS

Friendly Fill-Ins

1. I have faith in my Mom, Dad and vet, Dr. Neel, to do everything they can to help stop or at least limit my seizures.

 

2. Yesterday, I did not have any seizures.

 

3. My favorite place to be is on the catio or in the kitchen dough bowl, not in the Sleepypod on the way to or at Dr. Neel’s office.

 

Sawyer in Sleepypod at vet.
Sawyer waiting to see vet, Dr. Neel.

Guess you can surmise that I was a PTU Pooper again on this trip. We didn’t even get out of the driveway before I let loose!

 

4. If I was granted one wish, it would be to never have another seizure.

 

Friendly Fill-Ins is a blog hop hosted by Ellen (15 and Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). The four sentences to be completed for the Friday blog hop are posted each Thursday on their blogs. The hop takes place on Lorianne’s blog. To join in the fun, click on the badge below.
Now that I have finished the fun part of this post, here’s my health report.

My Vet Visit Report

Though I have not had a grand mal seizure since mid-May; I regularly have been having focal seizures (at least a couple each week). If you are unfamiliar with focal seizures, here’s a link to a site where you can read about them. They can take a variety of forms. For me they are almost always nocturnal, and I am usually on Mom and Dad’s bed. It always makes Mom nervous when I sleep on their bed, as I don’t do it every night.

When the seizure begins, I suddenly fly off the bed and start running in circles, going under the bed on one side and coming out on the other. Then I run around the end of the bed and back under, out and around. I will do this four or five times and then fly down the stairs. I end up sitting in the foyer disoriented.

My recent blood work showed that I have a phenobarbital level of 43.5 ug/ml. My reading three months ago was 38.8. A reading of 45 ug/ml is the max tolerable as anything higher will most likely cause liver toxicity. You are probably wondering why my level jumped so much: 1) My weight dropped by six ounces and 2) my dosage increased by 2.4 mg per day due to having to start getting my meds at the pharmacy due to it being a controlled substance. The lowest dosage for humans is 16.2 mg, while for cats it is 15 mg.

Now, you probably want to know what the plan for my care is going forward. I am starting on a different medication called Zonisamide and will be weaned off the phenobarbital over the next several months. If I quit all at once, I could have more and worse seizures.

So…I could still use any purrs, prayers and POTP you have to spare. Though these focal seizures are not as bad as the tonic/clonic ones, Mom, Dad and Dr. Neel are committed to getting them under control.

Thank you to everyone for your care and concern about my well-being.

Purrs and paw-pats, Sawyer

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