Seizure disorder

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Vee
New Cat Chatter
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2022 3:08 am

Seizure disorder

Post by Vee »

My 12-year-old male, domestic shorthair cat developed idiopathic seizures at around age 5. Coincidentally, just prior to his seizures, he had struvite crystals and almost died. He’s been on low magnesium food ever since, but I don’t know if it’s connected to his seizures or not. He was on phenobarbital to control the seizures for a few years which zoned him out so much that his quality of life was extremely low. He was awake for probably 2 hours a day, just to eat. If I reduced his dose, he would have breakthrough seizures. Eventually, he started having breakthrough seizures all the time. About 6 months ago, I took him off the phenobarbital and decided to tolerate the seizures, despite the fact that they were severe and he would spasm uncontrollably, sometimes falling from heights which scared me due to potential injury. One day, I was watching a TED Talk and a doctor was discussing how she used MCT oil (coconut oil) to stave off her husband’s Alzheimer’s. She also mentioned that MCT was used for seizure control. She mentioned the movie, Lorenzo’s Oil, which was about medium chain triglycerides that cured a little boy’s seizures. I thought, what do we have to lose, his life is significantly shortened and I even considered euthanasia. I started putting coconut oil in his food, but he didn’t like the flavor and wouldn’t eat it. I then switched to MCT because it’s flavorless. I started with half a teaspoon of MCT every day. He is now on about a teaspoon a day. He has not had a seizure in 4 months (He was having 2-3 a month) I don’t know if the MCT oil cured him or not. Maybe, he was going to outgrow it, but I doubt it. His seizures have been steady and severe since he was 5 yrs old and he is now 12. I’m wondering if anyone out there has ever tried this or if any vets have any information about using MCT oil on animals who have seizures. Phenobarbital is horrible and any standard medication for seizure control takes its toll on the animal’s vitality, cognitive functioning and liver. If this is what solved it, then I think it’s a miracle. Mostly, I just wanted to share the information with others to see if anyone else has ever tried it. I would like to know whether this is a legitimate treatment.
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