Watching your cat convulse, paddle her legs, or lose awareness on your floor is frightening, and the instinct to hold her still and comfort her is strong. During a seizure that instinct has to be set aside. She is not aware of you, she cannot control her movements, and the help she needs from you in those moments is protection, timing, and accurate reporting rather than physical contact.
During the Episode: Protect, Do Not Restrain
Move furniture, ornaments, and anything hard or sharp away from her so she cannot strike herself against them as she moves. If she is somewhere she could fall — a table, a worktop, stairs — place cushions or folded towels around and below her rather than grabbing her mid-episode. Keep your hands away from her mouth and never put fingers, a spoon, food, water, or anything else into it; a seizing cat can bite hard without meaning to, and objects in the mouth help nothing.
Lower the stimulation in the room. Dim or switch off bright lights, turn off the television or music, move other pets out, and ask household members to keep voices low and stay back. Start timing from when you first noticed the episode, using a clock or phone, because duration is one of the first questions the emergency team will ask and one of the trickiest figures to estimate honestly afterwards. If filming is possible from where you stand without moving closer, a short video is genuinely useful — how she moved, whether the movements were whole-body or one-sided, and how she came out of it are details a recording captures better than a shaken description.
The Minutes Afterwards
Many cats enter a quieter phase once the movements stop: confused, wobbly, restless, clingy, or temporarily unsteady and disoriented, sometimes for minutes and sometimes longer. Keep her warm with a light blanket placed beside or loosely over her if she tolerates it, keep the room quiet, and let her come round at her own pace without being picked up, offered food, or fussed over. Stay nearby so you can watch her breathing and note how long this phase lasts and when she seems herself again.
Write the episode down while it is fresh: the time it started, how long the movements lasted, what she was doing just beforehand, anything unusual earlier that day, and how she behaved afterwards. Then do exactly what the emergency service tells you on the phone, including whether to travel now or to monitor her at home under their direction, and be ready to describe your notes rather than summarising from memory.
When Waiting Ends and Travelling Begins
Some situations are not watch-and-wait situations at all. An episode that continues without stopping, one seizure following closely after another, or a cat who does not begin returning to herself between episodes is an emergency now — travel immediately and phone from the road if someone else is driving. The same urgency applies if she struggles to breathe, is injured during the episode, or if this is her first known seizure and the team advises you to come in; their instruction overrides any general guidance, including this article.
For transport, settle her in a secure carrier lined with soft bedding once she is aware enough to be moved without a struggle, keep the car calm and dim, and bring your written notes and the video with you. Do not delay departure to gather paperwork beyond what is already to hand.
Prepared Before It Ever Happens Again
After the emergency has passed, the episode record becomes part of her history: dates, durations, and patterns across episodes are exactly what a veterinary team uses to plan her ongoing care. With KinsLe, those timed notes and clinic findings can be stored inside Pet Passport as a permanent episode log, so her seizure history is documented rather than remembered.