Feline neurology research sharpens the workup for seizures
Bottom line
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Neurological disorders in cats remain a broad, clinically important category, with seizures, vestibular disease, spinal cord disease, inflammatory conditions, neoplasia, and metabolic causes all on the differential list. Recent veterinary literature and reviews continue to reinforce a key point for pet parents and clinicians alike: true idiopathic epilepsy appears to be relatively uncommon in cats compared with dogs, and many feline seizures are secondary to structural brain disease, inflammatory disease, toxins, or metabolic problems. A newly published UK referral-hospital review of feline neurology cases described the spectrum of diagnoses seen from 2016 to 2025 and said the findings should help improve recognition of neurological disease in cats. Meanwhile, a 2026 feline seizure review in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery emphasized structured classification of reactive, structural, and idiopathic causes, and highlighted the value of video history in distinguishing seizure types. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the message is practical: a cat presenting with seizures or other neurologic signs often warrants a broader workup than a presumptive epilepsy label. Age at onset, interictal neurologic status, seizure semiology, and pet-parent video can all sharpen the differential list, while MRI, CSF analysis, infectious disease testing, and metabolic screening may be needed to identify an underlying cause. Emerging work also suggests feline neurology is becoming more subtype-specific, including growing recognition of autoimmune encephalitis linked to LGI1 autoantibodies and newer descriptions such as spontaneous late-onset myoclonic epilepsy in older cats. (pdfs.semanticscholar.org)
What to watch: Expect more species-specific guidance on feline seizure classification, diagnostics, and long-term management as newer referral data and autoimmune epilepsy research mature. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
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Neurological disorders in cats are drawing renewed attention as newer studies and reviews sharpen how veterinarians think about feline seizures and other neurologic presentations. While pet-facing education sources such as PetMD continue to stress that seizures can range from subtle focal twitching to generalized convulsions, the more important clinical shift is in how the profession is classifying and investigating those cases: many cats with seizures have an identifiable underlying disease, not primary epilepsy. (pdfs.semanticscholar.org)
That distinction matters because feline neurology has historically been less well characterized than canine neurology. A recent UK referral-hospital study, reviewing cats seen between April 2016 and May 2025, called itself the first to describe feline neurological patients in the UK by diagnosis, neuroanatomic localization, and VITAMIN D-style etiologic distribution. The authors said the work is a first step toward a demographic database for feline neurology and could improve differential diagnosis lists and earlier recognition of disease. As a referral-based retrospective study, it doesn’t represent every practice setting, but it adds contemporary case-mix data to a field where published population-level information is still limited. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
At the same time, a 2026 clinical spotlight review on epileptic seizures in cats laid out a practical framework for clinicians. It separates reactive seizures, caused by extracranial problems such as toxin exposure or metabolic disease, from structural epilepsy caused by intracranial disease, including inflammatory, infectious, traumatic, anomalous, neoplastic, vascular, or degenerative conditions. The review also notes that seizure onset after age 7 increases the odds of structural epilepsy, and that videos from pet parents are invaluable when trying to distinguish epileptic events from syncope, vestibular episodes, or paroxysmal dyskinesias. (pdfs.semanticscholar.org)
Several newer publications also point to a more nuanced seizure landscape in cats. One 2025 study described spontaneous late-onset myoclonic epilepsy as a novel epileptic phenotype in older cats. Another recent report classified seizure cases in cats and dogs and concluded that feline patients would benefit from updated, species-specific consensus guidance. That recommendation fits with the current ACVIM framework, which reserves consensus statements and evidence-based guidelines for areas where clinical practice varies or new evidence is emerging. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
An especially notable area of development is autoimmune encephalitis associated with LGI1 autoantibodies. Preliminary owner-questionnaire data presented in 2025 suggest this condition is increasingly recognized in domestic cats as a cause of seizures. In that cohort, 18 of 20 cats were alive at follow-up, nine of the 18 surviving cats were reported seizure-free, and many remained on immunosuppressive and antiseizure medications. Even with generally favorable pet-parent quality-of-life ratings, persistent behavioral or functional changes were common, underscoring that seizure control may not capture the full burden of disease. A separate 2025 translational study described feline LGI1-antibody encephalitis as a clinically distinctive seizure disorder and framed it as a naturally occurring model with relevance to both human and veterinary neurology. (bvns.org.uk)
Why it matters: For veterinary teams, the takeaway is that feline neurologic disease deserves disciplined localization and cause-based thinking. A cat with seizures, head myoclonus, balance changes, altered mentation, or behavioral change may have anything from toxic or metabolic disease to inflammatory CNS disease, neoplasia, hippocampal pathology, or autoimmune encephalitis. That raises the value of early diagnostics, including minimum database testing, blood pressure and infectious disease assessment where appropriate, plus advanced imaging and CSF analysis in selected cases. It also reinforces the importance of asking pet parents for smartphone video, which may materially improve classification and triage. (pdfs.semanticscholar.org)
Treatment remains an area where evidence is growing but still incomplete. Phenobarbital and levetiracetam remain familiar tools, while zonisamide has shown retrospective evidence of seizure reduction in cats, with generally manageable adverse effects but some laboratory abnormalities reported. Phenobarbital-associated adverse effects are also well documented in feline patients. Taken together, the literature suggests clinicians should expect individualized management rather than a one-size-fits-all epilepsy pathway, especially when the underlying diagnosis is uncertain or evolving. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
What to watch: The next phase for feline neurology will likely be better subtype definitions, more formal consensus guidance, and stronger long-term outcome data, particularly for autoimmune and late-onset seizure syndromes. If that happens, veterinarians may get clearer answers on when a seizure in a cat is most likely reactive, structural, idiopathic, or immune-mediated, and how aggressively to investigate each category. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)