sorry for the incredibly long post, I want to make sure I include all the context. i’m 21 and this is my first cat that isn’t a family cat. Yesterday I adopted a new kitten. he’s a 6mo neutered domestic short hair with all of his medications and vaccines and all that. He has just recovered from having ringworm.  Because of the ringworm treatment, he hasn’t been on flea medication for 4 weeks. He is strictly indoors. I live about 3 hours away from his foster, and the drive home with him ended up being around 6 hours because we would have frequent breaks in quiet parking lots to not freak kitty out too bad. The car was air conditioned throughly, and he was kept in a covered carrier the whole ride home. During the car ride he was incredibly calm, no meowing, no accidents in the carrier, nothing. He was affectionate and seemed to enjoy being pet when I would stick my hand in to check on him every once and awhile. During our stops he would sit on my lap or my shoulders and just sniff around. He wouldn’t take treats on the ride home but this is fairly normal. 

Upon arriving home, we took him inside and he walked right out and explored the room we set up for him. He has his tail up and was very confident. Went right to rubbing on us and purring. We got home at around 6:30 pm. after about 30 minutes he took a churu, so we tried to feed him dinner. His foster said he wasn’t the hugest fan of wet food, so we gave him nulo wet food mixed with orijin kitten dry. When he didn’t take that, we gave him just dry, which he ate a little bit of. It’s normal for cats to not love eating when they first arrive home, so I didn’t push it. I gave him another churu and a freeze dried chicken heart, which he ate no problem. We also noticed him eating a bit of his litter (Corn chicken feed + petrichor tofu cat litter) during the first few minutes in the room, so I removed it and replaced it with clay litter. I didn’t think much of it since both are natural cat litters. When I say a bit I mean less then maybe 5 pellets of kitten dry food worth of litter. a VERY small amount. 

About an hour into us being home, he’s playing and being a normal kitten, and he does something I notice as a bit strange. He stops what’s he’s doing, walks a few steps away, lays down on his side with his head still raised (purposely, not falling over), and begins to twitch. The twitching is very subtle, mostly in his legs and slightly in his head. His ears are slightly back, his eyes closed. Can’t tell if this is “cat grimace” or just a sleepy cat. This episode lasts for about 30 seconds, before he opens his eyes, gets back up, and goes back to playing with nearly 0 seconds of in between time. He acts completely normal afterwards. He’s affectionate, purring up a storm, and playing with a feather toy. 

It happens again about 30 minutes later, following the same pattern, so this time I video it and send it to his foster, who is a vet student (not a vet yet) asking if it’s something she’s seen him do before, and saying I hope it’s not a seizure. 

She responds saying it looks like a seizure, and I should take him to the emergency vet immediately. This is not a behavior she’s seen him show before and is very concerned. She also connects me with the “vet coordinator” (also a vet student) who also says she thinks it’s a seizure and to go to the vet NOW. It’s nearly 11 pm at this point, and because I got this cat 9 hours prior I don’t have pet insurance yet.

I explain everything about the situation to both of them, and the vet coordinator informs me about a possible very concerning issues: Some chicken feeds are medicated in something that is incredibly toxic to cats called ionophore. (Which in most cases are not sold over the counter in california without a prescription) 

The chicken feed I have is from a family owned company nearby who distributes their small amount mixes in unlabeled plastic bags, so there is no ingredients listed on the packing. I’m not sure if this feed includes any medication. I have since called the store, and they have told me that they do sell medicated chicken feed, but (through a very bad reception phone call) reassured me that what I bought is not the medicated one. I’m planning on going back in person asap to double check this, because i’m not 100% confident in that response, but they’re not open on weekends. 

This substance can cause seizures and sudden death in cats.  I can’t find anywhere online how much is deadly to a cat. 

I take him to the vet emergency room at around midnight. 

The vet takes him in, does a physical exam, and a very large bloodwork panel. She reassures me that the chances of ionophore poisoning are incredibly low because of how small amount of feed he ate, and the fact it’s not sold in California without an RX, so it would be very hard to accidentally buy. 

He’s being completely normal in the vet, has absolutely no issues and no episodes like the one discussed earlier, and his bloodwork and exam come back normal. This is what the vet report says: 

“Difficult to determine if this is a neuro event,

or just behavioral. Tremoring episodes- possible focal seizure, may be normal behavior especially given the home

change and long drive today. Potential for mold toxicity from chicken feed, but unlikely to be ionophore toxicity.”

the chicken feed has no visible mold, and is completely dry. Kitty has not thrown up, or had any other signs of ingesting something dangerous. We go home. He eats a few more kibble, and has another one of these twitching episodes. I made a loud noise during it and he perked up and looked around (responsive), like he was woken up from a nap. Most seizures i’ve heard of in pets, they are not usually responsive during them. We go to bed around 4 am, he is awake when I went to bed, and asleep with me when I woke up. 

In the morning, I update the vet coordinator and the foster with what I heard, expecting that to be the end of if. I planned to go to another vet once I had insurance (14 days) to get it checked out again, because fhe vet really did not seem concerned.

However I get a response from the foster, the vet coordinator, and the president of the foster program. They say that seizures in a kitten placed in a new home are NOT normal, and that something about the environment must be deeply upsetting him. They imply I am an unfit caregiver and say that they would like me to drive the 3-4 hours back to give the cat back to them, since we are obviously not a good fit. I am a bit confused, because I did exactly what they asked of me and am planning to look into it further because I also think this behavior is odd. I am not neglecting any health issues, which is the only reason they stayed in the contract I signed when picking him up that would cause a request of surrender. 

I am a very good cat parent who made a mistake with the chicken feed. I had no idea about the possibilities of ionophores and have seen and heard plenty of people recommending chicken feed as a litter.

The cat has been incredibly friendly and confident and is showing absolutely 0 signs of stress besides the lack of appetite. He is using the bathroom normally, drinking water from his fountain, breathing normally, walking around confidently, playing, purring, and hanging out with my partner and I. He is kept in a separate room and allowed to roam freely within, and has access to 3 large cat trees and a scratching post. I don’t pick him up or touch him when unless he initiates it, the lights have been kept dim, and we switch out his food every few hours just to make sure it’s not going stale. We’ve tried different toppers to get him to eat, and he just isn’t interested in non treat food. This may be because it’s new, tomorrow i’m getting his old food to see if he will eat that. I’m doing everything I can to make him comfortable and happy. 

These episodes keep happening. My anxiety is telling me they are getting worse, but I honestly can’t tell. I will attach a video of the first one I recorded. I can’t figure out how to add two videos… but I have one of him getting right back up after and reacting to noise during. 

I don’t know what to do. Neurological care is going to be so incredibly expensive, and since I took him to the ER, it’s considered now a pre existing condition, so getting insurance to cover this is going to be extremely difficult. The team from his foster home are being quite accusatory for something that (if it is ionophore toxicity) was a genuine and immediately corrected accident, or a neurological disorder that just happened to pop up day of, or truly just his way of expressing mild stress. Or maybe he is just dozing off. The episodes are so mild i’m wondering if his foster mom just never noticed. I don’t want to surrender him, but I’m afraid they’re going to try to take legal action if I don’t. 

I am doing everything I can, and listening to the er VET who told me to just keep an eye on it and see another (primary care) vet about it soon. The three people from his foster company are only vet students, so I am following the vet’s instructions. 

Am I missing something here? AITA for not wanting to surrender him? What else can I do? 

Confusing seizure behavior in new kitten?