Cat seizures

Question
We have just adopted aa apparently healthy 3 year old female siamese cat from the animal shelter. She was very scared at first, and spent most of the day hiding undernearth a blanket. She has been coming out of her hiding place lately, and she seemd okay. Last night, while sitting on the couch, she started having twiching of the right ear and right eye, that shortly spreaded to her jaw and evntually to her entire body, suffering a generalized tonic-clonic seixure that lasted for about 15 minutes. She was foaming at the mouth, pupils were fully dilated and lost control of her sphyncters while seizing. After that, she has recoevered slowly, but after 16 hours, she still has an unsteady gait, although she purrs and eats and drinks normally. She is able to move all 4 extremities and does not show any focal deficits. She does not seem in any distress right now. We do not know anything about her past medical history, since she was found abandoned. The only thing that caught our attention previously is that she had an inttermitent nystagmus while otherwise seemingly healthy. She has received Rabies and Feline leukemia vaccinations recently, and was tested for Feline leukemia and found to be negative. We are seeing our vet on Thursday, but we are worried. What is the possibility that this might be an isolated episode or that is treatable if caused by sometihng infectious?Is feline epilepsy the most likely diagnosis?

Thank you very much and apologies for the length of the question

Answer
The more information you give the better so don't apologize for that. I am not a vet and cannot diagnose this but your description certainly point to feline epilepsy. The prior nystagmus is a worry. I wonder if this is an inherited problem due to her being a Siamese, or is she had some head trauma (being hit by a car since she was a stray).

Your vet will certainly be able to make a determination hopefully. There is medication for the epilepsy but it really has to be fine tuned for cats and they don't always respond as well to it as dogs do.

I am glad you adopted her- it sounds as if you will give her a good home even though she isn't perfect! Some might have had her put down. I hope that her issues are easily found and solved. Please let me know how she does.