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Both of these are emergencies the first time you see them. A seizure lasting more than five minutes, or two or more in a day, is status epilepticus — go now. A cat who suddenly cannot stand, has a head tilt, is circling, has one pupil bigger than the other, or has gone blind needs to be seen today, because the most common cause of a stroke-like event in cats is high blood pressure, which is treatable. And a cat who suddenly cannot use its back legs and is crying in pain is not having a stroke — it is a blood clot (saddle thrombus) and it is the most urgent of all.
The short answer: a seizure in a cat is minutes long, the cat is unconscious or unresponsive during it, the whole body is involved, and afterwards the cat is dazed but gradually normal again. A stroke is sudden, the cat stays conscious, the signs are lopsided — one side weak, head tilted, one pupil different, circling one way — and instead of ending in minutes, the signs stay and can worsen for about 24 hours before they start to improve. Three questions settle it: how long did it last, were they conscious, and was it one-sided? True strokes are uncommon in cats; what owners call a "stroke" is more often a seizure, vestibular syndrome (a sudden inner-ear or brain-balance problem that looks like a stroke and mostly resolves in two to three weeks), or a saddle thrombus.
Written by Marc Brannigan, Co-Founder & CEO of HempMy Pet. Last updated 13 October 2026.
Three Questions That Separate Them
You can answer all three from what you just saw, and the answers tell the vet more than any description of "she had a fit."
A generalised seizure runs one to three minutes and stops on its own. After it the cat is confused, wobbly, sometimes blind, and then — over minutes to hours — comes back. A stroke does not stop. The signs are there now, can get worse for about a day, and then plateau and slowly improve over weeks.
During a generalised seizure the cat is not there — unresponsive to its name, eyes open but not seeing, often drooling, paddling, urinating. During a stroke the cat is awake and frightened: it knows you are there, it just cannot stand, see, or walk straight.
A seizure is symmetrical: all four legs paddle, the whole body stiffens. A stroke is lopsided: weakness or dragging on one side, head tilted one way, circling in one direction, one pupil larger, eyes flicking. Lopsided is the single most useful word to say to your vet on the phone.
Seizure: minutes, unconscious, both sides. Stroke: ongoing, conscious, one side. Either way, you are calling the vet — but now you can tell them which.
Seizure vs Stroke vs the Two Look-Alikes
Most "my cat had a stroke" stories turn out to be one of the other three. Here is how each one looks.
| Seizure | Stroke | Vestibular syndrome | Saddle thrombus (clot) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How it starts | Sudden, often while resting; may drool, growl or pace first | Sudden, no warning | Sudden, no warning | Sudden, with loud crying |
| How long | 1–3 minutes, then an after-phase of minutes to hours | Ongoing; worst at about 24 hours, then weeks of recovery | Ongoing; improves over days, most fully recovered in 2–3 weeks | Ongoing; hours matter |
| Conscious? | No (generalised) — unresponsive, "not there" | Yes — awake, confused or frightened | Yes — awake, nauseous, may vomit | Yes — awake and in severe pain |
| Body | Whole body: rigid, all four legs paddling, jaw chomping, may urinate or defecate | One side weak or paralysed; head tilt or turn; circling one way; one pupil larger; sudden blindness | Head tilt, falling or rolling to one side, circling, eyes flicking side to side (nystagmus); legs work but balance does not | Both back legs suddenly limp, cold to the touch, pads pale or blue; front legs fine; open-mouth breathing |
| Usual cause | Toxins (permethrin flea products, lilies), metabolic disease, high blood pressure, brain disease, or epilepsy — rare in cats | High blood pressure (often from kidney disease or hyperthyroidism), clots, heart disease, tumours, trauma; some unexplained | Usually no cause found (idiopathic); ear infection, polyps, some drugs | Heart disease — hypertrophic cardiomyopathy — throwing a clot from the heart |
| What to do | Time it, clear the space, hands away from the mouth, film it. Over 5 min or 2+ in a day: emergency. Otherwise vet today | Vet today. Blood pressure, bloodwork, thyroid; MRI if referred. Most causes are treatable | Vet today to rule out the others; then supportive care at home, confine to one floor, food and water within reach | Emergency, now. Do not wait to see if it improves |
Seizure durations and the five-minute / cluster thresholds are from International Cat Care; stroke causes and the 24-hour worsening window from MedVet; vestibular recovery from Cornell's Feline Health Center. Recurrent seizure disorders were found in 0.16% of cats — about one in six hundred — in a 2020 study of 285,547 UK cats.
"How Do I Tell If My Cat Just Had a Stroke?"
The honest answer is that you often cannot from the living-room floor — but you can tell whether it is stroke-shaped.
Stroke-shaped means: it came on in seconds, the cat is awake, and something is asymmetrical. Look at the eyes first. One pupil larger than the other, or the eyes flicking rhythmically side to side or up and down, are the two signs owners most often miss and vets most want to hear about. Then watch the cat try to walk: a stroke cat lists, drags or circles to one side; a vestibular cat tilts and falls but its legs push normally; a seizing cat is not walking at all. Then check vision — wave a hand silently toward one eye, then the other. Sudden blindness in a cat is very often high blood pressure detaching the retina, and that is reversible if it is treated within hours, which is why "wait and see" is the wrong call.
What your vet will do is take a blood pressure, run bloodwork with a thyroid level, and look in the eyes. Those three things find the cause in most stroke-like events in cats, because the usual culprits — hypertension, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism — are all diagnosable in the room. MRI, which needs anaesthesia and usually a referral, is for the cases where those come back clean.
"Can Cats Have a Mini Stroke?"
The word people use for a brief, scary episode that resolved on its own.
Cats can have small strokes, and they can have transient episodes — a few minutes of wobbliness, a brief head tilt, a short spell of confusion — that look like one. But a short episode that resolved completely in minutes is more likely to have been a focal seizure (one side of the face twitching, staring, lip-smacking, a brief "absence") or a transient vestibular event than a stroke. The distinction matters because a focal seizure that gets written off as a "mini stroke" is the one that comes back. If you saw something short and strange: film the next one, note the time and duration, and book a vet visit this week rather than waiting for it to happen again. The same wake test from our cat twitching in sleep page applies — a cat who responds to its name mid-episode is not having a generalised seizure.
What Happens Afterwards
The two PAA questions about lifespan, answered without a number pulled out of the air.
After a stroke, how long a cat lives and how well it recovers depends on what caused it, not on the stroke itself. A hypertensive cat whose blood pressure is controlled can recover most or all function over weeks and live for years. A stroke from a brain tumour has the tumour's outlook. Signs tend to be at their worst in the first day and then improve; what is still missing at four to six weeks is often what stays missing, and most cats adapt to a mild head tilt or slight weakness without their quality of life changing much.
After a seizure, the same rule: the cause decides. A toxic seizure — the cat licked a dog's flea treatment — does not recur once the toxin is gone. Seizures from kidney disease or hyperthyroidism track that disease. Cats with true epilepsy are the minority, and most are well controlled on medication for years; the cases with a poor outlook are cluster seizures and status epilepticus that cannot be controlled, which is exactly why the five-minute rule is an emergency rule. If you want a structured way to judge how a cat is doing week to week after any of these, our quality-of-life scale was written for dogs but the seven criteria apply unchanged to cats.
Where Hemp Fits — and Where It Doesn't
We make hemp products for cats, so here is the straight answer.
Nothing you give at home treats a seizure or a stroke. Do not put anything in the mouth of a seizing cat. A cat with a suspected stroke needs a blood pressure reading, not a dropper. Anyone selling you a supplement for an acute neurological event is selling you a delay.
There is early research in dogs on CBD alongside anti-seizure medication and none we can point to in cats. Hemp can change how the liver clears other drugs — which matters a great deal with phenobarbital and similar. If your vet wants to explore it, that is their call to make with the drug levels in front of them. See our seizures entry.
A cat recovering from a stroke or vestibular episode is often stiff, stressed and sleeping badly. Comfort and stress are the two places hemp has any evidence in pets — joint comfort is the stronger of the two, and in dogs, not cats — so this is a conversation to have once the diagnosis and medications are settled, not before. Cats handle hemp differently; servings are lower and slower.
Read is CBD safe for cats before adding anything to a cat on medication, and the cat serving guide for how servings are worked out by weight. The cat safety entry lists what is not safe for cats — permethrin, the dog flea-product ingredient, is one of the commonest causes of feline seizures and is on it.
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When to Call the Vet
Go now if:
- A seizure lasts more than five minutes, or there are two or more in twenty-four hours
- Both back legs suddenly go limp and cold and the cat is crying — saddle thrombus
- Sudden blindness, one pupil larger than the other, or the cat cannot stand
- Any of the above after possible contact with a dog flea product, a lily, or a human medication
- Open-mouth breathing alongside any of these — see why is my cat panting
Same day if:
- A first seizure of any length, even if the cat recovered fully
- A new head tilt, circling, falling to one side, or flicking eyes
- A short, strange episode that resolved — confusion, wobbliness, one-sided twitching — bring the video
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I tell if my cat just had a stroke?
Look for three things: it came on in seconds, the cat is awake, and something is lopsided — one side weak or dragging, head tilted or turned, circling one way, one pupil larger than the other, eyes flicking, or sudden blindness. Signs persist and can worsen for about 24 hours rather than ending in minutes. A short episode in which the cat was unresponsive and then dazed was more likely a seizure. Either way, see a vet today; blood pressure, bloodwork and a thyroid level find the cause of most stroke-like events in cats.
Can cats have a mini stroke?
Small strokes and brief transient episodes do happen, but a few minutes of wobbliness, a brief head tilt or a short spell of confusion that resolved completely is more often a focal seizure or a transient vestibular event than a stroke. The distinction matters because a focal seizure written off as a "mini stroke" tends to come back. Film the next episode, note how long it lasted and whether the cat responded to its name, and book a vet visit this week.
How long can a cat live after a stroke?
It depends on the cause, not the stroke. A cat whose stroke came from high blood pressure that is then controlled can recover most function over weeks and live for years; a stroke from a brain tumour carries the tumour's outlook. Signs are usually worst in the first day and improve over four to six weeks, and most cats adapt well to a mild residual head tilt or weakness. Ask your vet about the underlying diagnosis — that is the number that matters.
How long will a cat live with seizures?
Again, the cause decides. A toxic seizure does not recur once the toxin is gone. Seizures from kidney disease or hyperthyroidism follow that disease. Cats with true epilepsy are a minority — recurrent seizure disorders affect about one cat in six hundred — and most are well controlled on medication for years. The poor outcomes are uncontrolled cluster seizures and status epilepticus, which is why anything over five minutes or two in a day is an emergency.
What is the difference between a seizure and a stroke in cats?
A seizure is a burst of abnormal electrical activity in the brain: minutes long, the cat is unresponsive, the whole body is involved, and it is followed by a dazed after-phase before recovery. A stroke is a blocked or bleeding blood vessel in the brain: sudden, the cat stays conscious, the signs are one-sided, and they persist and can worsen for a day before slowly improving. Strokes are uncommon in cats; seizures, vestibular syndrome and saddle thrombus are the more frequent look-alikes.
What does vestibular disease look like in a cat?
A sudden head tilt, falling or rolling to one side, circling, and eyes flicking rhythmically side to side, often with nausea or vomiting — the cat is awake and its legs work, but its balance does not. It looks like a stroke and is often mistaken for one. In most cases no cause is found, and Cornell's Feline Health Center notes that most cats are completely recovered within two to three weeks. A vet visit is still needed to rule out ear infection, polyps and the more serious causes.
What should I do while my cat is having a seizure?
Note the time. Move anything the cat could fall off or hit, dim the lights and keep the room quiet. Keep your hands away from the mouth — a seizing cat can bite hard and will not know it is you. Do not try to hold or wake them. Most seizures stop on their own within one to three minutes. If it passes five minutes, or a second one starts, go to the emergency vet while it is happening. Film it if you can; thirty seconds of video is worth more than any description.
Can hemp or CBD help a cat after a stroke or with seizures?
Not during or immediately after either — nothing given at home treats an acute neurological event, and a suspected stroke needs a blood pressure reading, not a dropper. For seizure control there is early research in dogs alongside medication and none we can point to in cats, and hemp can change how anti-seizure drugs are cleared, so it is strictly a vet decision. The narrow place it may fit is the recovery weeks — stiffness and stress — after diagnosis and medication are settled, with cat-specific servings.
The Short Version
Seizure: one to three minutes, unresponsive, whole body, dazed afterwards. Stroke: sudden, conscious, one-sided, and the signs stay and can worsen for a day. Vestibular syndrome looks like a stroke and mostly resolves in two to three weeks; a saddle thrombus is sudden back-leg paralysis with pain and is the most urgent of all. Strokes are uncommon in cats and are usually caused by something treatable — high blood pressure, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism — so the vet visit is the point, not the fear.
Hemp has no role in the event itself, is not a seizure treatment, and belongs only in the recovery weeks with a vet in the loop.
Hemp for Cats → Cat Twitching in Sleep
Cat Twitching in Sleep · Cat Panting · Seizures · Is CBD Safe for Cats · Cat Safety
Marc co-founded HempMy Pet in 2016 with his wife Natalie, the company's COO. HempMy Pet breeds its own hemp genetics, grows them on its certified-organic Colorado farm, and formulates every batch in-house under human-grade standards — seed to sale, nothing sourced overseas. Every batch is third-party tested and the certificates of analysis are published. More about us.
HempMy Pet ran its own 90-day study of 37 dogs with chronic joint discomfort. Of the 32 that completed it, 30 (93%) showed a benefit, and 94% of owners reported their dog's quality of life had improved. It was overseen by Dr. Robin Downing, DVM, MS of the Downing Center for Animal Pain Management, with Lori Kogan, Ph.D. and Peter W. Hellyer, DVM of Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, and published in the Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. Read the methodology.
Why Dr. Downing: in 2005 she became only the third veterinarian in the world credentialed as a Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management. She founded the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management, is a Diplomate of the ACVSMR, a Certified Veterinary Pain Practitioner and a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner, and was the AVMA's 2020 Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year. Chronic joint pain is her life's work. Read the published paper (PDF).
This article is general information for cat owners, not veterinary advice. It is reviewed and updated as new peer-reviewed evidence is published, and where the evidence is thin or negative we say so.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is general information, not veterinary advice. If your cat is unwell, contact your veterinarian.
