Sick cat
 

My cat Scotty is 2 years old and just came back from a long weekend at the vets.

They think that his condition (like vertigo) was brought on by a cold, at least that is the hope. He was sneezing the night before, and we do have another cat on meds for a cold.

I didnt' see him at his worst. I had just left for the day when my husband said he was flopping all around. So went Friday morning to the vet and we picked him up yesterday.

He still has problem standing or walking. Some times he can go a little distance before he falls over. He walks in circles, can't jump very high. Can get onto the couch or a chair.

He falls into his food, and I think falls while peeing because he stinks.

My husband thinks he had a stroke.

He is on Clavamox ( for the cold) and Baytril (for the vertigo)

Anyone else had this problem and how did it work out?

Thanks

I'd get a second opinion from another vet.

Poor kitty...I hope he recovers soon!

I second this. I don't understand why he is on 2 different anti-biotics. I certainly hope they checked his ears...inner ear infection can cause vertigo. Maybe that is why he is on Baytril? What are his eyes doing? same size pupils? Are they going back and forth unnaturally?
I'm so sorry you and your kitty are going through this...I sure hope he pulls through. :( Keep us posted.

The vet he went to is probably the best vet around. When we took him in, he was out of town for a few days and another vet was filling in (retired), and he had no clue what was going on. So when we went to see him on Sunday the regular vet said that the other one told him to make sure he check our cat out and to call him because he was stumped.

On the bill that is 2 pages long, it says on the first day: Not able to control anything, holding head to the left unable to use left front leg well, twitching. Shaking head-Pos inner ear wobbly when walking.

Then says suspect extension of nasal infection to middle ear left side.

they did digital x-ray of ears and head, didn't find anything, and all sorts of injections.

Then on yesterday's part of the bill, says

Diagnosis: Vestibular Disease Idiopathic, neuroloic circling.
Diagnosis: Feline Upper Resp. Infection/Sinusitis

The other two vets nearby, I am not too excited about, one who has come out to look at the cows a couple of times (only one who does house calls), I really have no confidence in.

Dr. Creel, has all the latest and greatest toys, a vet friend from CT checked him out and was impressed by him.

I do plan to put Scotty on a liver diet. That vet friend had me to that for another cat we had a few years back and he got over what ever his problem was. I had to syringe raw liver because he wasn't eating because he couldn't smell it. Now Scotty is eating as best he can, seems to have some problems with the kibbles, but liver is full of vitamins, especially B. (we were supposed to cull some roosters today, but got rained out)

Did they check the cats potassium levels? If the cat seems to not have good muscle control I would have that checked.

I've read a bit about the symptoms your kitty has looking for answers for my kittys problem. It seems that the defining symptom is the head tilt, and that theres really no explaination for the onset. Cases seem more prevelant in the late summer- early fall. One of my kittens has what I believe to be Nystagmus. She cant walk a straight line, her head shakes, she throws herself at objects, and has depth perception issues. I thought she had what your kitty has except her head dosnt tilt. Everything I read about your diagnosis says all you can do is wait it out. As for the litter box, try one with the high sides so he can lean against them. Also, you might have to scoop more often as he might have a problem covering (digging is two paws, covering is a one paw effort) also try putting a "containment" towel outside the box. They have a tendency to "step in it" while they are trying to cover and stay upright at the same time. Good luck and I hope Kitty recovers soon.

Thanks Neparose and everyone else too.

The vet thinks he is doing better in that he can get up on the couch and a chair. Seems to do better on rugs than the kitchen floor. will try the litter box thing.

Ohhhh..ok. I just took what your original post as kinda like...here are some pills, go home and see what happens. It sounds like testing has been extensive. Baytril is the bomb as far as anti-biotics. I sure hope Scotty continues to improve!

I hope he improves too, he is pretty pathetic right now. We put him in the litter box and he went, but then flopped all over the place, so maybe we need to put it in another box so the walls are really high for him. We had a box on the floor in the parlor and found him in it when I got home this evening. I took him out of it to try and give him some more food.

One of my outside cats has this....He was missing a couple of days and I looked everywhere, then when he showed up he looked drunk,vertigo like....googled it and came up with 'feline vestibular syndrome' . All the symptoms matched and it explained him being gone a couple of days, probably almost unable to move ,the poor thing.
Also found out there's really nothing anyone can do for him . I kept him on the porch out of danger as he was still wobbly, his head crooked and falling every few steps.
This was 2 weeks ago,he is a lot better now but still not 100%. They say some never come back all the way, some do.
Also found out while googling that a lot of cats won't get diagnosed right at the vets and after $800 & on tests and stuff still only some get diagnosed right, others found out after searching on the internet.
Hope your kitty recovers all the way,
Chris
PS: forgot to say he ate like a pig right away ,and gets a lot of yummy canned food now, he's always been a very trim cat, he's 9 years old.

Thanks.

Glad I only paid 540.00 and not 800.00 :)

Two weeks of this.

My husband tells me tonight that I was giving him the wrong canned food. It was Pate', figured he would like that because they all hate the whitefish. So he tells me Scotty loves the whitefish and hates the Pate'.

I don't usually feed the cats--I do everyone else (cows chickens, dog, husband, and sometimes me).

I don't have any recent pictures of Scotty, but I do have some when he was younger. The bottom one is with his big brother (different litter) who we had to put down this year because of some mysterious internal bleeding.

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/a...hel/Scotty.jpg

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/a...y-and-Biff.jpg

Oh gosh, he's so sweet! I hope with all my heart he gets better.

He seemed to be worse today. I don't think he ate enough yesterday, he would only eat a little at a time.

Chickens got killed today, so put some liver in the blender and squirted it in his mouth.

Hope he gets better too.

I am letting him sleep with us and he seems more content for the night with us.

Try to make sure he gets enough liquid down. possibly sodium free broth, tuna water, even water with dark karo syrup mixed in. If he cant drink on his own, maybe the vet can do one of those IV treatments every few days to help keep him hydrated? Poor kitty.

I have squirted some water down him.

I can feel the tight muscles in his neck, so I have been rubbing them

I just cooked a few chickens, but I did salt them, so guess that is out.

Hope all the liver he got today will make tomorrow better.

I really would hold off on liver. It is an animal's poison filter. I wouldn't feed it to a sick anything.

Squirting water in his mouth can be fine, but you can also get it into his lungs. I'd do subcutaneous fluids. Easy peasy to administer yourself, the lactated ringers is cheap, just call up the vet and see if he'll send you some home. Might try the livestock vet, as some "pet vets" look at you in horror and refuse to let you *gasp* do it yourself.

I would get some Nutrical and offer it; he'll likely attack it. I've had kitties on death's door from potassium deficiency come to life with the stuff. Meat based baby food is another favorite.

I'm so sorry. I hope it is just the ears and he recovers fully.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep him hydrated and at least fed the basics in Nutrical. His kidneys are already taxed from the issues you describe.

I'm having flashbacks of a beloved cat with Nutro poisoning and "Wish I'd knowns" and "If only I'd" so please forgive me if I sound short.

I brought him back to the vet a few moments ago. I was wearing more of the water than he actually swallowed. I had noticed his eyes a little twitchy.

They are keeping him overnight (thankfully for no charge). Gave him a sedative and Baytril. They were concerned about the eye business, he also said one was dilated more than the other.

The reason we chose to feed him liver was because a few years back we had a cat that was on deaths door and the emergency vet (because all cats get sick on weekends), had no idea what was wrong with him. He had a white blood count issue (very low I think), but they just wanted to run test after test with no hope, so we took him home. It was Thanksgiving weekend and we were over a friend's house who happens to be a vet (but lived over an hour from us), and he gave us some pills and said feed him raw liver--I did that for a long time and he got over whatever his problem was.

Liver does filter poison, but these are also our chickens, not the commercial ones, so they are not jacked up with drugs and antibiotics.

More prayers for you and Scotty (((Huggs))))!!!

Thanks

I was doing really good (as it was a horrible day--started when the cow wouldn't let me milk her, and another cat went missing last couple of days) I didn't react when my husband told me he couldn't find her (had her 12 years), think he was a little mad at me for not reacting, but can only process one thing at a time, and that was Scotty.

So when I couldn't get the water down him, I just got up and jumped in the car and went to the vet--who is about a mile from the house--when I picked Scotty up to carry him in the office the tears started coming--it was really pathetic.

When I got home, my husband saw me and gave me a hug and asked what was wrong, I didn't say anything, then he says, Where is Scotty?, I just shrugged my shoulders then he knew I took him.

I think it was just one of those days all around for everyone.

I never refuse prayers or hugs. ;)

Thanks

I'm so sorry :( more prayers and huggs :(

I had to go to the vet this morning, because my cow has mastitis and I needed some medicine for her.

When I walked in Rhonda (The Vet's wife) saw me and called me to the back room. First we discussed the Mastitis. I had her milk in a bucket and it was nasty and I could feel it in her teat when milking her.

So with that discussed, I asked about Scotty and she said not good, and we recommend putting him down. They had rectally given him morphine, as shots didn't help. He had gone into convulsions during the night, so he just lay there so still that she thought he had already passed.

The final thought was brain tumor, and I agreed to have him put down. I said I would send my husband to pick him up so we could bury him at home.

I am very thankful that they are our vet, and that they are just around the corner. Many have issues with him, but he has always been very good to us. Brendan my husband thinks they just can't stand to see me cry so they give me stuff. They gave me the two syringes for Yo my cow.

Thanks everyone for you help, hugs and prayers.

I am so sorry the hear that you lost the battle with keeping the kitty. He was a very precious and pretty one. Hope the rest of your day goes better and the missing one shows up OK. :(

So sorry about Scotty. You did everything humanly possible to keep him here, and then some. Hugs and prayers to you.

Awwww, I am so very sorry (((((((((((hugs)))))))))).

I'm so sorry.