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XP:Roxy-a furry ball of neurological issues. Long. Waaay long.
We went to the vet ER last Monday because we thought Roxy wasn't breathing right (or might be choking). In fact, she's having chewing gum seizures. The kind you almost never see in cats. Plus (and I've been saying this from the start) she just doesn't walk like any cat I've ever seen. She's duck footed. And her back legs are kind of loose, and tend to spread out like she's walking on ice. I thought she just didn't like the tile floors, and maybe had a claw thing going on. She has these ginormously long back legs that she can't quite get working.
So, after following up with the regular vet (and I use the term loosely, since it's her first ever appointment), we've gotten a relatively clean bill of health from the fecal and blood tests. She has an elevated white cell count, which could be from some kind of brain swelling. Maybe. This leaves us with Panleukopenia, (possibly cerebellar hypoplasia [it's the cat version of cerebral palsy] as a result of her mothers distemper while in utero), or a congenital defect.
:::pause to check kitten who has fallen off a chair she knows she shouldn't be on:::
The way to get the definitive diagnosis is to go to a neurologist and do a cerebrospinal fluid test or an MRI. And who knows, they might instead find a cyst and remove it, problem solved.
Prednizone might reduce the swelling (if the white cell count is indicative of cerebral swelling at all, and not some other infection), and fix some of the motor problems. We could try phenobarbitol for the seizures.
None
of this is really required, according to the vet, if things stay
relatively like they are and she's not bothered by any of it.
Honestly, she hardly pauses her nap if she yawns and has a seizure.
She might circle around afterward, then continues sleeping while I try
to shove my heart back into my chest.
It's all very vague, and I'm not really sure what to do. I go back for her second distemper shot (she is supposed to continue her regular course of vaccinations) on Monday. I feel like I need to have some plan of action, but maybe that's because she's super wobbly today. Tonight, she might be right as rain. She managed to get her feet under her when she fell off the chair, but again, her back legs were spread waaaay far out. She almost landed sitting down. I don't know if it's progress or not.
So, does anyone have any advice or similar experience?
Re: XP:Roxy-a furry ball of neurological issues. Long. Waaay long.
I kinda thought finding someone with similar experience would be a longshot, but what the hell. It's kind of the classic veterinary dilemma - do you let the happy animal that you don't know if you can really fix alone, or do you never leave a problem unmedicated? I mean, she's 4 months old, so if we do nothing and there is a fix, she suffers needlessly for years. Or, maybe to her it's just 18 years of us screwing with her.
Thanks for responding.
We actually had a cat with nuerological issues in our rescue not too long ago. She was about 5 and was happy as a clam (at least as far as we could tell), they just tried to find a home for here that didnt have a lot of things she could fall of of (ie stairs).
This is my philosophy with animals: If they are not in pain and seem to have a good quality of life, then I will do everything I can do make their life as good as I can. If they are in a lot of pain and/or have a poor quality of life, then sometimes the best thing to do is let go (unless there is some obvisous fix of course)
My childhood dog had cancer, but still seemed to be getting along fine. He lived with cancer for over 3 years (miraculous) but at the end we could tell he didnt enjoy life anymore. He couldnt get up and go lie in his favorite spot in the sun. His tail hardly wagged. He didnt want to eat. I think those are the things you have to look out for. IF you cat still seems to love life, then my opinion is to let her live it the best you can.
((big hugs))