I'm looking for some help for Tigger. He's a moggy of around 14 years old and been with me for the last 12 years.
He's been perfectly healthy all this time, but recently he started to act a bit wierd. To be honest, he was never the friendliest of beasts - would only put up with a few minutes petting before biting or scratching, and pretty much kept himself to himself, but I still love him. Recently he lost all of his energy. He took to standing around and swaying, so I took him to the vet. No problems could be found so he came home.
Then, 2 nights ago, out of the blue he woke from a sleep in his basket and had a horrific fit. I have never seen anything like it. Rigid body, foaming at the mouth - I was really panicked by this so took him to the emergency vets at midnight. They did bloods on him, and no kidney or liver problems, but a BP of 280! (apparently should be 180) so diagnosed hypertenstion. Since bringing him home I realised he is blind. Went back to the vet who says it is detatched retinas - a common problem of hypertension. He was prescribed Fortekor 2.5 one tab a day with food which is supposed to lower BP, which in turn could apparently cause the retinas to reattach.
Has anyone had a cat recover from such a thing. The vet says he could recover in 2 or 3 days, or in two weeks. It is breaking my heart to see him walking round and round the room hitting the walls. I've cleared a whole room for him and am keeping him in there with food and blankets, and check up on him regularly. I can't let him run free around the house as I'm out all day, and with him 'mapping' the room around the edges, he is getting stuck behind the radiator, the TV, etc etc.
I can't bear the thought of having him put to sleep, but equally I can't bear to have to watch him deal with blindness for weeks. He is clearly terrified. Is he likely to get his eyesight back? If he isn't, to make him deal with 2 weeks of confinement and blindness just seems unneccessarily cruel. I don't want to lose him, but his comfort means more to me than any loss I will suffer.
:-(
He's been perfectly healthy all this time, but recently he started to act a bit wierd. To be honest, he was never the friendliest of beasts - would only put up with a few minutes petting before biting or scratching, and pretty much kept himself to himself, but I still love him. Recently he lost all of his energy. He took to standing around and swaying, so I took him to the vet. No problems could be found so he came home.
Then, 2 nights ago, out of the blue he woke from a sleep in his basket and had a horrific fit. I have never seen anything like it. Rigid body, foaming at the mouth - I was really panicked by this so took him to the emergency vets at midnight. They did bloods on him, and no kidney or liver problems, but a BP of 280! (apparently should be 180) so diagnosed hypertenstion. Since bringing him home I realised he is blind. Went back to the vet who says it is detatched retinas - a common problem of hypertension. He was prescribed Fortekor 2.5 one tab a day with food which is supposed to lower BP, which in turn could apparently cause the retinas to reattach.
Has anyone had a cat recover from such a thing. The vet says he could recover in 2 or 3 days, or in two weeks. It is breaking my heart to see him walking round and round the room hitting the walls. I've cleared a whole room for him and am keeping him in there with food and blankets, and check up on him regularly. I can't let him run free around the house as I'm out all day, and with him 'mapping' the room around the edges, he is getting stuck behind the radiator, the TV, etc etc.
I can't bear the thought of having him put to sleep, but equally I can't bear to have to watch him deal with blindness for weeks. He is clearly terrified. Is he likely to get his eyesight back? If he isn't, to make him deal with 2 weeks of confinement and blindness just seems unneccessarily cruel. I don't want to lose him, but his comfort means more to me than any loss I will suffer.
:-(
