Hi all. I have some questions but first a little history of the problem.
Back in May of 2007, I took my Siamese, Simon, to the kitty ER. He was diagnosed with Idiopathic Vestibular Disorder. A couple of days in the hospital and he was fine afterwards. The head tilt went away, he was back to normal.
11 days ago, Simon was limping (right hind leg). It is in a leg that he had surgery on back in 1996 (broken) so I was wondering if the limp was related to the plate in his leg. Went to the kitty ER. Doc gave me some Metacam after checking him over. Said his cruciate ligament was tender when he palped it.
Tuesday night, I came home to Simon meowing and dragging his left hind leg. Went back to the kitty ER. He thought it was odd that 11 days before it was his right leg and now it's his left leg. His cruciate ligament was tender in that leg, too. He thought of an immune system problem.
Next day, I took Simon to my regular vet. She checked him out and didn't think it was an immune system problem. She was leaning more toward a nerve problem. She pinched his toes and he didn't even flinch. She sent me to a Neurologist to do further testing.
He also has Hyperthyroidism, Chronic Bronchitis, and was just diagnosed with Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy. He's on Methimazole and Flovent.
The Neurologist did blood work, a chest x-ray, and an abdominal ultrasound. The blood work showed slightly elevated BUN (vet thinks that's due to the Methimazole), normal Creat. His CK was 39,000! I've never seen it that high before. The ultrasound didn't show anything abnormal and the chest x-ray confirmed what we already knew about the Chronic Bronchitis. She also said he has a Bulla in his lungs, which concerned her about doing any sort of anesthesia in case it ruptures.
They did a test today where she injected a radioactive dye in his system. The test showed everything lighting up where it should be except for the left hind leg below the knee. Below the knee, there was nothing. That confirmed to her that he had a blood clot. She said she clipped his nails close to the quick on purpose and saw that he had a little bit of blood supply, though, so she wasn't sure if he'd regain strength in that leg or not but the fact that there was some circulation (even though very little) was better than none at all.
My questions to you all are these:
1) She is worried about him doing further damage to the rest of the leg since he's just dragging it around. She recommended a special splint to keep the leg where it should be. How do animals adapt to splints like this? Is there an alternative that anyone knows of? I don't know what the splint looks like yet but I assume there are more than one type out there. Are any types better than any other? Amputation isn't a good option due to his other health problems and the risk of anethesia.
2) The docs don't know the answer and are leaning toward no but I was wondering if any of his current meds might have caused this? He's on Flovent and Methimazole.
3) Because he had the Vestibular problem back in May, I assume there is a relationship between that and what's going on now. Anyone else out there had this happen with a Vestibular problem and then limb paralysis later? Did the limb regain function?
4) His Blood Pressure and heart rate have been high at the vet office when he first goes in. He'll eventually calm down and things return back to normal but having the BP high like that can't be good for him, even if only for a short while. Any thoughts on that?
5) Any ideas of what I can do to help increase his circulation in that leg? Do you think Physical Therapy would be an option? My regular vet told me she could put a full leg splint on him to keep him from dragging the leg but her concern with that is the splint might hinder circulation.
That's about it. Thanks for listening. Sorry for the long story but I thought I'd better provide the history first.
Thanks.
Kim
Back in May of 2007, I took my Siamese, Simon, to the kitty ER. He was diagnosed with Idiopathic Vestibular Disorder. A couple of days in the hospital and he was fine afterwards. The head tilt went away, he was back to normal.
11 days ago, Simon was limping (right hind leg). It is in a leg that he had surgery on back in 1996 (broken) so I was wondering if the limp was related to the plate in his leg. Went to the kitty ER. Doc gave me some Metacam after checking him over. Said his cruciate ligament was tender when he palped it.
Tuesday night, I came home to Simon meowing and dragging his left hind leg. Went back to the kitty ER. He thought it was odd that 11 days before it was his right leg and now it's his left leg. His cruciate ligament was tender in that leg, too. He thought of an immune system problem.
Next day, I took Simon to my regular vet. She checked him out and didn't think it was an immune system problem. She was leaning more toward a nerve problem. She pinched his toes and he didn't even flinch. She sent me to a Neurologist to do further testing.
He also has Hyperthyroidism, Chronic Bronchitis, and was just diagnosed with Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy. He's on Methimazole and Flovent.
The Neurologist did blood work, a chest x-ray, and an abdominal ultrasound. The blood work showed slightly elevated BUN (vet thinks that's due to the Methimazole), normal Creat. His CK was 39,000! I've never seen it that high before. The ultrasound didn't show anything abnormal and the chest x-ray confirmed what we already knew about the Chronic Bronchitis. She also said he has a Bulla in his lungs, which concerned her about doing any sort of anesthesia in case it ruptures.
They did a test today where she injected a radioactive dye in his system. The test showed everything lighting up where it should be except for the left hind leg below the knee. Below the knee, there was nothing. That confirmed to her that he had a blood clot. She said she clipped his nails close to the quick on purpose and saw that he had a little bit of blood supply, though, so she wasn't sure if he'd regain strength in that leg or not but the fact that there was some circulation (even though very little) was better than none at all.
My questions to you all are these:
1) She is worried about him doing further damage to the rest of the leg since he's just dragging it around. She recommended a special splint to keep the leg where it should be. How do animals adapt to splints like this? Is there an alternative that anyone knows of? I don't know what the splint looks like yet but I assume there are more than one type out there. Are any types better than any other? Amputation isn't a good option due to his other health problems and the risk of anethesia.
2) The docs don't know the answer and are leaning toward no but I was wondering if any of his current meds might have caused this? He's on Flovent and Methimazole.
3) Because he had the Vestibular problem back in May, I assume there is a relationship between that and what's going on now. Anyone else out there had this happen with a Vestibular problem and then limb paralysis later? Did the limb regain function?
4) His Blood Pressure and heart rate have been high at the vet office when he first goes in. He'll eventually calm down and things return back to normal but having the BP high like that can't be good for him, even if only for a short while. Any thoughts on that?
5) Any ideas of what I can do to help increase his circulation in that leg? Do you think Physical Therapy would be an option? My regular vet told me she could put a full leg splint on him to keep him from dragging the leg but her concern with that is the splint might hinder circulation.
That's about it. Thanks for listening. Sorry for the long story but I thought I'd better provide the history first.
Thanks.
Kim
