Should have put this on earlier.
The other weekend, Snowy our 12 year old beautiful odd-eyed white cat seemed to have a stroke.
He recovered in a couple of days.
However, we thought we'd lost him on Sunday. Here is what happened.
On the Friday night, Snowy wouldn't settle. It was as if he was hyperactive, running back and forth. Kept me awake most of the night. He finally settled down and went to sleep about 6am.
Saturday, he only picked at his food. Would nibble a little then walk away. He did not jump up on the bed and sleep like he normally does.
Sunday, my husband had to work. He said before he left that he didn't think Snowy was very well and to keep a close eye on him.
Snowy appeared to be very distant and wouldn't come when he was called - unusual for him. Didn't purr when I stroked him.
About 2.30pm, I went upstairs to check on him. He was sitting at the end of the bed in the "meatloaf" position. He was unaware I'd entered the room. I noticed his whisker pads were twitching uncontrollably, then Snowy keeled over onto his side. I called my son.
We noticed that Snowy's pupils were of unequal size (I thought he'd had another stroke but was also thinking epilepsy. My son said that his friend's mother who suffers quite badly from epilepsy also has uneven pupil size when she has a fit and her pupils can be unequal for up to a week after).
Snowy then put his head back (he was still lying on his side) and started panting. This only lasted about 20 seconds. He was totally unaware of anything. His breathing at this point was also rapid and shallow.
I phoned my husband at work but he was the only one in the office and couldn't get home.
I thought we had lost Snowy and it would only be a matter of minutes before he died.
He looked beyond a vets help so we decided to let him slip away peacefully at home. He didn't appear to be suffering, just laying there very still.
At 6pm, Snowy was still with us but still totally unresponsive. We got a large box, put an old duvet in it, covered with a towel and laid Snowy in it. If he did start to move I didn't want him falling off the bed.
9pm approx, we checked on Snowy. He was still with us but still unaware we were there.
I decided to try some healing on him. I've used it on humans and it works, but never on an animal. At best, he might recover, at worst he would not - and we were all prepared for the worst.
We left him alone for about 20 minutes as we had other things that had to be done (19 hungry snakes to feed for one).
Son and I went to check on Snowy - and found him sitting up! Still looking blankly around him, not really seeing or hearing us, but at least he was sitting up.
From then on, he started to recover. We checked on him approximately every 20 minutes. His back legs were still shaky and he was still falling over but he was attempting to walk.
We decided to leave him and concentrate on getting the snakes fed (we managed that in record time).
About 2.30am my husband went up to bed. I heard him calling me. Thinking that Snowy had died, I went to run upstairs - to be told to bring up clean food dishes - Snowy was demanding food!
There, miaowing that he wanted food, was Snowy.
I asked my husband if he'd taken Snowy out of the box. He said he hadn't - that Snowy must have jumped out himself.
Snowy's eyes were still uneven but by Monday morning they were more or less back to normal. They are now completely normal.
He was sick yesterday and wasn't too keen on his food (Whiskas sachets) so I got different food, one which is proper chicken and also has Taurine in it. He absolutely loves it.
Snowy is "south pawed" and has always had a tendency to turn anti-clockwise but this over the past week or so has been more pronounced. Today he is starting to turn the other direction too.
I now wonder if he is epileptic as the lead up to this episode and the previous one was exactly the same.
One other incident happened about 6 weeks ago when Lucy was still alive.
Snowy often sits on the bedroom windowsill and looks out for a while at night. I got woken when I heard a thump and heard a plaintive miaow. I found Snowy sitting between the window and the air-conditioning unit. He'd almost landed on the dog's head. He looked quite bewildered but otherwise unhurt. Even the dog looked startled.
I now think he might have had some kind of fit, a petit mal or something like that. One of my work colleagues takes pet mals all the time. One minute he'll be chatting to you, the next he'll be staring into space. This only lasts anything from 30 seconds to 2 minutes and he carries on talking as if nothing has happened.
Apart from his whisker pads twitching, Snowy has not been thrashing around like some epileptic cats do.
My first thoughts the other week was he'd had a stroke, same the other day but he recovered far too quickly for it to be a stroke. We nursed Lucy through 4 strokes and what Snowy is displaying, apart from the falling over, is nothing like what Lucy had.
Once Poppy is home from the vets, we'll get Snowy booked in for further investigation.
In the meantime, I am monitoring him closely and will be noting any unusual behaviour.
It was 8 days between these two episodes so I am expecting something to happen round about Sunday or Monday next week again.
Hopefully, it will never happen again but I have a feeling it will.
The other weekend, Snowy our 12 year old beautiful odd-eyed white cat seemed to have a stroke.
He recovered in a couple of days.
However, we thought we'd lost him on Sunday. Here is what happened.
On the Friday night, Snowy wouldn't settle. It was as if he was hyperactive, running back and forth. Kept me awake most of the night. He finally settled down and went to sleep about 6am.
Saturday, he only picked at his food. Would nibble a little then walk away. He did not jump up on the bed and sleep like he normally does.
Sunday, my husband had to work. He said before he left that he didn't think Snowy was very well and to keep a close eye on him.
Snowy appeared to be very distant and wouldn't come when he was called - unusual for him. Didn't purr when I stroked him.
About 2.30pm, I went upstairs to check on him. He was sitting at the end of the bed in the "meatloaf" position. He was unaware I'd entered the room. I noticed his whisker pads were twitching uncontrollably, then Snowy keeled over onto his side. I called my son.
We noticed that Snowy's pupils were of unequal size (I thought he'd had another stroke but was also thinking epilepsy. My son said that his friend's mother who suffers quite badly from epilepsy also has uneven pupil size when she has a fit and her pupils can be unequal for up to a week after).
Snowy then put his head back (he was still lying on his side) and started panting. This only lasted about 20 seconds. He was totally unaware of anything. His breathing at this point was also rapid and shallow.
I phoned my husband at work but he was the only one in the office and couldn't get home.
I thought we had lost Snowy and it would only be a matter of minutes before he died.
He looked beyond a vets help so we decided to let him slip away peacefully at home. He didn't appear to be suffering, just laying there very still.
At 6pm, Snowy was still with us but still totally unresponsive. We got a large box, put an old duvet in it, covered with a towel and laid Snowy in it. If he did start to move I didn't want him falling off the bed.
9pm approx, we checked on Snowy. He was still with us but still unaware we were there.
I decided to try some healing on him. I've used it on humans and it works, but never on an animal. At best, he might recover, at worst he would not - and we were all prepared for the worst.
We left him alone for about 20 minutes as we had other things that had to be done (19 hungry snakes to feed for one).
Son and I went to check on Snowy - and found him sitting up! Still looking blankly around him, not really seeing or hearing us, but at least he was sitting up.
From then on, he started to recover. We checked on him approximately every 20 minutes. His back legs were still shaky and he was still falling over but he was attempting to walk.
We decided to leave him and concentrate on getting the snakes fed (we managed that in record time).
About 2.30am my husband went up to bed. I heard him calling me. Thinking that Snowy had died, I went to run upstairs - to be told to bring up clean food dishes - Snowy was demanding food!
There, miaowing that he wanted food, was Snowy.
I asked my husband if he'd taken Snowy out of the box. He said he hadn't - that Snowy must have jumped out himself.
Snowy's eyes were still uneven but by Monday morning they were more or less back to normal. They are now completely normal.
He was sick yesterday and wasn't too keen on his food (Whiskas sachets) so I got different food, one which is proper chicken and also has Taurine in it. He absolutely loves it.
Snowy is "south pawed" and has always had a tendency to turn anti-clockwise but this over the past week or so has been more pronounced. Today he is starting to turn the other direction too.
I now wonder if he is epileptic as the lead up to this episode and the previous one was exactly the same.
One other incident happened about 6 weeks ago when Lucy was still alive.
Snowy often sits on the bedroom windowsill and looks out for a while at night. I got woken when I heard a thump and heard a plaintive miaow. I found Snowy sitting between the window and the air-conditioning unit. He'd almost landed on the dog's head. He looked quite bewildered but otherwise unhurt. Even the dog looked startled.
I now think he might have had some kind of fit, a petit mal or something like that. One of my work colleagues takes pet mals all the time. One minute he'll be chatting to you, the next he'll be staring into space. This only lasts anything from 30 seconds to 2 minutes and he carries on talking as if nothing has happened.
Apart from his whisker pads twitching, Snowy has not been thrashing around like some epileptic cats do.
My first thoughts the other week was he'd had a stroke, same the other day but he recovered far too quickly for it to be a stroke. We nursed Lucy through 4 strokes and what Snowy is displaying, apart from the falling over, is nothing like what Lucy had.
Once Poppy is home from the vets, we'll get Snowy booked in for further investigation.
In the meantime, I am monitoring him closely and will be noting any unusual behaviour.
It was 8 days between these two episodes so I am expecting something to happen round about Sunday or Monday next week again.
Hopefully, it will never happen again but I have a feeling it will.
