I'm sorry if this post seems to be all over the place. I'm really upset right now and I'm typing whatever comes to my head.
A year ago, my mom had a pretty major surgery. The night before the surgery, our 12 year old cat Abby went paralyzed in her back legs. She wouldn't move at all and my mom took her to the vet where they found a tumor on her spine and had to put her down. Ever since then, her other cat Rudy hasn't been the same. Rudy is 11 now, and has always been a big healthy guy (he was a 15 pound Maine Coon mix). He always hated Abby and they never got along, but after she died he started getting sick. He's down to 9.5 pounds and is extremely skinny for his size now. He used to be a total pig, to the point where my mom had to hide food from him just so Abby could get enough to eat, but now he refuses to eat. He was put on anxiety medicine, but it didn't do much so just recently he was put on an antihistamine. He's had allergy problems his whole life (chin acne, scratching, etc), but the scratching got much worse in the past year to the point where he makes his ears bleed.
My mom is having surgery again tomorrow, this time on her hip. It's another major one and she'll be out of work for at least 2 months and on crutches for 4-6 months. She went into the bathroom tonight and found Rudy sitting on the bath mat with his feet tucked under his body. She called him name but he refused to get up, and then she realized his back legs were paralyzed (this is the SAME thing that happened to Abby the night they put her down). They took him to the emergency vet and the woman found nothing wrong with him. He eventually started walking again in the office and he went home. Right now he's sitting under the kitchen table and he's acting really agitated - growling and huffing at my mom.
Do you think Rudy's feeding off of my mom's stress about the surgery? Or is there something that the vet missed? Could he have an unknown tumor like Abby had? Maybe it's vertigo? My mom mentioned he stopped playing with his da bird toy and won't look up. The vet tested him for neurological problems and he didn't have any. She said he appeared completely healthy, and he's been to the vet 4 times in the past few months and had plenty of testing done.
I live 2.5 hours away and I'm freaking out right now. Rudy is MY cat. I got him for Christmas when I was 11 and he's my baby. He stayed with my parents when I moved to college. My mind is racing right now. I wasn't there when Abby was put down, and now I'm terrified I won't get to say goodbye to Rudy either.
Also another weird thing, the second my mom noticed something was wrong with Rudy, the picture of Abby on the countertop next to him jumped and fell to the ground even though nothing had touched it. My mom swears Abby is haunting the place.
A year ago, my mom had a pretty major surgery. The night before the surgery, our 12 year old cat Abby went paralyzed in her back legs. She wouldn't move at all and my mom took her to the vet where they found a tumor on her spine and had to put her down. Ever since then, her other cat Rudy hasn't been the same. Rudy is 11 now, and has always been a big healthy guy (he was a 15 pound Maine Coon mix). He always hated Abby and they never got along, but after she died he started getting sick. He's down to 9.5 pounds and is extremely skinny for his size now. He used to be a total pig, to the point where my mom had to hide food from him just so Abby could get enough to eat, but now he refuses to eat. He was put on anxiety medicine, but it didn't do much so just recently he was put on an antihistamine. He's had allergy problems his whole life (chin acne, scratching, etc), but the scratching got much worse in the past year to the point where he makes his ears bleed.
My mom is having surgery again tomorrow, this time on her hip. It's another major one and she'll be out of work for at least 2 months and on crutches for 4-6 months. She went into the bathroom tonight and found Rudy sitting on the bath mat with his feet tucked under his body. She called him name but he refused to get up, and then she realized his back legs were paralyzed (this is the SAME thing that happened to Abby the night they put her down). They took him to the emergency vet and the woman found nothing wrong with him. He eventually started walking again in the office and he went home. Right now he's sitting under the kitchen table and he's acting really agitated - growling and huffing at my mom.
Do you think Rudy's feeding off of my mom's stress about the surgery? Or is there something that the vet missed? Could he have an unknown tumor like Abby had? Maybe it's vertigo? My mom mentioned he stopped playing with his da bird toy and won't look up. The vet tested him for neurological problems and he didn't have any. She said he appeared completely healthy, and he's been to the vet 4 times in the past few months and had plenty of testing done.
I live 2.5 hours away and I'm freaking out right now. Rudy is MY cat. I got him for Christmas when I was 11 and he's my baby. He stayed with my parents when I moved to college. My mind is racing right now. I wasn't there when Abby was put down, and now I'm terrified I won't get to say goodbye to Rudy either.
Also another weird thing, the second my mom noticed something was wrong with Rudy, the picture of Abby on the countertop next to him jumped and fell to the ground even though nothing had touched it. My mom swears Abby is haunting the place.
And 
Do you know if the tumor in your Abby was malignant? What imaging has been done? Given the dramatic weight loss - has anyone suggested ultrasounds or endoscopy? Because it seems to me these are the logical next steps - looking for stuff that can't be seen in blood work.
:heart2:
