Brain tumor?

Hi everyone! I am new to this site and am looking for advice/personal experiences.

My baby is a senior tortie and has never had any health issues. This morning she started walking around in circles and stumbling and one of her eyes remains dilated while the other will not. If she is not sleeping, she is circling. My husband and I took her to the vet where they did the usual routine but suggested that the probability of a brain tumor (meningioma) is very high. After we get the bloodwork results tomorrow, we will move forward with speaking about the possible brain tumor.

The vet mentioned that to know for sure if it is a tumor, we would need to get an MRI which will be about $2,000 and brain surgery runs around $10,000. She also mentioned that our kitty doesn't seem to be in pain as she is eating, drinking and using the toilet but is confused. With these costs being very high, our vet said another option is a medication to reduce the swelling to make her life more comfortable but we will not know how long we will have with her.

Has anyone experienced this or has been in this situation?

Please, any advice right now is appreciated.

Thanks.

Welcome to the site. So very sorry to hear about your unwell senior kitty having these issues. How old? To do a surgery - brain surgery - on an elderly cat in itself can be risky. See what the blood work shows tomorrow. I am sure the vet will be able to give you a more definitive diagnosis tomorrow and will be able to give you some meds to make her feel more comfortable and feel better. Hopefully someone else will come along soon that has been through something similar.

Feralvr... thank you so much for replying! I appreciate the support, it means a lot. I am glad I joined the site; it is great to hear from other cat lovers who are understanding. We will know more tomorrow after we get results from the blood work, but the wait is very hard on us and our kitty.
 

Hun, you are so welcome. I just wish I could give you more help tonight. I guess the vibes will have to do for now. I know this must be hard to see your sweet kitty feeling confused and disoriented. Mega vibes to you and your kitty. :rub:

Thank you so much!
 

I was just thinking about this. You say her symptoms came on over night? Meaning that all of the sudden this morning she started this circling and the one pupil is larger? Was there anything she could have gotten into overnight that might have been poisonous? I am sure your vet already covered this possibility with you anyway but this thought just ran across my mind. I imagine IF it were something she "ate", she would be vomiting and much more sick other than the circling, etc.

Our vet did ask us, and we are pretty good about not leaving anything down on her level. She is still eating, drinking and going to the bathroom and has not vomited. I would hope something like a poison would show up in the blood work.

We received some results: she has kidney disease. The vet is unsure if the kidney disease caused a stroke or if she has a tumor as well. I guess we will "wait and see"; if her condition worsens then we assume it is a tumor and we will give her steroids. There is the chance that she will recover if it is a stroke.

Walking in circles can also be a sign of a stroke.  Was that mentioned as a possibility? 

Any news yet from the blood test?  I just hate it when you have to wait for results

Yes, a stroke was mentioned. At this point, that would be the better option. The vet said that if she recovers in a few days on her own, we are to assume it was a stroke. If she doesn't then we would being steroids for a tumor. Blood results came back and determined kidney disease, which could cause a stroke.

Our fingers are crossed.

Thanks for the good vibes!!

Sorry to hear about the kidney disease. So common in older kitties. :shame: I do hope that she is feeling better today. She is well loved and cared for and that in itself is great medicine. Please keep us posted on how she is doing.

Thank you so much!