Very worried

Hi,

About 20 minutes ago I was snuggling/rubbing heads with my little girl on the arm of a chair, when all of a sudden I noiced she was sort of shaking her head in a very unnatural way (I.e. not the kind of shaking of the head cats normally do) It looked more like a little spasm, and then she started scratching at her head).

She has been getting a lot of crap in her ears recently, and I have tried cleaning it out with que tips and by trying to squirt a bit of water into her ears to loosen the debris. She has also been scratching a lot at her ears and head, even before I attempted to clean them.

About 2 years ago (around Oct/Nov 2011), she had what can only be described as some kind of fit. She couldn't keep her balance, and at the end I thought she was dying. She fell on the floor and looked like she was fitting. She however recovered wothout any kind of medication, even though I had her checked over by the vet.

She has also recently (about a month ago) had an operation to remove 2 teeth and a root. Since then it has been very hard to get her to eat wet food. She will eat dry however, and I've been giving her cat milk with every meal, to make sure her liquid intake has been kept up.

Sorry for the probably irrelevant information, but I just added it incase someone can spot something that I can't. Does anyone have any ideas what the issue may be? I'm really very scared it could be a brain tumour or something.

Maybe tremor/twitching would be a better description than shaking.

She could have an ear infection.  Since her diet recently changed it could be a yeast infection caused by a food allergy.  A yeast infection will look like wax buildup in the ears.  The buildup is caused by the inflammation and scratching at her ears because of the itchiness.

Hi and welcome to the forums. 

I know that everything you have been doing you've been doing out of concern for your kitty, but please do not squirt any water in her ear! This actually will not help and in fact greatly increases her chances of developing an ear infection.  About a Qtip, I've heard mixed things, but you should not be using that either.  Some people say it can hurt the eardrum of a cat; others say it just can't reach far enough to be effective in cleaning due to how a cat's eardrum is positioned; others are concerned the cat might react badly and the Qtip could get stuck.   Either way, at best, this does no good.

I'd advise calling your vet and booking an appointment.  As @Denice  says this could be an ear infection or something else serious.  It may also be nothing, of course, but I really think you'll feel better and that it would be best for your cat if she can be looked at.

Good luck!

I took her to the vets this morning. The vet looked in her ears and said the ear drums were fine, and that there didn't appear to be any signs of ear mites or obvious infection (the crap/debris in her ears is apparently mostly at the top of the ears, and cleaner further down). She has been put on Noroclav antibiotics for the next 6 days, at 2 a day. I have to take her back next Monday, when she may need ear drops.

I'm still obviously very worried about the tremors she had this morning, but I feel a little better!

@ Denice. Yes, I was wondering if it some kind of infection too, but she's on antibiotics now, so here's hoping for the best.

@ tulosai. Thanks for the hi! ^_^

I won't be using any more que-tips or water that's for sure!