[Very worried] Cat (12), wobbles with its head for the first time [Video]

kevincoon1000

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Hello, I´m new here, but i hope you can help me.

Our cat (12 years old) wobbled with its head for the first time.
It was while we were playing with him.
Just like in this video (not our cat/not our channel):

 (at approximately 0:08)

So we are worried now (especially my mum), that he has a neurological disease.
Is it normal behaviour? Or should we go to the Vet with him?

He also threw up water in the night, is even more clingy then usually, and is scared more easily. Coincidence?
 
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ritz

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Welcome to The Cat Site and sorry it's under these conditions.
In and of itself, I don't think a one-time occurrence of a cat wobbling their head is a sign of neurological disease/illness. And I would possibly think that, at least in the embedded video, this cat was simply moving her head in response to the person off camera throwing a ball.
I tend to look at the totality of behavior; most importantly, what I call the four Pes: is s/he playing, peeing, pooping and eating normally (and 'normal' is particular to your cat). She threw up water (not food?), not normal I assume in your cat's case. (Ritz throws up around twice a week, but I know why, and it's for a relatively benign reason.)
But there is a fifth factor, sometimes: your gut, your intuition. I think your cat is displaying enough symptoms and you're concerned enough, that I would at least call your vet, who presumably also knows the general health and affect of your cat. I can't say that it's neurological, but something might be going on--increased cuddliness (or, in Ritz' case, sometimes it's decreased cuddliness) and vomiting.
 

stephenq

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Hi

To me the cat in the video looks fine, he was tracking a toy.  Video of your cat might be more helpful but if he is acting differently than he normally acts then a vet visit is in order.
 
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kevincoon1000

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Thank you Ritz and stephenq.

And thanks for the welcome.

So you both think the wobbling is normal?

I don´t just mean the tracking movement from the right to left.

I mean the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation.

My mother and I just did a test.

We played again with him, and kicked a small ball to each other.

He was watching us.

The faster we played the more concentrated he seemed to be, and the faster we played the faster his head rotated.

So he only does that when he is very focused, and some cats seem to do some kind of weird head movements when focused, i´m just not sure if it is the same with our cat.

I mean, he never did this before.

So what do you think? False Alarm?

If yes then i apologize.
 

hazmat

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I didn't see anything that looked serious. At most what I saw was what I characterize as a partial head shake.

Perhaps a little water in the ears. At most it could be ear mites but that is a stretch. In any case, look in her ears.
 

stephenq

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What is important for everyone to be clear about is that the video is NOT of the owner's cat.   I can't say if it is normal or not because you're not showing us a video of your cat, but some other cat.  In general there is nothing wrong with a cat who tracks a toy with its head, but you said that your cat never did this before. You mean it never tracked a toy before in 12 years or its doing something else that is different.  Please be as specific as you can and if possible take a video of your cat.
 

worriedsomuch

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Hi,

I do see the little head bobble there. My cat has some issues where she experiences tics and bobs of her head, mostly when she is relaxed and purring. However, she has experienced them at times when she is very focused, such as on the birds outside. The tics are different than this, but she has had what I call that, a head tremor, before. I also used a video on Youtube to show my vet since I couldn't catch it on film. In her case, she does have a lot of ear problems. When she experienced the tremor, she was having ear issues at the time. As a starting point, I'd say to have the ears checked first. If your cat is indeed 12, as well, in my experience I've found that sometimes cats at that age do experience tremors that are age related. For example, when one of my cats was 11, he had sporadic head tremors which the vet attributed to age. Also, when my other cat was around 12, he also had a couple bouts of head tremors which the vet also attributed to age. Both of these cats sadly have passed but it was unrelated to the tremors. It's worthwhile to call your vet and discuss with them. Usually the vet won't find anything abnormal on exam so they just tell you to monitor the behavior.
 

stephenq

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Everyone who is posting, please understand that the video is NOT of her cat.   The poster makes it clear this video is of another cat, NOT HER CAT.
 

jennyr

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The cat in the video looks normal tome.We cannot say if anything is wrong with your cat without seeing it. But even then, it would probably be very difficult and uncertain. If you are worried, then please take the cat to a vet.
 

worriedsomuch

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Everyone who is posting, please understand that the video is NOT of her cat.   The poster makes it clear this video is of another cat, NOT HER CAT.
I know it's not her cat, just clarifying.

My thought is it was like this here:
What i mean is:

A bit similar to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_bobble

The battery of my camera is low, maybe i make a video later.
It's what she said. It's a bobble to the head that shifts and shakes the head to the side. In Grace's case, it seemed that she was wanting to shake something out of her ears.

Also, I wanted to mention that you have to think of the frequency or as @Ritz said regarding whether she is behaving normally otherwise. That's what my vet tells me.
 
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kevincoon1000

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1,2,1,2,1,2

Maybe i will make a video, but not today. (Germany, 7:57 in the evening, cat is tired and cameras battery is low)

He only does it when we play with him, and he watches an object moving fast from left to right.

He tracks the movement with its head, and while he tracks the ball, his head rotates clockwise and counterclockwise.

Just like in the video.

If the ball went past him, his head does not rotate anymore.

His head only rotates, when the ball is just passing by its head.

Why are 2 People calling me "her"?


Thank you everyone, for your replies.
 

goholistic

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The cat in the video looks normal to me. When my Sebastian gets real excited about a toy, he'll do that exact same weird head shake/bobble thing. It's totally normal. My boyfriend's male cat also does this when he's in "play mode" especially when we shake this one particular toy mouse that rattles. Their eyes get real wide, too. It's excitement.
 
Why are 2 People calling me "her"?
LOL. 
 

sugarsandz

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If you worry like I do about strange or out of character behavior in your cat, I'd just make a vet visit.  If I'm taking my cats to the vet for most likely small or non issues, I still make a point to ask about anything else I can think of, or have them trim nails or what ever else I can think of.  That way you didn't go for nothing, and if there is a health issue, you needed to be there anyway. 

It's probably not a big issue but it's better to be safe than sorry.
 
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