Very Sick Cat Left on my Doorstep

Yesterday afternoon I found a tiny siamese cat, soaking wet, crying and obviously in distress on my doorstep.  His back legs seem paralysed.  I took him to the vet who has given him antibiotics and painkillers and, depending on his reaction to the medication, will give test for FIV/FeLV next Monday.  He is sneezing a lot.  His temperature was 32 degrees centigrade (89.6 degrees fahrenheit) and the vet said he was a very sick cat. There is a shaved patch of about 5 inches in diameter on his back which the vet said indicates an anaesthetic or operation within the past few months.  The vet thinks there is a problem with his pelvis and that euthanasia would be the best option but I'm in France and French vets come to that conclusion very easily.  I want to give the cat a chance.

The cat - I've called him Tommy - had 2 bowls of food yesterday just after I found him but he hasn't done a pee or poo since then.  It's now about 19 hours.  Do you have any advice about getting him to go to the toilet?  I know he cannot get to the litter tray on his own so I've lifted him into it a couple of times but to no effect.  Also, every now and again, he turns his head repeatedly from side to side, almost as if he's looking for something.  Do you have any idea what this may mean?

I am keeping Tommy separate from my 3 cats in case of infection.  He purrs whenever I go upstairs and give him a cuddle.  He's breaking my heart.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Tommy is a female, now renamed Sammie.  She has just eaten a bowl of food but still no toilet.  Her heartbeat seems quite fast.  She purrs a lot when stroked.

Bonjour and Hello @Siami and welcome to TCS.

First let me say that you are a hero to this cat!  Merci d'être un héros pour ce chat!

89degF is hypothermic..  A normal temp is around 101F.  Did the vet warm her?

Have you been warming her? 

Have you retaken her temp at home?

Did the vet find a pulse in both legs?

Is she still paralyzed in the rear legs?

She won't defecate until she has enough food in her system to work its way to the end, and in her case this could be a couple of days.  But if she is still paralyzed then she needs special xrays or more diagnostic work or she will probably not survive this, and in addition the paralysis could lead to constipation or fecal incontinence.

Here is a link rear leg paralysis.  http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/neurological/c_ct_paralysis

Sending you good vibes from the USA.  Meilleurs vœux :-)

Thank you very much for your reply, Stephen.  I have amazing news to report:  Sammie has been walking a little bit! Her back legs do work!  They are a bit wonky, as is one of her front legs, but they work.  Earlier on, I tried supporting her with my hands under her tummy and putting her front paws on the ground and she started to move around just like a normal curious cat.  3 times she led me to the litter tray but didn't do anything once in it.  However, in the last half hour she has become mobile without my assistance and has made her way straight to the tray and got in it (stumbled into it) unaided! Still no results yet, but the last time she tried, she sat in completely the correct position with her tail in the air. Still no result  but maybe next time.  Sammie's really seeming stronger every hour and is much more interested in what's going on around her.  Her eyes are open wider, too!

In answer to your questions:

No, the vet didn't warm her and I don't remember him taking a pulse in her legs;

Yes, I have been warming her - she is in her little bed covered with blankets next to a heater which I left on all last night;

I haven't retaken her temperature;

No longer paralyzed in the rear legs!!!

I have been making posters to put round the village and I'm going to distribute them right now.  Now that it seems she's not paralyzed I'm much more hopeful that I might find her owner.

I'll let you know how things develop.  Merci mille fois de m'avoir aidé!

@Siami

Le plaisir est pour moi.

I am very happy for you and this kitten, she owes her life to you and not to the vet.  I am very surprised given her low temperature that he didn't warm her before sending her home.  I expect she will pee and poop very soon. 

Also, given that she is a young kitten, it is very unlikely that she has a home.  There is probably a mom cat out there somewhere who had a litter.  You might look near your house for more kittens, and you might try putting food out and seeing if any more show up.  If you post a picture, try and see if there is one clear detail about the kitten that can be hidden from the photo.  If there is and someone says "that's my kitten" you can ask them to describe that detail, as well as provide other info that supports their claim of ownership.

May I ask where in France you live?  I have been to a number of areas in your wonderful country!

Keep us updated and again, Congratulations, another cat saved!

Fantastique!

Stephen

Please don't thank me - the future is uncertain and there are several facts I seem to have omitted.  My perception was of a tiny little cat therefore a kitten but the vet said she is an 'old' cat of 10 - 14 years.  (In France that is quite an old cat as there are so many factors here which might shorten their lives - illegal traps and hunters to name but two). There is a large patch on her back which has been shaved in the not too distant past which indicates an operation, perhaps unsuccessful which is why she's been abandoned.  However, it does make her very identifiable and I'm going to circulate her details to local vets tomorrow.  Today's a bank holiday.

Sammie is getting more animated all the time.  I checked the link you gave me and it seems she has paresis - she is getting around quite well now but gives the impression of being drunk and sometime she just falls over.  Other times you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with her.  She manages to climb on the bed and jump off it!  She has done 3 pees but no poo yet and it's now 49 hours since she had her first big meal so I'm a bit worried about that.  I haven't seen Sammie groom herself yet.  She went to bite me yesterday - I think it was just a warning to keep away but I'm a little nervous now.  She also growls sometimes for no apparent reason.

At least she's warm and dry with a full tum but I don't know what the future holds.  I have to ring the vet tomorrow and return on Monday by which time my regular vet is back from her holidays.

I live in the Poitou-Charentes region of France about an hour and a half from La Rochelle.  It is a beautiful country but it's not my country!  I am English and have lived here for several years.  If you can read French, here is my ad on the major site for lost and found cats.  You can see Sammie.  She doesn't look so sad now!

http://www.chat-perdu.org/124691

I hope Sammie gets better! All the best. Maybe shes just exhausted after her big adventure and now that she knows she is safe just wants to rest? 

Ah ok. Sometimes a cat who is not fully domesticated will appear to be friendly when very sick, but loses some of that friendliness when they get better.  Or she just may be a bit scared and needs some time to warm up. Her symptoms are very strange.  Since she has surgery, could you not call local and area vets and see if you can identify her that way?

And to be clear, when she acts drunk and falls over, this is only some of the time, other times she walks well?

If she hadn't eaten in a while, it could take longer than 2 days to poop.  But if you see her straining at the litter box and nothing comes out, then there is a problem.  Let us know what your vet says. I saw the website, she is adorable.

Sorry - I didn't know there was a reply.  I checked by just in case.  Thank you for taking an interest as I feel very much on my own with this poor little pussy.  Well, the good news is she did 2 little poos yesterday so everything's working in that department.  The bad news is that when I rang the vet as requested yesterday, the vet had left the country permanently and the vet's assistant was taking a long weekend!  So there was no-one there who wanted an update (or who gave a damn).  The receptionist said to consult our regular vet when she returns on Monday, which I was going to do anyway.  So everything's on hold.

Sammie is much stronger and prefers to jump up and sit on an armchair which I moved next to the window, rather than stay in her bed.  She hasn't tried to bite again and is becoming very affectionate.  She doesn't fuss when I clean her eyes twice a day but we cannot get her to take pills by mouth and have to put them in her food.  Sammie has a very loud, insistent, raucous miaow which is apparently a characteristic of the breed.  I've never heard a sound like it!  Once I've left her room, I don't hear a peep from her until I open the door again.  I saw her clean her face yesterday but only for less than a minute after she'd eaten.  It's a start.

Yes, it's only some of the time she seems drunk and falls over.

I've adapted the poster that I've circulated elsewhere ready to circulate to vets, emphasising the area on her back where she's had surgery and asking for medical history.  I'll have to wait until Monday for that, too, as their email addresses aren't available and I'm hoping for help from our nice vet.  ( I am taking the poster to nearby vets but we're deep in the country and towns are far apart from each other) I just hope she's not FIV/FeLV positive as I wouldn't be able to keep her with my other 3 cats and it would be near impossible to find an adopter.  Best of all would be to find her owner.  We've had 2 unexpected knocks on the door in the last 2 days and each time my heart's lifted thinking it might be someone saying, "I think you have my cat here".  Someone loved Sammie enough to pay for an operation. Such action is much less common in France than in the UK and USA.

By the way, Sammie's heart rate seems low and respiration rate high so she's not very well but I don't think she's as bad as the vet (and I) first thought. Just an uninformed opinion. I'll update on Monday.  Thank you for your concern.

@Siami

Thanks for the detailed update.  Improvements!  The falling over is still very odd, perhaps connected to her surgery?  Will you do the FIV/FeLV when you see a vet on Monday?

You say she has a low heart rate and high respiration rate.  Have you measured them and can you tell us what they are?  At rest a cat's respiration should be 20-30 breaths per minute and heart rate between about 140-220 per minute but definitely should be on the low end of that scale if at rest and not stressed.

http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/clinsci/wing/firstaid/vital.htm

Stay in touch ok!

I have checked Sammie's respiration rate and it's very varied:  highest was 80 and lowest was 36.  Pretty sure of my figures here.

Heart rate was 68 and 74.  Yesterday it was 94.  Not as sure about these figures as it was hard to find and keep hold of but it was nothing like 160 -240.

One of the pills Sammie's taking is for respiratory infection as she was constantly sneezing on Tuesday.  It's called Ronaxan (Doxycycline).  The other is an antibiotic - Oromedrol (methylprednisolone).

Just stumbled across your thread. Saying prayers you find answers on Monday!! Sammie looks so sweet, sounds like she was left at the purrfect place!!

I also read your thread last night, and thought the same thing as @Gracie65.

It is as though, someone knew you had cats or was a cat person, so they left Sammie there.  (I know that may sound weird, but she really is in a good place with you.) 

I hope you find more answers on Monday, as well.

Thank you, matt94gt, Gracie65 and cat nap for your good wishes.  I will write again after Sammie's visit to the vet on Monday.

Siami said:

 
I have checked Sammie's respiration rate and it's very varied:  highest was 80 and lowest was 36.  Pretty sure of my figures here.

Heart rate was 68 and 74.  Yesterday it was 94.  Not as sure about these figures as it was hard to find and keep hold of but it was nothing like 160 -240.

One of the pills Sammie's taking is for respiratory infection as she was constantly sneezing on Tuesday.  It's called Ronaxan (Doxycycline).  The other is an antibiotic - Oromedrol (methylprednisolone).

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Hi @Siami

If those rates were accurate it would be highly worrisome, in the extreme really but I'm not sure you're getting accurate rates.  The cat has to be completely at rest and then you still have to make sure you're counting accurately and that the cat isn't purring which can throw things off.  With rates like you describe at complete rest you would expect the cat to be extremely and obviously sick.  When is your next vet visit?

Adding my two cents here!!

Sammie may have been born to a momma who came into contact with panleukopenia, therefore causing cerebellar hypoplasia in all her kittens, those who survived I mean.

Did the vet mention this at all?

It looks like a drunken cat, and is actually where the virus that mom was in contact with affects the cerebellum to not develop fully in the unborn babies, causing an imbalance and odd gait, mostly in the back legs.

To see cats walking with this 



As you can see from the 2 videos, it varies from cat to cat on how bad it is,.

Also, the shaved area? If the fur is still short then there must be a scar where an incision was made, no?

The scarred area would make it pretty clear to the vet what the surgery was for by the location of the scar.

@catwoman707

i too thought about cerebellar hypoplasia but her cat is mostly without symptoms but has "episodes" and while i've seen mild cases of C.H. and severe cases, i've personally never see cases where the symptoms go away for stretches of time.  Thoughts?

StephenQ said:

 
@catwoman707

i too thought about cerebellar hypoplasia but her cat is mostly without symptoms but has "episodes" and while i've seen mild cases of C.H. and severe cases, i've personally never see cases where the symptoms go away for stretches of time.  Thoughts?

Click to expand...

I do agree with you there, I have never seen all symptoms disappear completely. However I re-read through and I wasn't getting the idea that it completely has gone away, it actually sounds like she has gone from not using her hind legs at all, which imo would be due to the weak state she was found in, obviously had no food for some time. (lack of poop)

to getting better and more coordinated, but not sure it's gone or just alot better now that she seems stronger? She was saying how she went to the litterbox on her own twice but stumbled into it.

Maybe OP will fill us in on this!   

@Siami  we understand she is alot better with using her legs and all, but does she ever walk completely normal?

Does she walk with her hind legs spread further apart sometimes/all the time  than a normal cat does? Still clumsy/drunk like?

Reading your thread I was reminded of a cat named bumper that just passed.about 2 months before she passed she would walk wobbly side to side and if she hurrying she would almost fall side to side.she had failing kidneys and I think the gait was due to her weakness.Hopefully because of her age the illness has made her balance weak as well.Please do keep us up on info.Thank you for being there for Sammie .Nobody dropped her off,she knew where to go.Ive seen it any many times.god bless and send wellness vibes to Sammie long distance .P.S.my father was from Britain ,He and his family settled in Cape Town ,SouthAfrica.

Hi,

I've been following your thread from the beginning. I don't really have any idea of what might be wrong with Sammie. I just wanted to say thank you so much for helping her and going to all that trouble to try and find her owners.

I'm going to keep checking in to see how things progress.

Good luck and big hugs to you both.