Very Sick Cat Left on my Doorstep

Thank you all for your concern for Sammie.  I'll try to answer all the questions.

Sammie never stops purring so all the rates I have given are when she was purring..  We tried to take them again last night and the results were very similar to previous attempts.  But she doesn't seem like a very sick cat anymore.  She's full of bounce when I go into her room and apart from the discharge from her eyes - the left one which was completely closed when she arrived is now wide open - she seems fine except of course for her balance problem.

Thank you for the information about cerebellar hypoplasia.  I have looked at the videos and there are similarities. If this is what Sammie has, she has a mild case.  Sometimes I open the doors and walk her right through the upstairs flat so she can get some exercise, and also to stimulate her bowels as she seems constipated again.  We do it about 10 times, say 200 yards, and she doesn't fall over or lose her balance once even though it includes one step. 

However, when it comes to feed time, because she walks along looking up at me when I go to put her bowl down, she loses balance several times.  This morning she did a complete backwards somersault.  She can jump on and off an armchair but anything higher, she has to climb rather than jump and she uses her front claws to good effect.

I did notice this morning that the head movement from side to side, which I noticed only when she was very sick, came back when she was dropping off to sleep on my lap.  This symptom is mentioned in the description of CH.

The shaved area on Sammie's back has regrown quite a lot but I will have a good look for a scar in a few minutes when I go to feed her again.  She's eating very well but drinks very little so I'm sticking to wet food.

PS I've found a blog by someone with a CH cat and will be reading that carefully.

Just to correct my figures - when we do our walk, it's about 50/60 yards not 200. 

Have checked Sammie's breathing again when she fell asleep on my lap and it's much slower.  Couldn't move my arm to look at my watch but I'd say around 30.

Hello again!

What a lucky cat to find such a good mom!

It does sound like it could be a very mild case of CH, that perhaps when combined with her weakened state seemed worse, and then as she grew stronger the symptoms of weakness left, and what remained was a mild condition (of something).  Speculation on our part of course and a vet should be able to tell.  Some vets think that cats with CH should be euthanized which is ridiculous.  Even cats with severe cases can have happy lives.  CH doesnt get worse, its a "steady-state" condition.

I still feel like the back surgery is a piece of the puzzle that hasn't fit unto place yet and if you could find the vet that did the operation there might be some insight there.  The back of a cat is an unusual location for surgery and makes me wonder about the spine, and the coordination....

I think you were off on your HR/Resp readings and happily so.  The kitten is just too healthy to have those seriously crazy readings, and i would suggest you stop trying to measure them and let a vet do it.  It was probably a mistake on my part to suggest you count the rates.  The rate of 30+/- while sleeping sounds fine enough to put this issue to "sleep" as well

Keep us up to date!  I think its fair to say that a lot of people are following this thread and find it interesting!

I wonder if the shaved spot was due to someone else finding her,

and suspecting a broken spine was the cause of her seeming paralysis, shaved over a vertebrae they may have thought was the injured spot, just to have a better look and feel.

So perhaps it was not a veterinarian's doing.

Then the cat either escaped, or they abandoned it for whatever reason.

I just want to say, THANK YOU for taking this cat in.

We have to do our due diligence whenever we find a cat, of course,

but at this point, I am rooting for you to keep her since you are a SUPER STAR in the love and caring department.

You are my new Cat Heroine.  Am am so touched by your and Sammie's story.  I'm so tickled she enjoys lap time with you, and knows love and comfort and warmth,

and did not die from hypothermia, starvation and injury/illness in the rain.

So that is already a WIN, not matter what else happens.

Yes, I do believe it is CH. There are very, very mild cases, all the way to severe.

Personally, the somersault you described her doing set it in stone for me. This is somehow a common thing they do when losing balance. Not sure how/why but very commonly see with CH.

While she was weak, it showed as a worse case then it is.

At this point, unless you do see a scar, I would dismiss the shaved fur. It's in a very odd spot for one, to have been surgery, and there would be some type of scar tissue seen, if it had been recent enough that the fur has not caught up in length to the rest of it. It would be there.

Also I would stop trying to get an accurate rate on her, you will drive yourself nuts trying to get an accurate reading.

I have searched for a scar but can't find one. There is a little patch at the end of the shaved area, in the middle, pretty much on her spine where barely any fur has grown back but it wouldn't make sense to have made a cut there.  I'm going to attach the photo which I put on the poster to be sent to vets which shows the shaved area better.

I think I'll stop trying to play detective now and wait for our visit to the vet.  I'm happy for the moment that Sammie is safe and warm and that her recent trauma has ended.

Thank you all for your concern and support.  I'll update after tomorrow's vet visit.  Fingers crossed for
little Sammie.

Wow an mazing amount of shaved fur.  Given that its recent, if there was an incision you'd see it.  The trimming still looks professionally done. We're happy she is safe and warm too!

Spinal tap?

Yeah, my words exactly, wow! 

It's definitely been professionally done, but the fur is very short there, so you would surely see something.

After seeing the pic, I am trying to figure out the mystery shave job, it's alot more recent than I imagined, but there is no scarred area seen, no slightly raised feeling if you run your fingers all on the area?

I was even thinking as far as another cat bit her and it got very infected/abcessed and was shaved, but that doesn't make much sense either.

Well, it just might remain a mystery always.....odd..........

So glad she is doing so much better now that she found her way to you! 

Please let us know

cocheezie said:

 
Spinal tap?

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Hey, that's a thought.........

By the way, what a beauty she is! Gorgeous.

cocheezie said:

 
Spinal tap?

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You did it @cocheezie!!!!  @Siami I think this is a great explanation, a spinal tap.   Spinal taps are done in cats for neurological reasons especially for strange gait and balance issues!!!!

Now I'm going to speculate: owner takes cat to vet for his balance issues. Vet suspects a serious illness and decides to do a spinal tap perhaps not thinking of CH or perhaps because of it although I've never heard of putting a cat through a spinal tap for CH.  Some diagnosis is made, or maybe not, perhaps CH, who knows, and owner for whatever reason kicks the cat out of the home.  Regardless, the spinal tap makes a lot of sense now.

oh dear, now I really want to know what's up with this kitty!!  Hope OP comes back to tell us what the scoop is  

From what I've read so far, a spinal tap is taken at the base of the neck but a lumber tap (lumber puncture) is taken in just this area.  I am researching this now. Thank you.

Sammie is fine this morning and her constipation is definitely a thing of the past!

Elsewhere the terms spinal tap and lumbar (not lumber) puncture are used interchangeably so I think this is it. This information will help so much to find Sammie's owner or at least her medical history.  This must be quite a rare procedure for a vet to perform.  Surely someone will remember.  Thank you again.

Bless you for rescuing Sammie! I am so happy that she has you in her life.  I hope that she isn't growling so much - if she continues, and the poo situation continues, you might consider looking into giving her some herbal tea. Hopefully, you will be able to access a holistic healer. Personally, I have used marshmallow root/slippery elm with a little mint and red raspberry leaf, which eases cramps (sometimes the cause of growling/hissing) and soothes internal membranes for cats & people (even chickens).

I look forward to a good update from the vet visit. And again, thank you for being such a wonderful guardian angel for Sammie 

Maybe matted fur that was shaved off. A few weeks before my lotto left me one of his back legs kept collapsing under him when he walked. It didn't seem to bother him but it did me. My vet said - now here's the problem. My Hebrew isn't up to understanding what she said exactly -it's as if he had a 'stroke' around that area, hips etc. She gave him one injection and the leg stopped collapsing immediately. If she is an old cat and not a kitten could it be what my cat had? I very much hope nobody comes forward to claim her. She's much better off with you. I'm also looking forward to what your vet says.
Siamese do have a strange meow. I also have one. Also abandoned but healthy.
Good luck. Thinking of both of you.

Siami said:

 
Elsewhere the terms spinal tap and lumbar (not lumber) puncture are used interchangeably so I think this is it. This information will help so much to find Sammie's owner or at least her medical history.  This must be quite a rare procedure for a vet to perform.  Surely someone will remember.  Thank you again.

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I think Sammy has found her owner

VERY GOOD NEWS!  Sammie is FeLV and FIV negative, her temperature is normal and she has put on almost 1lb in weight in 6 days!  Medication to continue at a reduced dosage for 6 days and back to the vet in 8 days.  Luckily, it's okay for both medications to be crushed into food as any other method has been impossible.

As far as the shaved area is concerned, the vet said it could have been a lumbar puncture or an abscess on Sammie's back or a few other things BUT she says the patch was shaved no more than 3 - 4 months ago. This knowledge will be a great help in finding the vet who treated her and hopefully her owner.

Sammie did not lose balance or fall over when we put her on the floor to show the vet the symptoms we had described!   She had one little almost wobble but the vet said as she seemed okay in herself, not to worry too much about that.  There will be time to investigate this further and maybe I can do a video to show exactly what happens.

I've seen lots of videos now of sweet little kitties with CH. The cats themselves don't know they have a handicap and their lives are not shortened because of it so it's not a problem if this is Sammy's condition.  But my greatest wish is to find her owner.  The vet has agreed to help me try to trace the vet who shaved Sammy's back, a little reluctantly but still.  Onwards and upwards!

Awesome news!! hope she continues to improve. I'm not totally sure if I would want to find her owner. I would be attached by now!! If you find the owner I think I would be asking some questions as to how the cat got lost and how she ended up at deaths door before I returned her. I truly believe in fate and for some reason this cat was meant to find you.

Please keep us updated!!

GREAT NEWS, Thanks!!!