Abnormal Posture - Has anyone seen this?

My cat has been being treated for IBD.  A week ago he could jump four feet straight up and land on the top of a very tall TV cabinet.  He went on pred a 10 days ago and was off for three days.  Two days ago he started eating standing up like this and now he can't jump on anything  (though he did manage to get on the bed last night.)  He stretches and can clean himself, but he walks funny and his hair is standing up like in the picture below.  He doesn't move around much, spends most of the time sleeping in his carrier.  His appetite was very good this morning, but he still has diarrhea.  Has anyone seen this?

Hi Reba, welcome.  Hopefully someone will have better info/advice for you then me but the first thing I thought of is, how old is he?

Our nearly 14 year old eats this way all the time.  Probably started at least a year or more ago.  We suspect, that arthritis is giving him pain in his hindquarters which makes it difficult for him to crouch to eat.   He also has problems getting around as easily as he used to.  

It's possible that he is in some type of pain due to the IBD situation.  Have you tried raising his food dish?  This may help him be more comfortable if he continues eating in this position.  We have ours up about 2 inches and it seems to make a difference.

Also, perhaps it's a side effect of the medication he was given.  I'd contact the vet to discuss these changes as they seem to have come about right after the prednisone was given.

I can't speak to the bowel problems specifically as I haven't encountered this with our cats (thankfully).

Hi Sivy,

Actually he's only 18 months old.   Many times he has had a reaction when you run your hand down his back when you get to his hindquarters, but a lot of cats do this so I wasn't worried.  I would also try to palpate his lower back when he did jump like this (he basically would meow and swipe at you with his claws retracted) to see if he was in pain, but he wouldn't have a reaction.  

It's odd he is all curled up like normal and he got out of his cat bed and stretched like a normal cat this morning.  He had a big appetite this morning and then he  retreated into his cat carrier and hasn't come out in hours.  He moves very stiffly.  He has had spells of diarrhea his whole life, but it usually cleared up.

My understanding is that Predonisone doses should be gradually reduced. I'd call the vet.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/prednisone-withdrawal/expert-answers/faq-20057923

The vet said since he only had taken it for a week I could just stop it, but I would be very relieved if that was what was causing this.  I had the medicine compounded, there is a possibility that that was done incorrectly as far as too high a doseage.

My cat was on Prednisolone (5mg) every day for 2 weeks and the vet told me to taper off every other day for a month. I heard that withdrawal is serious, and potentially life threatening. 

Yes, I can find where it says a two week course requires tapering, but not one - he was on the same dose as your cat though.  He looks like he's sleeping comfortably right now (his eyes were closed before I stuck the camera in there).  I did get him to drink some water a few minutes ago.   He hasn't vomited anything since this started. 

I don't think it'd hurt to call a vet. Just because your vet said 1 wk on pred wouldn't cause withdrawal symptoms, doesn't mean it never happens. My cat has had an unusual side effect from some medication also.

Update:  Good news/bad news.  I have a vet appointment at 10 AM and he is sitting out on the couch grooming himself instead of holed up in the carrier.  Bad News:  I kept him in the bedroom with me and a cat box and about 4 am he had a bowel movement finished off with a lot of blood in it.  I let him eat half a small can of his pre-ibd (purina pro-plan) wet food yesterday in addition to the EN.  I wanted to get some additonal liquid into him and that food is really soupy.  He peed this morning with no problems. 

Glad to hear you're taking him back to the vet.  It sounds like he needs another look for sure.  Blood can indicate straining, or possibly other issues.

Please keep us updated.

They kept him for the day to do an ultrasound and take x-rays.  He'll be sedated because while he's not horrible to anyone, he does hiss and growl quite a bit.  I'm scared they'll manipulate his spine in such a way that it makes it worse, but I have to trust them

that it's nothing too serious!

Vet just called and she said his lymph nodes don't look right and things aren't moving through his stomach.  We will get the TK Feline Cancer panel test back Tuesday or Wednesday.

I have not done any reading about lymphoma - she says there's no tumor so it must be the small cell kind she is referring to.

He is only 14 months old.

:cross: that the tests come back negative. Please keep us updated.

Sending prayers.  

Yes, many prayers. [emoji]128591[/emoji][emoji]128591[/emoji][emoji]128591[/emoji][emoji]128591[/emoji][emoji]128591[/emoji]

Keeping you and your kitty in my thoughts 

Thank you so much.  I am pretty devastated, she said she could see his lymph nodes on the untrasound which is not a good sign.    The test from what I'm reading is extremely accurate if it shows a positive, not no such if it's anegative.  Like I said I haven't read yet so haven't figured out what my option s might be.  I know

He sat down like normal when he ate tonight.  The vet game him a shot of something to settle his stomach and get things moving.  Then she gave me a bottle of metoclopramide oral solution to put in his food.  He is also getting the prednisone, but a lower dose.  I am kind of afraid to give the latter to him as it was what correlated with him getting sicker.

I'm also mad at myself for letting them give him a rabies shot a few weeks ago and then his FRVCP a few weeks after that.  At the time I thought, but he's sick so shouldn't we wait until the Ibd clears up?  I will never let that happen again.  It even says on the label packages that it should only be given to healthy cats so ***. 

Update:  He ate well today and had 2BM.  The one in the AM was actually pretty regular looking, but this evening it was mainly watery with some streaks of blood on the few firm parts. (Sorry for the graphic bodily function talk).

Today was his first day back on the prednisolone.  I crushed half a 5 mg pill AM and PM and mixed it in with is food.  HIs appetite is still very good.  I also used the meteroclopramide 1.75 ml 2-3 times a day, again mixed in with his food.  I tried feeding him more times a day, smaller portions.  He only eats wet Purina EN.

He did walk around a bit and even got up on the cat tree, his hair still stand up though.  Tomorrow the vet should call with the results of the cancer test.  If it's positive it's extremely reliable, unfortunately the literature says it has a fairly high degree of false negatives.