My cat suddenly can't walk anymore and i need help.

Hello everyone, i'll try to be as detailed as i can.

This i'm about to tell you, happened to my cat who is 10 months old, male, i have special needs so i'm kind of very dependant of my mother to do almost everything, specially if it includes talking to other people.

So when he was born we decided to keep him, but he was never taken to the vet for all the things that you do to a kitten like deworming and all that stuff, and i know it's very wrong, but i told my mom a billion times to do it, and she never did.

So, two days ago, it was the middle of the night, my mother was gone and i took the cat outside because he asked to go. 

Then my boyfriend came home and he asked where my cat was, it was weird because an hour had gone by and he didn't came back; it was at that exact moment that i heard him meow, and i opened the door for him, but i found him in this horrible condition, he was struggling to walk so much, he was very wobbly, purring of fear, shaking and couldn't sit he just was so scared. This happened out of nowhere because he was acting completely normal before this happened.

So we called a series of vets and people who could help, an hour passed because all the vets were casually very busy and couldn't help us (sigh)

We found a vet and we took him, it was very far away from home, i put the kitten inside a backpack and we carried him like 40 blocks.

The vet was very nice, they did an x ray of his lower half body, and found absolutely nothing weird, except the fact that he was a little bit bloated because of gas buildup. She said she was almost certain that he was hit by something, even though no damage is visible, he showed signs of pain, when the vet put him on his back he started crying, so she interpreted this as pain. She gave him an injection for helping the pain he was having and we arranged a meeting for the next day.

The poor cat spent the whole night just laying on the floor, he eats and drinks well, so i tell this to the vet, she comes home the next morning and she tells me that i have to give him prednisolone, half a pellet every 24 hours.

Later that day, it seems that he wanted to go to the bathroom, so he stood up but as he couldn't walk he started to push himself with his front legs and he started becoming very nervous at the fact that he can't walk, i took him to his litter box but this time, he cried as i picked him up, something that he hadn't done before. He peed an insignificant amount and then it was back to sleeping for a couple hours.

That night i was doing my homework and i was surprised because the cat walked a long distance to get to me (i was in another room than he was) and i was so happy, he even tried to climb the couch! But, at the same time i found out that he had peed himself, and i had to wash him.

I can't speak to my vet right now cause she is out of town, so this is why i'm writing this.

Now i'm going to write the symptoms and what i think about them.

-He can't walk but eventually does it, but he keeps falling down to one side. He walks exactly the same way a cat with vestibular disease would, i really wouldn't dismiss the possibility that he might have it, but, he didn't have symptoms of nystagmus, or head tilt, but when he does sit down, his body tends to lean towards one side and his posture is weird. 

-He's alert, even though he sleeps most of the day, but he was always like that. His head coordination is good, he follows with his eyes and head when i move an object. 

-It seems that he is perfectly normal from the shoulders up, but the rest of his body just doesn't respond. He is sensitive to touch, though, but doesn't have much control over himself. He seems to be the most sensitive when he is touched in the hips, even if you lightly touch him, he just falls down at the slightest touch.

-So, i just don't know what happened to him. Is it possible that he was hit, and that hit didn't leave any visible mark in his body, but regardless he is in a lot of pain and that's why he lost the ability to walk. Or does he have vestibular disease but with slightly different symptoms?

I haven't talked about the latter with my vet, because i found out about it today, and also i doubt that she knows the disease. The town i live in has very poorly prepared doctors, in every field.

Do you know of anything that could help him?

Also he drinks and eats perfectly, but hadn't gone pooping since he had this accident and i don't know what to do.

Sorry if the post is in a very horrible english, it is not my language.

I am so sorry that your kitty is not well. I too think that he suffered some sort of trauma. On the positive side it does seem like he is getting a little better. Sometimes it takes a while for a cat to recover from an injury. 

Am am not an expert but I am hoping @catwoman707  can provide some guidance. He might need help going to the bathroom. There is a thread on here about a poor cat that was severely injured but with the proper care and love was able to make a remarkable recovery. I will  put a link to it at the bottom. You might even want to reach out to the thread starter to ask for some advice @jennyrosalie   

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/314056/kitten-who-cant-move 

I hope your kitty is ok, please provide updates 

No apologies for your english, in fact it is very good, clear and i would have thought it was your first language!

No i do not think he has vest disease at all, im pretty sure he suffered some type of trauma, whether hit/pinged, or got himself caught or stuck, or got in to it with another cat or animal.

When a cat feels the pain from trauma, they will sort of shut that part that hurts down.
For instance a cat who injures it's leg will limp.

I would keep him on mild pain meds and possibly the pred also for it's anti-inflammatory properties as the vet who saw him has done.
Allow him healing time, he should be showing improvements very soon.

Thanks everyone, you are right, even though his symptoms were similar to vest disease, now i'm almost certain that he doesn't have it. I guess i panicked and diagnosed him the first thing that was similar haha, sorry i had a lot of cats in my life but none of them ever got sick.

He did improve a little bit, now his funny walking is almost completely gone, he still walks very slowly and leans a little bit to one side, but he can do it more normally and also walk greatest distances.

I was taking a bath today and my mother was gone buying more litter for him, so there was no litter and he needed to go!!! so i picked him up and took him outside, he was trying to do something, i'm not sure if peeing or pooping, but he would sit, make a little bit of effort and then he would fall, he did this a couple of times and i think he peed very little and that was it. So, it's been three days now that he is not pooping, i will be looking for what i can do to help him and hopefully today i'll be able to talk to the vet and maybe she will come and see him!

Hey everyone, thought i'd update you on this issue.

Well, my cat is now walking but he hasn't pooped in quite a few days and it seems that this is making him suffer.

I uploaded a little video so you can see how he walks


Notice how his spine is diagonally oriented.

Also i can feel that one of the organs in his belly is quite swollen, maybe it's his stomach or what could it be?

I could not communicate with my vet anymore so now i'm all alone in this.

He now refuses to eat the food i put his medicine in, he noticed when i do it and i don't know what to do. I put his pills on cheese and he loved it but now he realized and won't eat the bit with the pill.

I tried diluting it on water, and on milk but he won't drink it.

Thanks in advance.

He could have some kind of organ trauma from accident or it could be backed up poop. Only a vet would be able to tell you. If he doesn't poop then he can't eat and everything gets very bad. You've only got a few days to resolve this. Can you find another vet to go to? 

In the x ray the vet did a few days back, it showed that he was not constipated and she said that i shouldn't worry about it. Also there was nothing dangerous, the x ray looks he is perfectly fine.

Could it be that since the x ray was done he developed some kind of stomach problem and now he is constipated?? The x ray was done on friday night and now here is tuesday.

Also he spends most of the day just laying down and he only stands up to go and try to poop.

I will be trying to talk to the vet that treated him again, i hope she answers this time, but we are extremely short on money so i'm very worried that i can not help him.

If he hasn't pooped then all that poop has to still be in there, unless he's hiding it somewhere in the house. The swelling could be that or something else, I don't know enough to help you on that end. Hopefully you can get in touch with her soon. 

Well thanks for your honest and respectful answer.

I'm sorry I can't help more, their are pet enema's you can order online for the constipation. It can really be only constipation but it seems like he was hit with something and that's very worrying because it could also be a damaged or ruptured organ or even fluid build up. The vet should be able to just feel his stomach and organs to make a preliminary diagnosis, there wouldn't be a need to do another x-ray if it is constipation and not something else.

For one he won't poop if he is not really eating so he is not necessarily constipated but may be, vet can feel this. Did he have a urinalysis by chance? Just to rule out crystals/blockage.

He walks like sort of hunched over as if there is abdominal discomfort.

Normally when you have been to the vet and paid for that visit, a follow up doesn't cost any more unless more is done.

So I think if you are feeling something in his tummy area then it's best to have her feel it, she will know what she is feeling.

When they figure out you have been sneaking meds in to their food or treats they won't eat it again, so then it's time to force it on him, if it's difficult to pill him, smash and add a small amt of water to it and use a needle-less syringe or eye dropper, go in from the side and get it as far back in his throat as possible so he doesn't taste it so much or he will gag and spit and drool and foam from the bad taste. Cats are SO dramatic!

He is eating normally, just not when he realizes there are meds in the food. But he eats the normal food.

I must say, all i feed him is dry food, so that might be the problem.

Lately he has been pooping liquid, for about two months. Then he got better, and then this 'accident' happened.

Yeah, just recently he wanted to poop but it seems like he is so uncomfortable, he was trying to find a place in the house where he would 'magically' be able to poop. He tried in the bathroom and i let him because honestly i'm so worried, but he couldn't.

Should i try to feed him less amounts and with less frequency?

Is there anything he could eat for now that might help him?

I'm waiting for my mother to get back from work so i can use her phone to talk to the vet, but she'll be home in a couple of hours.

Amanda i hope my post wont be needed and your kitty is doing well. I wanted to share my experience with this in hopes that if this ia what your going thru maybe you still have a chance of saving him. I wasnt so lucky. My cat Tyson was 41/2 when he had his first episode. Out of no where and for no apparent reason his hind legs went out. I watched as it happened and suddenly his back end was basically parallized. He stayed under the table by my bed and i never left his side. After a trip to the vet i was told he qas dehydrated and most likely constipated. They also blamed his weight and told me to watch his food intake. He recieved fluids and i brought him home. After 5 dwys he just came out of it stood up and walked again. This happened four more times.. Each time he ate and drank but each time the symptoms worsened until finally on the 5th time in almost a two year span he stopped fighting. I rushed him to the hospital and he was diagnosed with saddle thromosis which is a blood clot that lodges in thw hip area causing paralysis and is considered a death sentence ibwas told there was no chance of recovery and they were amazed he had survived this four other times. On August 1st 2015 my Tyson left my side. This is very pqinful for them and constipation seemed to be a trigger. A lil dab of vasoline in wet food would relieve the constipation. Tyson wasnt obsene he was simply a big boy at over 2 foot long not including his tail and 31 lbs he had quite a burden to carry. If you find your baby like this agqin.. Have them rule out saddle thromosis. And not just assume he was hit while outside.