Urgent - Is There Anyone Online Now??

Lucy's taken a turn for the worse. It's 6.36am over here. She looks as if she's had a stroke. Although she's just eaten OK, she's falling over. Her back legs are giving out underneath her. She looks like she's lost all balance.

My husband's with her at the moment. I will be online for a while. Has anyone else had a cat suffer a stroke and if so did the cat recover?

If her quality of life is compromised, with no hope of recovery, I'm afraid I'll have to do what's kindest - and I don't want to do that, especially not now.

Can you call a ER vet like now!!

Sadly, when they fall victim to abuse at an early age, they do not weather their senior years well. If she is suffering, you will know it because you and your husband are connected with Lucy. I do not believe that knowing what she has endured, you would willingly let her endure more suffering. Your love is to deep for that.

You know in your heart what to do if she does not come out of this. And also know that the one who began this for her will be paid back later in life. Karma has a way of getting those with a black heart, as well as those who are good in heart-

Does your vet have a 24 hour surgery that you can take her to?!

my heart goes out to you, how awful

please keep us posted on what happens. we're all here for you

Oh gosh - I am soo sorry to hear this. Yes, an Emergency VET is most definately in order.

Pleased keep us in the loop!

Lucy slept on me from about 7am through till about 2pm. We were very late last night as my hubby worked to gone 3am. Apart from falling over and one eye (the left) slightly more dilated than the other, she's eating normally, purring normally and just being Lucy.

As today is Christmas Day the cost of any vet treatment is more than we can afford and it wouldn't be our own vet but some locums. I know it sounds as if we're putting money before Lucy but the last lot of treatment left us broke and in debt. I work as a temp and had my contract cut short by a week and a half - money we were relying on. We haven't even bought any Christmas presents this year - the first time ever in my life.

Lucy seems a little steadier - still obviously off-balance but she was able to jump up and down from the bed herself today. Last night I had to help her up.

I'm hoping our vet will be open tomorrow (Boxing Day).

I'm assuming she's had a stroke and did some research just after I posted. She certainly has the symptoms of a stroke but I'm hoping it's a mild one. I found a website with a forum from people who's cats have had strokes. One cat is 19 and has made a 99% recovery so I'm not writing Lucy off yet.

One person had written in that they thought their cat had had a stroke and it turned out to be an inner ear infection. Given that Lucy has had this awful illness recently, that has also crossed my mind.

If the Mods don't object, here is the link to that site as it may be useful to others (Note to Mods: Please edit this post if this is not allowed).

http://www.faqs.org/qa/qa-5712.html

It's all from people who have nursed their cats through this and sometimes had to let their beloved friends go.

I'll post later on and let you know how Lucy is.

That sounds like what happened when Fred began having seizures. I was sure he had a stroke, but the vet said it wasn't. I hope she will be ok.

I'm very sorry to hear this terrible news. I hope the vet is able to give you some hope.

Good {{{vibes}}} Lucy!

Was she put on inflammatory medicine when she was sick a few weeks ago?
I understand many cats come back to normal after a stroke...i will keep my fingers crossed.

hi sorry to hear about lucy,how is she ? any better? have pers.mess you

No advice, just lots of }}}}}}}}}be healthy{{{{{{{{{{ vibes for Lucy, and }}}}}}}}}don't fret{{{{{{{{{{{ vibes for her humans.

Meower. Yes she was on anti-inflammatories when she was ill a few weeks ago.

At the moment she is fine, eating, purring, washing herself, loving being fussed over. She's just unsteady on her feet but I don't think she's falling over so often as she was 24 hours ago. She's managing to jump on and off the bed herself although she's finding jumping up easier. When she jumps down she tends to fall over so I've put a pile of bedding (I can wash it all later) at one side so she can walk down rather than jump down.

I''m hoping she'll recover from it but it's at the forefront of my mind that our time together is getting so much shorter

I am very glad to hear she is doing better - however please still take her to your vet for check!

Oh, I am so sorry that you and Lucy are going through this on Christmas, of all days. I am so glad to hear she is somewhat improved. I hope they can help her tomorrow!

(((Hugs)))

Good thoughts for lucy from this side of the pond.

I'm so sorry to hear about Lucy. And on Christmas day.. I hope everything turns out ok.

Well, Lucy enjoyed her Christmas dinner and is now able to walk around and jump off the bed without falling over so whatever it was seems to have sorted itself out. I did notice her last night shaking her head quite vigourously a couple of times and she scratched at her ear so I wonder if the virus she's had has affected her ear and knocked her off balance for a bit. She doesn't have ear mites (she never gets out and the vet checked her ears etc. while she was there).

I do know she's had a brain trauma in the past as she has always been slightly slower on one side than the other. Unless you know her really well, you wouldn't notice it unless told. She's always been like that. Her right ear only faces forward. She can't turn it to the side like her other ear, or flatten or flick it. A direct result of the abuse she suffered before I got her

Our vet is open again tomorrow so I'll pop her up for a check but to all extents and purposes, she's back to normal again.

While she is still enjoying a reasonably good quality of life, I'll do everything necessary to keep her that way but when the day comes that she loses that quality of life and starts to suffer then...well...you know.

Fred also had a head injury which made him a little off in his later years. He was kind of goofy, and the last year of his life he had several seizure that scard me silly, but he lived to be about 18 years old. I wish your Lucy a long and healthy life.