Hello! Good to be on board! I'm writing a novel here... so I apologize in advance.
I have a 4 year old female tabby, Flo. She's strictly an indoor cat and there are no other pets or children in the household. With the exception of the last several weeks, she's been the most amazing and happy pet. Then something changed and two vets and $2k later I still don't have any solid answers. I'm hoping someone here has heard of something like this.
About 2 mos ago I noticed she would occasionally step lightly on a back leg... basically limp. It was infrequent and would come and go quickly so I could never peg down a "when". While these episodes would happen she remained fully alert and happy... business as usual. When I examined her pads and joints and bones she was totally content... no tender spots. We went to the vet and they found nothing but said it was likely neurological and sent me to a neurologist.
The neurologist took blood samples and did exams and blah blah and said she might be having seizures. I'm not a doctor but strongly disagreed with that. I never filled the prescription they wrote for Lithium because I felt it was overkill and from the wrong direction.
Two nights after that vet visit things went downhill. I went to bed with Flo happily playing and woke up to 15 spots of vomit spread throughout the house. That lasted the entire day, but the day after she was fine. Then the following day it started again... she couldn't keep anything down including water.
I could see she was miserable and likely getting dehydrated so we went to the vet. She said it was likely a blockage of some type. In the meantime they injected her with a hydrating pouch and anti-nausea agent. Worked great but 24hrs later she was throwing up again and her fur was coming out in tufts... mainly around her ears, mouth and neck.
We went back and got x-rays; inconclusive. They gave her another anti-nausea shot and sent me home with the same med in pill form... basically telling me to wait for her systems to begin to fail and for her to die. Screw that!
I monitored her every move and fed her like an invalid. She improved and acted like the old Flo for about two days. Then her neck became raw from her scratching and her mood naturally changed.
We headed back and got a shot of depo medrol steroid and an antibiotic. The steroid worked to curb her neck scratching allowing it to scab over and begin to heal. It also zapped her spark and will, but she was healing which was a good thing.
Unfortunately the steroid wore off before the scabs did and when her will to live came back her need to scratch did as well. She made a mess of her neck so we went back today.
The vet got me the depo again in hopes that it will keep her away from her neck and let it heal. This time the depo is a cream I massage on her ear skin though. It'll be far less taxing on her system and personality (I'm told) and will allow us to extend a lesser and lesser dosage until her neck has healed.
That's great news, if it goes to plan, and my fingers are crossed. None of this however answers the questions of WHAT and WHY though. She was a perfectly healthy and active cat! Nothing in her environment or diet changed and she suddenly threw up incessantly and then went bald on her entire neck. Why? And what about the limp? Related?
I suppose I'm aggravated both because I'm worried about her as well as frustrated as hell I don't know what and/or why this (these things) are happening.
Anyone heard of this before? The limping? The vomiting? The bald and raw neck?
I have a 4 year old female tabby, Flo. She's strictly an indoor cat and there are no other pets or children in the household. With the exception of the last several weeks, she's been the most amazing and happy pet. Then something changed and two vets and $2k later I still don't have any solid answers. I'm hoping someone here has heard of something like this.
About 2 mos ago I noticed she would occasionally step lightly on a back leg... basically limp. It was infrequent and would come and go quickly so I could never peg down a "when". While these episodes would happen she remained fully alert and happy... business as usual. When I examined her pads and joints and bones she was totally content... no tender spots. We went to the vet and they found nothing but said it was likely neurological and sent me to a neurologist.
The neurologist took blood samples and did exams and blah blah and said she might be having seizures. I'm not a doctor but strongly disagreed with that. I never filled the prescription they wrote for Lithium because I felt it was overkill and from the wrong direction.
Two nights after that vet visit things went downhill. I went to bed with Flo happily playing and woke up to 15 spots of vomit spread throughout the house. That lasted the entire day, but the day after she was fine. Then the following day it started again... she couldn't keep anything down including water.
I could see she was miserable and likely getting dehydrated so we went to the vet. She said it was likely a blockage of some type. In the meantime they injected her with a hydrating pouch and anti-nausea agent. Worked great but 24hrs later she was throwing up again and her fur was coming out in tufts... mainly around her ears, mouth and neck.
We went back and got x-rays; inconclusive. They gave her another anti-nausea shot and sent me home with the same med in pill form... basically telling me to wait for her systems to begin to fail and for her to die. Screw that!
I monitored her every move and fed her like an invalid. She improved and acted like the old Flo for about two days. Then her neck became raw from her scratching and her mood naturally changed.
We headed back and got a shot of depo medrol steroid and an antibiotic. The steroid worked to curb her neck scratching allowing it to scab over and begin to heal. It also zapped her spark and will, but she was healing which was a good thing.
Unfortunately the steroid wore off before the scabs did and when her will to live came back her need to scratch did as well. She made a mess of her neck so we went back today.
The vet got me the depo again in hopes that it will keep her away from her neck and let it heal. This time the depo is a cream I massage on her ear skin though. It'll be far less taxing on her system and personality (I'm told) and will allow us to extend a lesser and lesser dosage until her neck has healed.
That's great news, if it goes to plan, and my fingers are crossed. None of this however answers the questions of WHAT and WHY though. She was a perfectly healthy and active cat! Nothing in her environment or diet changed and she suddenly threw up incessantly and then went bald on her entire neck. Why? And what about the limp? Related?
I suppose I'm aggravated both because I'm worried about her as well as frustrated as hell I don't know what and/or why this (these things) are happening.
Anyone heard of this before? The limping? The vomiting? The bald and raw neck?
