Dilema with heavy heart

[semiferal]

Kai, did this happen shortly after he had a minor illness, received a vaccine, or had something happen to him?

These things can sometimes cause short-term neuropathies, though normally the cat does recover from them. My own cat who has cerebellar hypoplasia loses most of the function in his back legs when he has a fever (which fortunately has only happened once). In his particular case, he's back to his normal self within 12 hours of getting a steroid injection.

 

[kai bengals]

Originally Posted by semiferal

Kai, did this happen shortly after he had a minor illness, received a vaccine, or had something happen to him?

These things can sometimes cause short-term neuropathies, though normally the cat does recover from them. My own cat who has cerebellar hypoplasia loses most of the function in his back legs when he has a fever (which fortunately has only happened once). In his particular case, he's back to his normal self within 12 hours of getting a steroid injection.

We've been through and through anything and everything that could have possibly caused this to occur to him. Both times it happened, the first sign of a problem showed itself first thing in the morning after we got up. The night before he was perfectly fine.
There doesn't seem to be a specific cause or incident involved that we can pinpoint. His life prior to each incident has been completely normal, calm and stress free. The first time it happened, we thought maybe some rough play on the cat tree with the other cats led to an injury, since bengals can get very excited and rambunctious. This turned out not to be the case.
Everyone has been stumped on this to this point. I'm hoping for an answer in the next 24 hours.

 

[rosiemac]

I've just caught up with your new update and how great is that!!

Fingers crossed for the next 24 hours!

 

[gareth]

fingers crossed here too.

That is one stunningly beautiful cat. What are Bengals like, temperament-wise?

 

[gailc]

Hoping the improvement continues!!

 

[kai bengals]

Originally Posted by Gareth

fingers crossed here too.

That is one stunningly beautiful cat. What are Bengals like, temperament-wise?

Thanks Gareth...and everyone else too of course!

Bengals temperaments vary slightly from cat to cat, depending on how they were raised as kittens, the parents personalities and so forth.
Basically, they are extremely intelligent, curious to a fault, highly active and energetic. They are "In your face" cats, wanting to know what you're doing and wanting to be involved. They have a lot of owner loyalty and will usually pick a favorite person in the household, but they will not snub others or guests. It is however slightly obvious that they play favorites to some extent.
Bengals are generally fearless cats and will confidently check out new things, people, sounds and events.
Because of their affection and dependency on the companionship of their owners, they are somewhat prone to seperation anxiety if left alone for long periods of time.

My own personal favorite thing about bengals is, that they never seem to lose their kitten playfulness. Even as adults they will engage in play with nearly the same fervor as kittens do.

If you want more in depth info or have more specific questions please feel free to PM me.

 

[decadenz]

I just caught this thread. Your boy is completely stunning, he looks so cute, and he's such a strong fighter. I hope the vets can help him... and soon too!

Best of luck, hope to hear more good news about your little guy. Stay strong and positive as well, believe in your little prince and he will be fine

 

[slitty_kittay]

Thats amazing news!!!

Wow! great to hear he is up and moving about!! playing even!

Let us know what the clinic said!

It sounds like he is doing great!

Kim

 

[charcoal]

I am sorry your kitty is suffering. I hope they can find what is wrong and fix him soon! I hope he gets better soon!

 

[ryn]

I just read this for the first time, so happy about the improvement. Keeping my fingers crossed for him.

 

[turtlecat]

Oh! Nial I'm so happy that Kahekili is doing better!! I do hope that the cause is found, and that he will not suffer like that again in the future.

This news is outstanding! i know you're a proud papa!

 

[kai bengals]

I picked Kahekili up from NC State Vet School yesterday afternoon. Poor guy was miserable. I felt really bad for putting him through all that, because he really looked like he'd been through the wringer.
They shaved his neck to do the spinal tap. He was shaking like a leaf when they brought him out to me, really groggy from the anesthesia and his eyes were all watery and dull looking. To top it off, he had pee'd on himself. He just looked compeletly ill.

Kind of broke my heart to see him that way, but I had to get him checked out. I apologized to him profusely all the way out to the car.
Don't get me wrong, they treated him like a gem there. The tests they did on him are just no fun at all for a cat. The Vets and the staff there were very professional and kind.
But, unfortunately, with all that "kitty torture" he endured, we still know nothing, other than he doesn't have any of the things the doc's suspected.
Right now he's got a clean bill of health with a big giant question mark as to why he even had his paralysis episodes.
He has some minor atrophy to the muscles in his back legs from the 2 weeks of inactivity, but everything else checks out fine.
For us, this is good news and bad news. He's had this paralysis problem twice now in a span of 3 months and we still don't know what caused it. He is currently checking out as a normal cat with normal activity levels and reflex response, which we are over-joyed about, but I keep thinking about this thing coming back.
We'll take what we can get though...he's healthy right now. One day at a time.

Thanks for all your support and well wishes TCS members!!
It helped me a great deal to be able to talk about Kahekili here and share our burden a little bit. You're all the best!

 

[rosiemac]

Oh Nial i was really hoping they could get to the bottom of things?!

The good thing is though he's got a good clean bill of health apart from this

You know this reminds me of something my neighbour has now and again?. It's her neck muscles that go every so many months, and although she's in no pain when it happens she has to wear a foam collar for a couple of weeks until she's back to normal or her head will just flop!. They've ran all sorts of test on her and theres no cure at the moment for it but it has got something to do with her nervous system

Whats Kai like now, is he still standing ok still?

 

[turtlecat]

I'm sorry there's no conclusive reports on him..

i hope they do find out whats wrong, but at least you know he's in the best care you can find in the state.

 

[gailc]

Well the good news is that is no bad news. But on the other hand its still maddening that you don't have a conclusive answer

 

[slitty_kittay]

At least he is doing well at the moment, keep us updated!!

Kim

 

[luvmysphynx]

You, your family and Kahekili are in my thoughts and prayers.

It is wonderful that you have not givin up on him, I hope for Kahekili's full recovery and answers to your questions. The not knowing has got to be so hard.