Manx Cat randomly acts like its being bit and gets stiff

[mike77777]

Hello all . I have an 11 year old manx cat who is a pretty healthy inside/outside cat. She is current on all vaccinations. I will give a little recent history and maybe some clues will help someone help me with this. Around 3 months ago she randomly became ill and I Couldnt figure out why , we took her to the vet a few times and they nothing was out of the ordinary , they did xray's , and all that stuff, took some urine samples . They gave her a topical cream that helped with stress/anxiety and it made her almost act drunk for like 2 days straight, she wouldnt leave under my bed for those 2 full days , not eat / drink/ use bathroom. After the topical medicine wore off she started to get better... Well recently i'd say the last 1 to 2 months she has random freakouts to where she acts like she is being bitten on her back end where her tail would normally be . It gets so bad she screams and basically gets all stiff, these episodes last around 5-7 seconds I would say and happen 3 times a day. She sleeps in the same bed as me and it will happen randomly at night too, doesn't matter could be 3am out of a dead sleep. We have shaven her to check for fleas or any bugs and have not found a single one, she does have some scabs on her back where it seems like the biting is coming from. I've looked up seizures in cats and it doesn't seem to match that, and ive also looked up feline hyperesthesia, its hard to say if its that... but at this point im kind of lost. Like I said i just took her to the vet 3 months ago and most everything checked out good, could it have been the topical cream they gave her that is having some late side effects? Also as I keep thinking of things I will add them, when she became ill it almost seems like she fell off something and her herself and became ill at the same time , She walks kind of stiff on her back legs, not sure if thats a manx thing or not but figure I add that in as well. Thank you so much for reading this and any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[nurseangel]

Hi, it's nice to meet you. I have a Manx, too, but I don't have any idea what could be causing this. Is she on a flea treatment from the vet? I did have a DSH who developed a flea allergy when he was elderly and had to go to the vet for occasional steroid shots. He had what looked like little sores on his back. Of course, steroids could be more dangerous due to a Manx being prone to diabetes. I'm sorry. I am not trying to give medical advice as I am not qualified, just thinking out loud. I would call the vet and explain the situation. Please let me know what happens. I try to keep up on Manx information, because Bob is very different than my other cats.

 

[mike77777]

Thanks for the reply. I love my cat very much and she is my favorite animal i've ever had but im trying to avoid the vet seeing how I just spent thousands of dollars a few months ago on some other issues... however I will end up taking her here soon if I don't find any answers fairly quickly . I will say this manx cat is by far the smartest cat i've ever seen, she reminds me of like a loyal dog, so i really hate seeing her in pain like this . I was not aware of manx being prone to diabetes, i believe the vet did check blood pressure and all that, and it came back good . Also currently she is on no medication. I will add another thing I forget to mention in my previous post, we have another cat that mainly lives outside but during these colder months she comes in and sleeps in the same room as I am, and my manx cat HATES this other cat, to where if she even hears her she will growl .

 

[FeebysOwner]

I doubt that the topical cream is the source of her issues. But, if you knew the name of it you could provide it here and maybe someone would offer their experience with it.

Stiff back legs could be a sign of arthritis. It can be subtle at first, but can be exasperated by a fall or something that happened to her outside that aggravated her back leg joints. Aches and pain from arthritis can trigger reactions like you are describing. Is she on any joint supplements - such as Cosequin or Dasuquin (there are others, but these two seem to be the most common)? They can be given to help support her joints even if there is no arthritis yet.

You might ask them if they saw any arthritis in the x-rays they did, assuming they covered her spine and legs, which is where arthritis typically manifests itself.

 

[mike77777]

Thank you for the reply. This is good information. We contacted the vet we took her to around 3 months ago and we are waiting for a call back from the vet who actually saw her. I will keep you updated on that ! Also some extra information, no arthritis came back on the scan/xrays .