Sudden onset ataxia. My poor kibbie Goat.

[guindle]

My poor girl. We came home from work yesterday to find her next to the bed as if she had fallen off and she wouldn't use her back legs. Where she was, I was pretty sure she broke something when she fell. I scooped her up and rushed to the ER. She actually had ataxia and nothing was broken. This happened a couple years ago but it was a reaction to Convienia from what we know because the onset happened within a short while after the shot and the reaction was severe with other symptoms. Her only symptom this time is ataxia. The ER vet said everything is normal except she cannot use her back legs right because she cannot communicate with them, so she is falling to the side and dragging herself. My heart was just broken that I let her fall but her whole life her favorite place is the bed, I just couldn't take it away.

Goat is a very old girl. 19 going on 20 here soon. I thought for sure this was it. The ER vet said she wouldn't put her down because she is still so coherent and I needed to give it a few days. She has some kidney failure that I work very hard to control and bad arthritis which she gets meds for.  The vet did labs and said that her creatine is 2.0 and BUN is 56, which is higher from her last labs, the BUN at least but that she had a very high CK which indicates that she had a spinal stroke or severe trauma. Something caused her to have severe trauma to her muscles.

If I hold her tail, she can walk. I knew to try right away because she had severe ataxia for a long time after the convienia. It works but the poor thing cannot use the litter without her Mom hovering and holding her tail and she hates that. I also have a full time job, I was allowed to stay home today but it is just so devastating. I pretty much cried all night. I am waiting for her vet to get back in the office tomorrow because I know he will be straight with me. Right now I am just supposed to see if she gets better or worse. It is a quality of life thing.

The reason mainly for my post is to vent and also for anyone else that heaven forbid it happens to them they know what is might be and to get them to the vet for blood right away. She is eating like a little piggie and drinking pretty good. She is already on buprenex so I increased the dose a bit, that is all the ER doc recommended and I am spoiling her with whatever I can.  It just breaks your heart. I know she is such an old gal, I just want no suffering and I said that to the ER vet so many times but she said, look she is telling us to stop poking at her and is being sassy. You have to take her home and see if she can bounce back. 

Also if your cat does have ataxia and you are helping them recover, try holding the tip of their tail with a light grip, it can help them walk. 

 

[tiptopper]

Prayers to you and Goat. Continue to love and spoil her as long as she knows you are with her.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Have you seen your Regular Vet yet?  Just wondered what they had to say about this entire thing.  Her kidney valued are pretty good, considering her age and all.  I would have loved for my old girl to have had a 2.0 creatinine.  I think she was in the high 2s or maybe worse than that when she passed last year.  She ended up possibly with the same issue, paralysis of her hind end.  We never knew what caused it, but she didn't fall off the bed because if it...she stopped jumping on the bed just a few days prior, so we knew something was slowly happening, then one morning we woke up and she couldn't move. 

Hoping your Vet can figure out what's going on and possibly help

 

[guindle]

I am waiting for him to call me. I go to a cat only vet and he was out for awhile so I know he is probably swamped. I will start calling and asking in a couple of hours. I just need to ask him a few things because I am responsible for her and her well being. The ER vet had said initially she didn't think she had a stroke because she was showing no signs of stroke but it was possible. She also said they can be extremely painful where the cats just yowl and scream until they are put out of it. I don't want that to happen to her when I am not there so I have some serious questions and I need to do what is best for her. 

She was still dragging her little behind around last night but in the middle of the night I kept hearing crunch crunch crunch and I wake up always when she is on the move so I can hold her tail and help her waddle and sure enough, she had made it 6-8 feet over to her food bowls. I didn't get up to let her have her independence and she then went to the small litter box I put in the room and did her business all by herself. This morning she can walk way better and is not dragging at all. She is only slightly swaying. I don't want to get my hopes up because she is an old gal and I want to do what is best for her. I will update once I speak to the vet.

She got better really fast and I am wondering if that means she did fall. I just would think she would have hurt one side of her body and wouldn't have been not able to use either of her hind legs. The ER vet was saying she could have bruised her spine and that caused the ataxia.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Wonderful news!  I wondered if she might get better since there was obviously blood flow to her lower limbs. Saddle Thrombosis is what can be so painful and is sometimes a reason for back end paralysis.  Thankfully this is NOT what she has.  I'm sure the ER vet checked for that first thing. 

Continued vibes for a compete recovery.  Maybe you need to built her little ramp or steps to get on the bed,then put up a guardrail to keep her in it except for her ramp/steps. 

 

[guindle]

I was thinking I need guardrails like what a toddler uses. I don't remember if Goat ever jumped. I got her from kitty death row at the humane society at age 7 (best decision of my life) and she was considered "senior" HA fooled them, she has been shaking and moving for 13 years. I have like one of those round one story cat condos, she jumps on that to get to a wingback chair so she jumps on that and then final hop onto the bed. I have had it like that as long as I can remember.  So it like stairs of sorts just not the actual stairs. I had bought her stairs a few times over the years but for some reason she didn't use them so I improvised. She has one of those round one story condos on the floor by the couch in case she needs to get up there as well.

 

[guindle]

Well she's hanging on right now. She began walking a lot more on Friday but has periods where she is unable and is dragging her back end. Today wasn't the best day and she hasn't walked much and she's dragged her back end a few times. It's not just dragging though, it's dragging and falling over still. I believe it's the same side she goes too. She's eating 3 meals a day of wet food and getting in the small litter box I got for her. She did the big litter box by herself on Saturday so I was thinking she was really getting better. I went to make her last meal of the night and when I got back she was gone. I searched for her and she had jumped up the 2 carpeted stairs into the master bedroom to yell at her dad and try to wake him up. That's her favorite midnight thing to do. I don't know if she did too much and that's why she is having a bad day today or what. I'm paranoid that it is because I had fed her canned natural instinct rabbit food on the morning when this all happened. I had bought some more from a different store and in my lack of sleep haze accidently made it for her this morning. I mean what could be in it that would cause this I don't know but I didn't mean too even feed it to her. I don't think skitty ate much of it but she's completely normal. She's also a few years younger and robust. So the vet ses.

I got ahold of the vet Saturday. I had to call 3 times and by the time I called the last time I was pretty worked up. I didn't yell but I did make it known I wasn't happy that they couldn't take 5 minutes to answer my questions. I mean, what was I supposed to do? They are her vet, they prescribe her meds. Is it unreasonable to ask for a call? I would have brought her in if I would have known they couldn't call me but they never offered that. I'm sure he was booked anyways. It's a blessing and a curse to have a really good cat doctor I guess. He said any animal eating has a fighting chance and I'm not torturing her or keeping her alive if she's eating. She plays a bit too with her front paws. He said that he's seen this one before and the cat is still alive and regained the use of her legs. That a tumor was unlikely because she wouldn't have made progress and started walking. That it could be an embolism that didn't cause the pain that some cats get and have to be put to sleep. I really think she may have fallen and I'm really worried the ER vet missed something. If it's a slipped disk or something I don't know if she is in pain and just eating because why the heck not, but I'm trying to figure out if her walking spells coincide with her pain medicine. I can't tell. Sometimes she just gets up to eat and drink or litter. Other times she can't.

She's still completely there mentally. She's my Goat. It's so hard to watch her Lil body fail her and be powerless. I'd do anythinh to help if I knew what I could do. The ER vet said to gently massage her spine for blood flow. I have been and brushing her a ton as well.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Continued vibes for her to improve