W. V. Cats Forum

desertrat · Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2005 11:05 pm Post subject: Mr 20 is missing his jumps

For those who don't know Mr 20's history, he came to us blind in one eye because he had a pellet shot in his eye and a caul over it. Several years later, a kind vet did surgery gratis and removed the pellet and caul.

Mr 20 instantly became an aboral kitty, and would jump and climb every where.

2 days ago, our big guy fell off of the cabinets. I didn't see what happened, but he seemed OK so I just mildly worried about it. Last night, he missed the top of the fridge (which was usually an easy jump for him) and fell again. Again, he seemed to be OK but I called our vet and made an appointment for Monday.

Today he missed the breakfast bar. When I felt him up, he showed pain in his left back leg. (that means he made bite noises when I moved it up and down)

So, any ideas as to where I should point our vet? I think his eye is going bad again, but it could be a problem with his spine and/or hips.

Except for the falling, T seems to be OK. He doesn't limp or winge when he moves and is eating and his output seems normal.

I trust our vet, but as the primary caregiver, its my responsibility to be informed when I talk to our vet.

kb2zct · Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:34 am Post subject: Mr 20 and jumping

With a little luck, you may be able to test and see if it is a coordination problem (eyes) or a problem with his legs.

Here is what I was thinking. Play with Mr. 20 and his favorite “I like to pounce on it” toy. Try to play with him so he can pounce on the toy without jumping. When he pounces, does he hit or miss the toy. If he misses, I would lean to an eye problem. If his pouncing skills were up to normal, I would think it might be the leg problem.

Cats, like people, have stereoscopic vision. We use the input from both eyes to help us determine distance. Now, I’m assuming that Mr. 20 has sight in both of his eyes. If the injured eye is blind, I’m not sure the above test will work.

FYI – 25 years or so ago, when I was a soccer referee, I injured an eye the day before a game. I had a patch on the eye. I could not find a replacement, so I had to go and do the game myself. Let me tell you, it was difficult. Besides the good natured ribbing about being a “blind ref’, it was very hard for me to determine distances. Fortunately, this was only a junior high school game.

Mark

Galensgranny · Site Administrator Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 2355

Des wrote:

So, any ideas as to where I should point our vet? I think his eye is going bad again, but it could be a problem with his spine and/or hips.

Yes, any of the above, or possibly an inner ear infection. Inner ear infections affect balance. Or maybe that left leg got hurt before the missed jumps, so that when he springs up, he is not getting the full power needed to get high enough,

If he hasn't had a repeat FeLV test since the first one you had done years ago, that would be a good thing to do. Cats can have the FeLV virus dormant in their bone marrow so that is does not show up on the blood test, but then even years after the initial infection, it can become active. FeLV winds up messing up various body systems.

I would have blood work done. As cats get older, things can get out of whack. Low potassium can result in muscle weakness. That would impede a cat's abilty to make high jumps he used to be able to do.

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I sure hope it is nothing serious.

Quote:

I trust our vet, but as the primary caregiver, its my responsibility to be informed when I talk to our vet

Yes, it is important for people to have some ideas of what to ask the vet about or point him towards. Not all vets think of everything, like Simon's first vet who kept dismissing our reports of his coughing bouts as just hairballs, when it really was asthma. We had to insist he do the chest x-ray and blood work I read about as being needed to done in suspected asthma in cats, and both the x-ray and blood work did wind up showing signs that could point to asthma.

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Margaret, a/k/a Galensgranny

Maria · Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:40 pm Post subject:

Quote:

If he hasn't had a repeat FeLV test since the first one you had done years ago, that would be a good thing to do. Cats can have the FeLV virus dormant in their bone marrow so that is does not show up on the blood test, but then even years after the initial infection, it can become active

Margaret,
Does this mean that we should always have a second follow up FelV test? Or just when the cat develops some kind of symptom? Just curious. I know with HIV there is a window, and most doctors recommend retesting after a few months.

Maria

rubygirl1968 · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:34 am Post subject:

I hope it's nothing serious with Mr 20. I'll say a prayer for him.

Please let us know what the vet says.

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Stephanie, mom to

sumner · Alpha Cat (Moderator) Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 219

It's also possible that he lost his balance and fell the first time or something about the jump and fall injured his leg. A strained muscle or sprained tendon or even a bruised bone could have led to the leg pain you noticed. This, of course, could cause him to be less able to jump the way he is accustomed to leading to missed jumps etc.
I hope it's something minor like a sprain which would easily heal over time rather than a sign of any illness or loss of coordination. Good luck, we'll be thinking of you and Mr. 20.

Jim

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gg's greatest seventh

Galensgranny · Site Administrator Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 2355

Quote:

Does this mean that we should always have a second follow up FelV test? Or just when the cat develops some kind of symptom?

I, personally, would only do it if the cat develops some sort of symptom, but a lot of that is due to finaces, since the test is around $30. If the cat came from the streets, it would be good to do a follow up test, in case the cat had just been infected but it was too soon to show up on the tests.

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Margaret, a/k/a Galensgranny

desertrat

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I tried to post yesterday after the vet visit, but flamed out.

Mr 20 had a pretty complete exam including bloodwork. He passed his FeLV/FIV bloodwork (I didn't know that the virus could hide - very scarey thought). He got his ears checked and doesn't need to go back for a dental.

We don't have his other bloodwork back, it had to go to an outside lab and should be back tomorrow morning.

The x-rays didn't show a problem with T's hips or back and his joints looked normal. Our vet says he thinks the sore leg is due to bruising. We also did head x-rays and our vet couldn't see anything abnormal there either.

At this point, our vet agrees with me that Mr 20 is losing the sight in his left eye again. Unless the bloodwork shows a problem we are going to assume that his battered retina is failing.

I might take him back to the kitty ophthalmologist again (just to be sure that its not life or health threatening), but quite frankly, we can't afford to spend a couple of thousand for eye surgery.

Its just not fair, darnit! The poor guy has been through so much and was so enjoying being able to hang out on the cabinets.

I am so full of grrrrrrrrr for him.

kb2zct · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:58 pm Post subject:

Hi Des:

I'm a little confused. Mr 20 had a bb in his eye, and the vet was able to fix it and restore his sight?

Mark

desertrat · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:49 pm Post subject:

kb2zct wrote:

Hi Des:

I'm a little confused. Mr 20 had a bb in his eye, and the vet was able to fix it and restore his sight?

Mark

Yes, that is correct. Mr 20 had a bb in his globe that did not impact his retina, but caused a scar on the surface of his eyeball.

We assume that the bb came from a bb gun (often not very powerful) instead of a shotgun. Mr 20 was and is a very lucky cat.

The scar (what I wrongly called a caul in my first post) was blocking most of his vision but when he was tested by an animal eye specialist, he appeared to have perphial (sorry about the spelling, "side" vision) so the specialist removed the bb surgically and did did something that I can say but not spell. Its how cataracts are broken up and removed. Phacoemolusion?

At the time, the specialist warned us that it was possible that Mr 20's retina had been damaged and that it could take a while for the damage to show.

The main reason Mr 20 had the surgery was to remove the bb. We were really concerned that it would migrate to the back of his orbit and cause brain damage.

I'm upset that he seems to be losing the vision again, but I'm not mad at the vet. I'm mad at fate.