Cat Wobbling

Kitty (12 1/2 yrs female) could no longer walk last Wed, eyes darting strangely around, head drooped to side. Took her to vet who said vestibular disease or stroke or brain tumor, sent me home with fluids, shot of cerenia for dizziness and blood test, urine test and chest x-ray. They wanted to do neurologist and MRI but I could not afford it.
Chest x ray was fine, heart sounded fine to vet and blood pressure was fine.
After horrible few days of syringe feeding, electrolytes and icepacks in her carrier Kitty got better on Sat , started eating on her own and walking. I dosed her for 2 days with miralax and her poops are fine.

Now a week after the incident she can walk, run a little, jump up and down on furniture and her typical hungry appetite has returned.

As far as diagnosis, this is what made me lean towards stroke:
--She can balance on each paw and clean herself although it took a day longer for her to be able to start balancing on right and I wondered initially if it was stroke affecting right side.

--I have another cat in house and he jumps on her if he is hungry or hot, they had a big fight over a week ago but its so usual that I did not pay attention as even though she is slower as she ages, she eventually gets away and jumps up high. I am wondering though if she hit her head on something in the fight or had a spike of hypertension which made a blood clot get loose.

But this is what is making me lean towards vestibular disease:
I still observe her slightly swaying side to side when she is sitting still.
Also if she shakes her ears vigorously, she will fall.

Tests came back today and are strange and neither the vet nor I know what to make of them:
Blood test was fine but urine had elevated glucose which vet could not explain. Vet sent me the tests and ph was 8.5 which vet did not mention on the phone but notes on test (from the lab?) say it can be brought down with Methigel.

I had put her on Blue Buffalo canned 2 months ago after having been on Wellness canned all her life so I put her back on Wellness last week. I am getting some Diagnox glucose urine test strips from Amazon delivered this weekend just to see if her glucose in urine is down after the week of Wellness but honestly the vet said food issues would show up in blood also and her blood test was fine.

if anyone has any thoughts on this, would welcome.

Hi!
I'm not an expert but wanted to send my very best wishes that you baby continues to improve!
And if you aren't already, keep them separated until she's back to herself.

Thank you for your kind wishes!

I suspect a deep inner ear infection which may be result of polyps. The symptoms you describe are typical.

The rapid darting of the eyes back and forth is called "horizontal nystagmus". The swaying back and forth is called "ataxia". This, plus loss of balance, head dropping to one side suggests the infection is in the ear to which the cat tilts the head. The cat is shaking the head as it feels uncomfortable pressure in the ear canal.

I have had a cat with a deep inner ear infection due to infected polyps. Symptoms you describe were the same. It takes an MRI to diagnose this however.

The cat underwent surgery to remove the infected polyps and drain the large amount of purulent fluid from the left ear. Cat recovered quickly and was perfectly normal afterwards.

I also had a different cat who had a stroke; in fact two of them. The symptoms you describe are not those typical of a stroke. Again it takes an MRI to diagnose a stroke.

I know you say you cannot afford an MRI, but if there is any way you could obtain "Care Credit" from your vet, or borrow money or somehow come up with funds for an MRI, it would provide the answers you need for your cat to get treatment needed to heal. I would discuss all possible options with your vet.

I wish you and your cat all the best.

Thanks. I'm not able to afford the MRI right now, nor honestly the other tests which I did and already put on the card.
I am thinking maybe to try zymox otic ear solution without hydrocortisone as it seems relatively harmless. If anyone has any experience with it, would love to hear.

Hi! I found the chewy . com video and thought I'd post that in case you haven't seen it, and also here are a couple posts from members;

Eternally Itchy

Side Effects Hydrocortisone?

What Are Some Good Otc Cleaners For Kitties With Yeasty Ears?

This one is referring to a different product

What Are Some Good Otc Cleaners For Kitties With Yeasty Ears?

zymox otic - Bing video

oh wow thanks!

Grr, I spoke to another vet today who said she may have had a pinched spinal nerve. But that doesn't make sense to me with the wobbling and the falling when she shakes her ears too vigorously. But he said ear infection would mean she would walk in circles. Does this make sense? I haven't given her the zymox yet.

As I stated above, my girl had a serious ear infection and NO she did not walk in circles.

The zymox is for itchy, yeasty ears, not deep inner ear infections.

The wobbling, falling when shaking the ear points to an ear infection. I am not a vet, but this is my opinion based upon my cat's experience with deep inner ear infection.

You might try asking your vet to at least try an antibiotic to see if cat responds or shows any improvement.

You may also wish to get a second vet's opinion.

con said:

Grr, I spoke to another vet today who said she may have had a pinched spinal nerve. But that doesn't make sense to me with the wobbling and the falling when she shakes her ears too vigorously. But he said ear infection would mean she would walk in circles. Does this make sense? I haven't given her the zymox yet.

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I don't think that a cat with an ear infection will always walk in circles. That may happen, but you can't rule out an ear infection just because a cat does not walk in circles. The Zymox should be harmless for her to have, even if she doesn't have an ear infection, as far as I know. So, I would give it a try.

But, while you are saving up some money for additional tests, consider looking for another vet from a different practice, or a cat-only vet. A high glucose level can be from something as simple as stress, so retesting, as you are going to do, would be a good idea. Also, food issues will NOT always show up in blood tests.

Time for a second opinion, or just get a new vet. Your current one doesn't seem too interested.

The two different vets I saw last Wed both advised neurologist. And I understand this based on her symptoms 10 days ago but she has been behaving differently for almost a week. They asked for the hospital record where the neurologist 10 days ago thought she had a heart incident even though heart sounded good and blood pressure was fine. I tried to explain to this vet that the hospital info was not up to date and was less current than their info as they did the tests, not the hospital, but they insisted on seeing the records before changing their mind and possibly advising. I can't afford to take her back into them and pay for office visit if they are going to just refer out. If the Zymox is harmless, I'll try for that now. I am reading about natural antibiotics but am hesitant to try although surely the holistic vets must have some alternate treatments. At least, every day she looks like she is doing better--now we are after quality of life, where she doesn't have to struggle for balance.

update: She is now on her seventh day of Zymox-one drop a day. The first time I gave it to her she immediately got out of her shoebox and started laying on the floor, also went into the kitchen, opened up the fridge with her paws and pulled out some chicken from the bottom shelf and started eating it before I caught her.

After about 4-5 days, the wobbling was gone. She is eating and litter box, walking, some running, some jumping up.

I have yet to see her attempt the highest jump which is the tall bookcase but she jumped gracefully on a box this morning which was a few feet up. Less than a week ago, she was scrambling to get on top of it and a week before that, did not even attempt.

Woo, she just caught a fly that wandered into her shoebox.

She does shake her head sometimes but I think mostly after the ear drops, I will have to look more closely. When she shakes her head she does not fall.

I tested the urine strip this morning by placing it under her as she peed. Glucose and ph looked normal. There still, to my untrained eyes, seemed some proteinuria, similar to her test two weeks ago.
There is still some redness in her ear canal.

The zymox says to treat up to 14 days so I wonder if I try a few days more.

Since she seems to be improving, why not continue the zymox for the allotted time? Some infections can be harder than others to get rid of, so if 14 days is the recommended duration, you probably should complete it.

If she continues to improve with the zymox, it would be interesting to see if the vets would still think a neurologist would be the appropriate path to take.

The proteinuria can be caused by a number of things, an infection being one of them. If you haven't already read up on it, below is a link to an article about it that might help in your conversations with the vets.

Excess Protein in the Cat's Urine | petMD

Keep us posted!

FeebysOwner said:

Some infections can be harder than others to get rid of, so if 14 days is the recommended duration, you probably should complete it.

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I agree, you don't want to stop too soon. I'm SO glad to hear she's better!!

Thanks!

For the first time her nose stayed wet even several hours after a feeding, before this it would turn from wet to dry.

She curved around herself on the right side (the side where she had trouble) to wash herself today and was quite vigorously moving her head although I noticed that she would frequently stop and stay still for a second before continuing. I think maybe some nausea still?

She shakes her head a few times, not just after the eardrops, but also after eating or if I rub her ears, and she does still lose balance but she recovers, she is not falling.

Alot more movement from her, frequently getting out of her favorite shoebox to walk around--similar to her old behavior.

I am continuing the zymox--today the eighth day. I think we are past the neurologist diagnosis as it is clearly her right ear. The question is--will the zymox be enough. I will dose her for the 14 days recommended max on the bottle.

Thanks for the update! Things sound like they are headed in the right direction!

con said:

I am continuing the zymox--today the eighth day. I think we are past the neurologist diagnosis as it is clearly her right ear. The question is--will the zymox be enough. I will dose her for the 14 days recommended max on the bottle.

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A follow-up with the vet after the completion of the zymox seems to be your next step, IMO. Hopefully, the vet will rescind the recommendation to see a neurologist, and re-check her ear to ensure the infection is gone and that the ear looks healthy!

And, you can ask the vet if it would be appropriate to recheck her proteinuria, at that time - it may not have been high enough for concern. Also, let the vet know if the glucose level is staying in range with the testing strips you are using, in case they want to make a note of it in her records.

I dosed her for 13 days with zymox and alot of improvement, she can walk and run and she can make about 2 feet jumps. But she's not attempting larger jumps. And when it was hot and humid, the wobble came back.
I've been reading about unpasteurized apple cider diluted half and half with water and I'm thinking about trying that tomorrow.
Neither of the two vets called me back and though I somewhat understand it, I'm not trusting that they won't just refer out so I'd rather try what I can first.

You got to love a cat that can open the refrigerator and help herself to food! That made me laugh.

I have no contribution to make to anything everyone else has already said, I’m just glad she’s doing better.

Thanks! Yes, both of them are great. I left her alone for most of the day yesterday and when I came back, she was able to make the 2 foot jump but needed her paws for leverage and I thought maybe I could see slight leaning to the right side although if you didn't know something was wrong, you might not notice.

I gave her a few drops of the 50/50 a.c. and water and then fed her.

Big difference after that. Much less staying in the shoebox and this morning, she made the 4 foot jump to her tree, even before I fed her. I did notice while she was cleaning herself though, that she would stop and pause alot so I"m guessing still an infection.

I would like to give her the ac mixture again this evening but unfortunately, yesterday she scratched her ear before I could stop her and I could see a tiny scratch of blood, maybe an eighth inch. I don't see it today but the vet had told me in the past that it takes over 10 days for skin to heal. Maybe I dilute the a.c. with more water? I don't want it to sting so bad that she hurts herself and then we have a worse problem.

The other cat had his outer ear punctured by her before all this started and it had bled. Although he did not show any symptoms, I've been treating him also--zymox when she got zymox--and the a.c yesterday when she got it. I think, but am not sure, the redness did recede a little this morning .