Any advice for neurological disorder

[Punkyismybby]

So punky has been having these neurological episode of lately. You can read below the time line of everything along with her symptoms. I did some research and thought maybe it was an ear infection or vestibular disease of the ear. I took punky to the vet today and the vet suspects toxoplasmosis or a seizure disorder. Punky was prescribed 4 weeks of antibiotics and a follow up appointment in 2 weeks. Vet said there's no way to have a sure diagnosis without a CT scan or mri (which i CANNOT afford at the moment). If antibiotics don't work vet reccomends possibly seizure medication and I'd imagine running some tests. Is there anybody here that has experienced anything similar or has any advice? My worst fear is that it may get worse over time. Punky is doing fine as of now and is her happy bubbly self. I guess I'll just have to be patient for now and see if the medicine takes care of it. But if another episode happens then we know there was no infection after all. Sigh. I'm stressed.

First time:
5/20:
The day before punky acted kinda weird doing mouth movement like chewing motion and wasn't as happy/bubbly as normal but she was fine otherwise so we just kinda let it go and then the next day is when everything happened.

5/21:
Loss of coordination, could walk but falling and stumbling
Eye moving back & fourth horizontally
Doing weird chewing movement w mouth
Vomiting
Slept and didn't eat for a day
Took about 4 days to get back to normal. After 7 completely recovered.
Totally normal afterwords but left w head tilt to her left

Second time:

7/2:
The day before, the mouth movements began again. Then for like 10 seconds she like involuntarily stiffened up almost like when you're cold and shivering, you dont see it on the outside but can feel it on the inside like the chills. idk how to describe it. Only lasted for a few seconds, 10 at the most. Then she went back to normal everything was fine. Kinda foreshadowed another episode happening again bc of all that.

7/3:
About 5 am
Loss of coordination again, could barely walk this time
Weird mouth movement again
Drooling this time
Vomiting this time but less than last time
Rapid breathing Went back to normal about 2 hours later
No Loss of appetite this time
No horizontal eye movement this time either
Still has head tilt
Fully recovered by noon (7 hours later), Been normal happy chirpy ever since

 

[Furballsmom]

I guess I'll just have to be patient for now and see if the medicine takes care of it.

I don't have any experience with this, but wanted to send you both all my love and prayers

 

[FurryMonsters]

The weird mouth movement that is like chewing and/or drooling are usually signs if nausea.
Eyes moving back and forth suggest severe dizziness.
Have you investigated vestibular syndrome? It could be caused by an infection of the inner ear, so antibiotics are a good bet. It could also be a tumour that either affects the inner ear or the brain stem. There are other possible causes, too.
Hopefully it's something that the meds will sort out. Sending you and Punky best wishes and lots of love
Please keep us updated on how she gets on

 

[FurryMonsters]

Oh, and antibiotics take a long time to work in ears! In my cat it took 2 2-week courses to deal with an ear infection! So don't panic if she has another episode, just please stay in touch with the vet.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am not a vet, but toxoplasmosis shouldn't be something that 'comes and goes', unless whatever caused it in May, caused it again in July - or the organism is still somehow prevalent in your/her environment, leading to a recurrence. Testing can be done for the parasite that causes this, but there are some tricky particulars about it as well. Read the section on 'Diagnosis' in this article for specifics related to testing, and the rest of the article just to familiarize yourself overall including typical symptoms.
Toxoplasmosis in Cats | Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

I hope this helps in some way, at least in terms of getting to the bottom of this issue with Punky.

 

[Punkyismybby]

I am not a vet, but toxoplasmosis shouldn't be something that 'comes and goes', unless whatever caused it in May, caused it again in July - or the organism is still somehow prevalent in your/her environment, leading to a recurrence. Testing can be done for the parasite that causes this, but there are some tricky particulars about it as well. Read the section on 'Diagnosis' in this article for specifics related to testing, and the rest of the article just to familiarize yourself overall including typical symptoms.
Toxoplasmosis in Cats | Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

I hope this helps in some way, at least in terms of getting to the bottom of this issue with Punky.

Thank you for the link. I just read the article. You brought up a very good point about how it doesn't come and go and cats pretty much being immune after infection. I will bring that up to the vet. Maybe the vet suspected a secondary infection? Idk. This is all so stressful. Thank you very much for the advice and well wishes

 

[FurryMonsters]

I was thinking that toxoplasmosis was a strange diagnosis to come up with based on these symptoms...
Is Punky an outdoor cat that hunts? How old is she?

 

[Punkyismybby]

I was thinking that toxoplasmosis was a strange diagnosis to come up with based on these symptoms...
Is Punky an outdoor cat that hunts? How old is she?

I was thinking the same thing! She is 2 and indoor. The vet came to toxoplas or siezure disorder based on her symptoms that I described. She said we pretty much have to guess because imaging is the only sure way to diagnose. She told me there is a test for toxoplasmosis but it is $250 and I'm so broke right now . I've been doing a bunch of research since I got back today and have so many questions I wish I would've asked. Her symptoms sound more like maybe a middle ear infection or some kind of manifestation of vestibular disease - which can be in the ear or the brain. Maybe the antibiotic will still take care of the problem if it does turn out to be a middle ear infection or some kind of secondary infection in the brain. If she has another episode after she completes the antibiotics then I guess it clearly wasn't any kind of infection. I wish I could afford the CT scan but it's just soooo expensive.

 

[FurryMonsters]

Hello,
How is Punky doing? Has she had any more episodes?
I know what you mean, when I go to the vet's I end up forgetting any questions even if I knew what I was going to ask! I've now started writing any questions I have down and taking them with me... And yes, tests and scans are very expensive