Anyone ever have their cat faint (syncope)? What was the outcome/cause?

[FrothOnTheDaydream]

I swear, the universe absolutely hates me. I feel like I could melt down at any moment. We are dealing with a possible bile duct cancer recurrence in one cat, and then the other night, we had a horrifying experience with our other cat who is otherwise healthy.

Let me preface by saying that we are going to our general vet tomorrow for x-ray, BP reading, and blood work. We have an appointment with a cardiologist in another city on March 6. I'm pretty broke at this point, lol. Beans and rice for meals!

This all happened around midnight when, of course, our ER vet is closed. Nothing was amiss. She was playing with a shoe string on our bed. Then, she came to see me but started staring straight ahead with dilated pupils. Then she went as limp as a noodle. She didn't fall to her side all at once or go stiff. She slowly just....swooned to her side. There was no meowing, no stiffness, no urination or vomiting, and no shaking. I panicked and picked her up and tried to put her on her feet, but she was very unsteady like she couldn't hold herself up. Then, BAM, perfectly fine. She seemed freaked out and ran away. The rest of the night she was normal and has been normal since then.

I checked her resting breathing rate soon after, and it was normal. I listened to her lungs, and they sounded fine. I checked her gums, and they were a nice pink colour.

I'm panicking because I CANNOT find a single thing online about this being anything other than advanced heart disease. Her blood test and x-ray and check-up in December were perfectly fine...HOW is this possible!?

Between this and my other cat who either has recurrence of cancer or cholangiohepatitis, I'mat the end of my rope.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi -
This member posted a thread that their cat fainted. I have no idea if it will be of any help to you;

My 7 year old Persian collapsed while playing, he is fine now but I'd like to hear some opinions

 

[Mac and Cats]

Something similar happened to my cat a few times, but it doesn't sound like they would be the same situation at all. We had an 18 year old CKD cat who had started passing out and would fall off the back of the couch or things like that. It turns out he was anemic and had a low white blood cell count. We were able to get a few more months with him using the Darbepoetin injection to create more white blood cells. I suppose a cat can be anemic without the CKD though? Hopefully the blood test will give you some answers. I hope that whatever the case may be that it is an easy fix!

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't know hold your cat is, and it may not really matter. But, typically heart disease, unless genetic, would not be an issue if she is younger. To me, this sounds more like it could have been a seizure of some sort. Why did you come up with heart disease?

There are so many things, as you can see from the responses you have so far received, all you can do is start the investigative process with the vet.

Sorry you have so many things going on at once!

 

[FrothOnTheDaydream]

I don't know hold your cat is, and it may not really matter. But, typically heart disease, unless genetic, would not be an issue if she is younger. To me, this sounds more like it could have been a seizure of some sort. Why did you come up with heart disease?

There are so many things, as you can see from the responses you have so far received, all you can do is start the investigative process with the vet.

Sorry you have so many things going on at once!

Thank you! So, our vet agreed that usually these fainting spells have cardiac origins. We ran a complete blood panel which came back perfect. Chest x-ray showed nothing amiss, and our vet did not identify a heart murmur while listening to her heart. However, she does agree that a complete cardiac workup is necessary, so we will still go see the specialist.

She does not think it was a seizure based on the nature of the episode -- she was limp rather than stiff, she had a quick recovery, there was no movement during the episode (absence of shaking, twitching, etc.). The brief neuro exam she did was also unremarkable.

Fingers crossed that we either find an answer when we see the cardiologist, or we find out that nothing is wrong with her!

 

[FrothOnTheDaydream]

I don't know hold your cat is, and it may not really matter. But, typically heart disease, unless genetic, would not be an issue if she is younger. To me, this sounds more like it could have been a seizure of some sort. Why did you come up with heart disease?

There are so many things, as you can see from the responses you have so far received, all you can do is start the investigative process with the vet.

Sorry you have so many things going on at once!

Update! She had her appointment with the cardiologist last week. Everything came back PERFECT. Her ultrasound, EKG, blood pressure, neuro exam, blood work, and chest x-ray were all normal. The cardiologist did not recommend follow-up at this time and, based on the way the episode presented itself, she does not think it was a seizure. She does believe it to be an episode of syncope without known cause. She said that it might have been a one-time thing as it hasn't happened since. She had an ear infection at the time, so, who knows. We're just happy that she got a clean bill of health!

 

[Furballsmom]

Such good news, and I hope the ear infection doesn't recur

 

[FrothOnTheDaydream]

Such good news, and I hope the ear infection doesn't recur

Same here! It was yeast and bacteria in both ears. The vet said she has narrow ear canals, so it's possible moisture gets stuck in there. We will be extra careful drying her ears after baths. She was on 10 days of ear drops. They were drops that contained a medicine for both the yeast and the bacteria as well as prednisone. She seems to be doing well now! They no longer bother her.

 

[Furballsmom]

I think one of the TCS articles suggests gently putting cotton balls in their ears ...
It's this one;
How To Safely Bathe A Cat: The Complete Guide - TheCatSite