Cat Has Apparently Unusual Symptoms, No One Knows What's Wrong

[sperry01]

Ok, so we finally heard from the neurologist at around 9pm last night. Biscuit did really well during her MRI, no complications from the anesthesia. Such bittersweet news. There was no immediately evident mass in her brain that he could see!!! He said that her lateral ventricles were/was (not sure if its multiple or one? lol) VERY VERY small. He said they usually are small in cats, but hers was almost nonexistent. He said this is usually a sign of extreme swelling in the brain, but that nothing else on the scans gave him the sense that this was the case. Of course the radiologist will review and send results back within 7-10 days, but he thinks that the radiologist will also agree that the images are "uneventful". He did do that spinal tap and said that her CSF LOOKED relatively normal, but also followed up with that is a moot point, because it will almost always look normal to the naked eye even if not, at least until things are VERY severe.

So that is a huge sigh of relief that there is no evident mass on her brain. HOWEVER, there still is a chance that there is something there, but would likely be much more inaccessible (ie, not a meningioma, which would have been the best possible case scenario for a mass). There are still several things that it could be -- infection or viral issues (toxoplasmosis, meningitis, a bunch of things I can't think of), or it could be autoimmune, or other things I can't remember offhand. Autoimmune can go both ways - depending on the type it can be very treatable or or it could be a very bad prognosis.
If all that comes back clear, then it sounds like he would circle back to her heart and speak with cardio to see what they think and how they would advise trying to rule out an arrhythmia.

Since her echo, EKG (very brief only 15 minutes), abdominal ultrasound, chest radiographs all came back clean, if the CSF and MRI are indeed clean, then she could just be a very rare case of idiopathic epilepsy. Apparently its rare in cats, especially in her age group. So I guess that would be good, but I don't know much about just plain epilepsy. I was hoping it was something else causing seizures that could be treated/cured and they would disappear on their own without having to medicate her forever. I'll have to read on epilepsy now I suppose.


Also, I confirmed they ran bloodwork on her while she was there and her ALTs were down to 129!! The upper "normal" is 130. So she is still "high normal", but definitely a vast improvement from the 488 in September!!! Her ALKP is still elevated at 137, but they seemed unconcerned about that.

Still don't see any tests done for her thyroid. At this point I guess it's probably pointless because literally every vet has told me it would not be her thyroid, but I will probably still have our vet run that test anyway next time she's in.

The problem with chalking it up to idiopathic is I think I will be forever worried that something was missed, ya know?

But I guess all in all, good news. She came home with us last night around 11:30, so we are all very tired! I will have to go home this afternoon to give her the Keppra which will be hard because its also been a very terrible week at work with terrible news just compounding, but she's home. yay!!

 

[sperry01]

Oh, the other possibility is that he still could not rule out some sort of lymphoma. I *think* he said that the CSF would usually be cloudy if she had lymphoma but not always... and I may be getting that mixed up with something else. Luckily my partner had the sense to record the call so hopefully when I play it back later the quality is good enough to listen to some of those details again.

I was completely prepared to hear tumor so when he said it wasn't I was completely disoriented and had tons of questions but couldn't get my brain to spit them out fast enough and didnt want to keep him, since it was so late. (seriously, what other specialist ever works until 11pm? I love the neuro department that they are so dedicated to take these trips to other facilities and then they actually come in on their DAYS OFF to do surgeries because they are so over scheduled.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

So glad she is home with you again!

I hope the radiologist's review comes back earlier than expected, and you can know more soon!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Well...let's just hope it's nothing deeper in her brain

I've got to ask this because I can't remember and don't want to really go back and read the previous two pages. The entire time she was at the hospital, did she NEVER have one single seizure? I'm thinking not. To me, this signals something that might be important. Could there possibly be something new in your home that might be inducing them? It would have to be something recent to the home, since they just started in again. Might be something worth asking your Vet about, if everything comes back totally clear. Particularly if she start having them again now that she's home. (of course, now that she's on the Keppra, that might not happen)

 

[sperry01]

mrsgreenjeens I have had the same thought as you. I have wracked my brain endlessly trying to figure out what sort of problem there could be in our house. After her first 4-5 (over a year and a half period) I realized that she was only getting them in fall/winter when we used a specific wall plug freshener that had clove in it. As soon as I realized clove oil can be dangerous to cats, we immediately got rid of all of them (even unopened ones) and actually have not used anything. I am very very anal about cleaning products, lotions, etc. I also make sure that we change out of our clothes when we get home so that we aren't carrying outside stuff on the furniture where they cats lay, etc.


Ugh, so now Biscuit seems to be recovering fine, but Jethro won't eat. Havent seen him eat more than a few kibbles in at least two days, hasn't used the litter box in at least 24 hours. we tried two different wet foods last night and he wouldn't eat any of it, just kept trying to "bury" it like a litter box. I swear I think these cats are trying to kill me

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

No change in laundry detergent, no NEW rugs, blankets, furniture, candles, anything? Perhaps even new clothing that she could be having a reaction to?

As to Jethro, it's very possible he's picking up on your stress, and the fact that Biscuit hasn't been there, etc. Cat's are very sensitive to what's happening in their little world, and obviously his little world is not right at the moment with everything that is going on with his "sister". As to trying to bury his food, one of mine does that often. He pretend buries it, then comes along and eats it shortly thereafter. Not using the litter box in 24 hours though, is worrisome. Stress can cause blockages, so you need to keep a very close eye on this

 

[sperry01]

No, no changes in detergent, we dont use candles, no new clothes.


When I went home this afternoon to do Biscuit's meds, I stopped and got 5 flavors of wet food and Jethro refused to eat all of them. I finally did see that he urinated in the litter box once this morning but still nothing else. He drank a little water, but no food at all.

Luckily we had a follow up scheduled for Biscuit today that we didnt need since the E-Vet just re-did her bloodwork already this week and it was fine, so we called our vet to "swap" our pets, and thankfully they are going to see him even though it's going to be a longer visit. He's also a VERY stressful cat at the vet and he's a big boy so it takes 2 people to hold him down so the vet can do his bloodwork. I feel bad springing him on them at the last minute but am grateful they are seeing him. Fingers crossed this won't result in another $$$$ E-vet bill.

I think these cats are determined to do everything they can to not make it the 30 day waiting period for the pet insurance.

 

[sperry01]

After a very stressful vet visit (for him), all of Jethro's bloodwork came back perfect and the vet said his physical exam found nothing obviously wrong. She thinks he's not been eating because of Biscuit/us being gone so much and also he didn't get his fluoxetine cream applied for 3 days earlier this week so she thinks he has been depressed. I know missing that medicine can do that, and we are usually very diligent in making sure he doesn't miss a dose, but I guess with all the chaos recently we somehow let it slip our minds.

$150 later, we got home from the vet and a short while after we finally got him to eat a few soft treats and then some catnip treats. Several hours later we found a pile of vomit. We think it was his since we gave Biscuit the wet food he wouldn't eat earlier in the day, which was beef so I think it would have been darker if it was hers. Also, as soon as I saw the vomit I remembered why we have never bought the catnip treats again -- they make him vomit. But I guess it's a blessing because there were several hairballs in the vomit, so I'm sure that added to his lack of appetite. He hasn't eaten a ton today, but definitely has eaten, so we are relieved.

Biscuit hasn't been hiding from me, yet. Which is surprising since I've given her meds every 8 hours since Thursday morning. Normally she'd be hidden away everytime she hears me. She's currently sleeping next to me and has been twitchy. I don't like that she's been twitchy in recent weeks, and I'm hoping if it's wrapped up in the seizure stuff that the Keppra will help. She's never been one to twitch when sleeping, and it started recently kind of here and there and now it's definitely become more frequent. Her whiskers twitch, she's chewing on nothing, her legs will randomly move almost as if restless leg syndrome in people. Sometimes her breathing will become deeper/more rapid. If she were much younger I'd think maybe it's dreams/nightmares, but it's just so uncommon for her that I feel like it can't be coincidental that it's started right as her seizures seemed to have ramped up as well.

Still waiting on radiologist report obviously and the CSF results, but I can't decide if I am hoping they find something or not. It would be great if they found something that they can cure/treat and this will all go away, but it seems like anything left on the table can be very good prognosis or very, very poor prognosis. And if they just rule everything out as idiopathic epilepsy, I will forever be paranoid at every little thing that they missed something.