Cat with slipped/herniated disc

[sophie1]

My 10 year old Siberian cat started to exhibit some worrisome signs: loss of appetite/lack of interest in meals, not running around like usual, and not wanting to play. The vet couldn't find any problems on exam, so he took an X ray. This showed a small area of high signal in one of the intervertebral spaces in his mid/lower back, indicating a slipped disc. It's calcified so it's probably been there a while. He's normally a very energetic and strong, muscular cat who likes to make big jumps of several feet, e.g. to the top of a high bookcase, and it's pretty easy to imagine him injuring himself when jumping down.

The vet sent him home with prednisone and gabapentin (the latter to keep him quiet and not too active). I went for liquid meds because my last experience with pilling him was a total disaster - he would foam at the mouth and spit up the pill. Liquid meds are no fun either, he also foams at the mouth and jerks his head, but I have managed to get most of the prednisone into him, not so much the gabapentin. He's definitely looking much better today, eating well and more active. I'll have to give him the gabapentin tonight somehow.

It looks like this is a rather rare condition for cats. I know that humans with slipped discs take around 6 months to heal. I've wondered about trying acupuncture after the course of prednisone. Any advice on how to manage this until it's healed? My vet is wonderful but he's off on vacation for 3 weeks so I'm kinda on my own for now. Also wondering if his breed (Siberian) are prone to this, or it's just bad luck.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that with a calcified herniated disc, surgery is needed to remove the bone from the area. Did your Vet not say this? With a regular herniated disc, it can often repair itself with time and sometimes physical therapy, but once the bone is involved, not sure how that can reverse on it's own. My hubby suffers from degenerative vertebral disease and has had 7 back surgeries so far, most of them for herniated discs and fusions, so I've seen many models of human spines. I would think it would work similarly for cats.

BTW, for the medication issue, I wonder if you could try pilling him by putting any and all meds in empty capsules first, then pilling him. That way there is no taste to cause that foaming at the mouth. Depending on the size of the pills, you can get empty gel caps fairly small, even on Amazon. Or you can see if you can get his meds compounded in a different form, perhaps transdermal gels that you can rub into his ear?

 

[silent meowlook]

I don’t know that this can be accurately diagnosed without an MRI. I would look into an exam with an orthopedic specialist or even neurologist if you have a specialty hospital you can go to or get referred to.

liquid Gabapentin is disgusting. I tasted it once when I saw that all the cats in the hospital were foaming after a dose. You would do better with the capsules in a pill pocket.

I am not sure how active you want him to be. I would be confining with no way he can jump.

 

[sophie1]

Thanks all! I've been managing ok with the prednisolone, now that he doesn't need the gabapentin anymore. Good info about that...I had tried pill pockets with him in the past, but that only worked once - and pilling him produced the same kind of foaming at the mouth and drooling. Good thought about using a capsule though, will try that next time. He's back to his usual active & hungry self, but I do notice that when he plays, he runs around a bit chasing the toy and then lies down to finish his play session without moving his back legs. So I guess he still has some pain with activity.

The calcification on the xray was just a small dot. My big concern is that it might actually be a tumor, but he responded so well to the course of steroids I happily think that's unlikely.

Not interested in the MRI & surgery route, not if this is an accurate diagnosis and the problem is limited to pain. It's not helpful for people in this situation and I can only assume it's no different for cats. So I'm planning to watch him over the next few weeks, and if he still shows evidence of pain I'll try acupuncture. That's what I did for my 87 year old mother when she had the same problem. I found a house-call vet acupuncturist in my area.

Still wondering how this happened in the first place though. I suppose it might have been an awkward fall or something, but this is supposed to be rare in cats. I guess that's the main reason to consider an MRI, to make sure of the diagnosis. Not sure what else it could be though. Will have to discuss with the vet (who is on a 3 week vacation...lucky I got Chai to him the day before he left).

 

[Margot Lane]

I just recovered from a slipped disc…think it took me about 8 days. Fom that experience I’d say acupuncture is a fine idea, tho I don’t know how you keep a cat still. The doc used a wonderful little hammer on me, but I’d doubt a cat would sit still for something like that. Could your cat have recently been in a car w/ no 4WD that jiggled him on rough roads? Did the acupuncture help your mom?

 

[sophie1]

Slipped discs usually take 6 months to a year to heal....if it was 8 days you probably only had a muscle strain. That's good!

Yes, acupuncture worked great for my mom. She had leg weakness but no way was I putting her through surgery, she has dementia and surgery would likely make that worse. I assume that vet acupuncturists know how to deal with squirmy cats....I imagine a mild sedative might come in handy, but simply petting or brushing him under the chin relaxes him nicely too.

The vet thought it was sorta funny that I was dealing with a cat and a mom with the same problem at the same time!