Below is a small novel about the sweet 11 year old ragdoll in my profile pic. I'm looking for comments / experience with cats that had idiopathic vestibular disease (IVD) or a brain tumor. The things I find online about IVD seem to say that most everything is good in 3 days and in a week to 2 weeks it can be completely back to normal. Was that your experience? If experience with a brain tumor (I'm so sorry), was it a quick decline? How bad was it for the cat?
Small novel...
About a week and a half ago my 11 year old ragdoll started suddenly turning in circles and had trouble 'sticking the landing' when he jumped. He also had a noticeable head tilt and wasn't terribly interested in eating or grooming. I got him to the vet and they said it was either idiopathic vestibular disease or a brain tumor. They walked me through the options - referral to a specialist, an MRI / CAT scan, and then brain surgery to remove a tumor if that was what it was, or to try Prednisolone and see if that resolved it. They did say if I went with the Prednisolone, it would make later scans difficult. But they also stressed most often this is idiopathic vestibular disease. I went with the Prednisolone.
I didn't make the Pred decision lightly. Although I could find a way to afford anything for my cats, this beautiful, loving cat will not have brain surgery, that would be for me, not him. I had a cat previously that I put through surgery and recovery which involved a feeding tube for weeks after, it was awful for him, he was in pain and confused. It was my mistake that got him in that situation and my youthful stubbornness that had to 'make it right' and have surgery. Only a few short years later he had cancer in his mouth and I let him go although they said there was a surgery for that too. I tortured my previous sweet boy, and I promised him I would learn from that and never do it again.
Back to my ragdoll. The first few days after the vet were bad, but then it seemed like a miracle. He was jumping up on beds, going to the top of the cat tree, bathing and eating like a mad man. The head is still tilted but that seems from reading like the last thing to go or may never go. The vet tech called twice for updates, one of which was early this morning and they were glowing. The tech did say that if anything is going backward I might start to notice it as tonight was his last every-other-day tapering off of the pills.
So of course today I've noticed a few balance issues and weird behavior. I don't know if it is confirmation bias because the vet tech said I may start seeing things, or if it is real. He tried to scratch his neck and couldn't seem to get the back leg to do what he wanted, he looked frustrated. He tripped up a little when he shook his head (head shaking / tripping happened much more severely early on). But he had good signs too. He jumped on a rather high antique bed, and jumped 6 feet from a chair to an ottoman and stuck the landing. He also ate like crazy and had some cookies too.
But looking back I'm also trying to think if I can find irregularities in his behavior since lock down. Just before lock down in March, he had an upset stomach and didn't eat, but he got a shot of Cerenia and was fine. A week before he got sick this time he went to the vet also because his eyes were quite goopy. He has allergies and that happens every few years. Vet said I could give him some antihistamine and that seemed to clear things up for about a week before his circle episode.
I'm just not sure if I should be hopeful that the circling is over and he is doing much better in many ways or if the fact that he has any symptoms at all almost 2 weeks later basically means it must be a tumor and I should be steeling myself for the end of life decision. The vet had said if it was a tumor they could treat with the Prednisolone for a while, so basically it would be the same as what we've already done.
Small novel...
About a week and a half ago my 11 year old ragdoll started suddenly turning in circles and had trouble 'sticking the landing' when he jumped. He also had a noticeable head tilt and wasn't terribly interested in eating or grooming. I got him to the vet and they said it was either idiopathic vestibular disease or a brain tumor. They walked me through the options - referral to a specialist, an MRI / CAT scan, and then brain surgery to remove a tumor if that was what it was, or to try Prednisolone and see if that resolved it. They did say if I went with the Prednisolone, it would make later scans difficult. But they also stressed most often this is idiopathic vestibular disease. I went with the Prednisolone.
I didn't make the Pred decision lightly. Although I could find a way to afford anything for my cats, this beautiful, loving cat will not have brain surgery, that would be for me, not him. I had a cat previously that I put through surgery and recovery which involved a feeding tube for weeks after, it was awful for him, he was in pain and confused. It was my mistake that got him in that situation and my youthful stubbornness that had to 'make it right' and have surgery. Only a few short years later he had cancer in his mouth and I let him go although they said there was a surgery for that too. I tortured my previous sweet boy, and I promised him I would learn from that and never do it again.
Back to my ragdoll. The first few days after the vet were bad, but then it seemed like a miracle. He was jumping up on beds, going to the top of the cat tree, bathing and eating like a mad man. The head is still tilted but that seems from reading like the last thing to go or may never go. The vet tech called twice for updates, one of which was early this morning and they were glowing. The tech did say that if anything is going backward I might start to notice it as tonight was his last every-other-day tapering off of the pills.
So of course today I've noticed a few balance issues and weird behavior. I don't know if it is confirmation bias because the vet tech said I may start seeing things, or if it is real. He tried to scratch his neck and couldn't seem to get the back leg to do what he wanted, he looked frustrated. He tripped up a little when he shook his head (head shaking / tripping happened much more severely early on). But he had good signs too. He jumped on a rather high antique bed, and jumped 6 feet from a chair to an ottoman and stuck the landing. He also ate like crazy and had some cookies too.
But looking back I'm also trying to think if I can find irregularities in his behavior since lock down. Just before lock down in March, he had an upset stomach and didn't eat, but he got a shot of Cerenia and was fine. A week before he got sick this time he went to the vet also because his eyes were quite goopy. He has allergies and that happens every few years. Vet said I could give him some antihistamine and that seemed to clear things up for about a week before his circle episode.
I'm just not sure if I should be hopeful that the circling is over and he is doing much better in many ways or if the fact that he has any symptoms at all almost 2 weeks later basically means it must be a tumor and I should be steeling myself for the end of life decision. The vet had said if it was a tumor they could treat with the Prednisolone for a while, so basically it would be the same as what we've already done.