Odd Behavior From Our Russian Blue

[droobilicious]

Hi guys,

Hoping you can help us with this one because we're worried about our little kitty.


Recently Mira, our 1 year old Russian blue suffered a broken knee. We're not sure what happened in the accident but we think she was fighting with her brother who is the same age but much bigger and trapped her leg in a gap whilst falling.

She had to undergo surgery to insert some pins into her knee and was crate bound for 6 weeks afterwards. She was given Metacam and antibiotics every day up until 3 weeks into this time. Very shortly after the metcam stopped she started having some very odd episodes which we had never seen in her before. They seem almost like mild fits where she seems to look straight through you (i.e. not focusing) and writhes around on the floor making low level groaning noises. This lasts a few minutes and then she snaps out of it like and is ok.

I have some videos of the episodes here:

Dropbox - Mira - Simplify your life


Over the course of a weekend these episodes got more frequent so we went back to the vet. She had nothing obvious wrong apart from a slightly swollen lymph node on her bad leg. They put her back on metacam and antibiotics and advised to keep her on them until her final post-op x-ray which was just couple of weeks away. Once she was back on the meds the episodes seemed to stop after this point.

Fast forward and she had her post-op xray, the specialist decided she didnt need to have the pins out so we got the all clear. She came off the meds and sure enough after a short time the episodes seemed to start again. They lasted a couple of days this time and seemed to stop. So she was out the cage and back to running around, off the meds, and no episodes... great we thought.

She seemed all good for a couple of weeks but then 2 days ago the episodes have started again. We are really not sure what to do now. It seems like maybe she is in pain when she's having them and if you touch her the groaning increases, even if you're not touching her bad leg but just her body, but then she will recover and seem pretty much like a normal cat again. Again though they are getting more regular.

The other thing to mention is that during her initial pre-op treatment, the actual op and then the post op xray she was sedated, anesthetized 3 times, we wondered if that may have affected her and she's only a little cat (about 2.7kg).

We not sure if the episodes are behavioral or there is a real problem there that we need to sort out, like maybe she's been running around too much and injured herself more, or maybe the pins are aggregating her. We think her breathing may have been a bit erratic during the last episode so it's quite a concern.

Obviously we're going back to the vet but it seems a difficult one for them to pinpoint.

Hoping someone has seen this sort of thing before or has some other ideas of things we could try.


Thanks guys


Andy

 

[mani]

Hi Andy and welcome to the site!

My Nilah is a tiny Russian who looks almost identical to Mira, so when I watched your videos my heart reached out even more.

It really looks as though it is something to do with the leg, the way she moves it. Do you get that impression? I haven't seen anything like it before except in humans... a family member gets a thing called akathisia if given intravenous stemetil (in hospital for nausea). I know it simply doesn't fit the history, but it makes someone incredibly restless, internally and externally and she gives that impression in the videos... as though she doesn't know what to do with herself.

The fact that the metacam helps perhaps indicates that it could be pain, but I'm sure you've been through all these things.

Perhaps another member has seen this, and has something to offer.

I really hope your vet can come up with some answers and stop this.

 

[theflash82]

In the videos, it looks like her leg is causing her pain/making her restless. She's probably breathing strange because of pain. I'm sure you've been to the vet about this but that's all I can come up with.

 

[silkenpaw]

Mira is lovely!

I don’t know how to put it together with history of it getting better with Metacam, but these could be seizures. Has anyone considered showing these videos to a neurologist?

I hope I’m wrong. Please keep us updated.

 

[droobilicious]

Hi,

Thanks for your replies guys. I've been back to the vet today (different vet) and this one agree's that it looks like it might be pain from the leg. We've been referred back to the specialist where she had her operation but going in for an xray tonight. My thoughts were always that it's from pain but the vets havent really been on the same page as of yet.

I will let you know how it goes!

Thanks for all your responses so far.

Andy

 

[silkenpaw]

Pain from the leg, as bad as that sounds, is better than seizures. I hope that’s what it turns out to be

Good luck to you and Mira!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I would get a second opinion on the leg, from a veterinary orthopedic surgeon, if possible.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hi,

Thanks for your replies guys. I've been back to the vet today (different vet) and this one agree's that it looks like it might be pain from the leg. We've been referred back to the specialist where she had her operation but going in for an xray tonight. My thoughts were always that it's from pain but the vets havent really been on the same page as of yet.

I will let you know how it goes!

Thanks for all your responses so far.

Andy

I don't know how I missed it but I just saw that you posted this reply (above) today. I'm glad you're going back to see the specialist! Are you in the UK? Is your specialist one of these surgeons? --
ECVS - European College of Veterinary Surgeons

I am not a vet or vet surgeon, but simply a cat owner whose cat has had two knee surgeries in 2016-2017. In your video clips, just from my experience with my kitty, it looks like your cat is having episodes of not being able to extend her knee, sort of like it is locking up into a 90 degree angle. She may or may not be feeling pain, too, but her movements seem to me as being her trying to figure out how to get her knee to work and move correctly. If the knee cap is not floating right in the groove, or if there is ligament or tendon pulls or damage, she might be having trouble. A surgeon can get a good idea of what's going on from seeing your videos and from a physical exam, but also (maybe beyond xrays) using CT and/or MRI scans. The more crate rest the better (my surgeon recommended 8 weeks, so your 6 weeks is close!), but the knee and the surrounding soft tissues, etc., can still be damaged if the cat gets too active or goes on "Zoomies". It takes up to a full year for a cat's leg to get back to normal, with the proper exercise and healing. The first 6-8 months can be a dicey time if you have a very active, rambunctious cat (like I did and do!). This is why I suggested going to an(other) ortho vet surgeon (not sure if that is what your specialist is), and maybe you can also consider having a CT scan or MRI done, if you are able to afford it. Sometimes xrays will not specifically show soft tissue damage.

Mira is lovely and looks strong and healthy! Hang in there, you are doing the right thing to bring her in to the vets and surgeons to get to the bottom of this!

 

[mani]

droobilicious good luck and please do let us know how you go.

 

[droobilicious]

I don't know how I missed it but I just saw that you posted this reply (above) today. I'm glad you're going back to see the specialist! Are you in the UK? Is your specialist one of these surgeons? --
ECVS - European College of Veterinary Surgeons

I am not a vet or vet surgeon, but simply a cat owner whose cat has had two knee surgeries in 2016-2017. In your video clips, just from my experience with my kitty, it looks like your cat is having episodes of not being able to extend her knee, sort of like it is locking up into a 90 degree angle. She may or may not be feeling pain, too, but her movements seem to me as being her trying to figure out how to get her knee to work and move correctly. If the knee cap is not floating right in the groove, or if there is ligament or tendon pulls or damage, she might be having trouble. A surgeon can get a good idea of what's going on from seeing your videos and from a physical exam, but also (maybe beyond xrays) using CT and/or MRI scans. The more crate rest the better (my surgeon recommended 8 weeks, so your 6 weeks is close!), but the knee and the surrounding soft tissues, etc., can still be damaged if the cat gets too active or goes on "Zoomies". It takes up to a full year for a cat's leg to get back to normal, with the proper exercise and healing. The first 6-8 months can be a dicey time if you have a very active, rambunctious cat (like I did and do!). This is why I suggested going to an(other) ortho vet surgeon (not sure if that is what your specialist is), and maybe you can also consider having a CT scan or MRI done, if you are able to afford it. Sometimes xrays will not specifically show soft tissue damage.

Mira is lovely and looks strong and healthy! Hang in there, you are doing the right thing to bring her in to the vets and surgeons to get to the bottom of this!

Hi,

Thanks for your reply it is really helpful. Some of this rings true, for example the vet mentioned that the knee didn't seem to be extending properly.

The specialist is not in that list but he actually retired the other day. Before he went though he has removed the pins from Miras knee (there were 3 of them and they seemed so big for such a little leg )
She's back in the cage for a bit now with her collar on while she's heals.

Didn't realise that it can take so long for it to heal fully. She definitely does get the "zoomies" so it's going to be difficult to make sure she rests enough to heal properly.

Kind of hoping that it was the pins that were restricting or aggrevating her knee but you never know. I think we need to give her some time to heal now and then see how she is. If there's still a problem we'll look at mri scans and /or other specialists.

Thanks again for your response. Great to see so many people who care!

Cheers

Andy

 

[mani]

Hi Andy.
Really hoping it's the pins; it seems quite feasible.
Please do let us know how she's going.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Glad to hear your surgeon took the pins out, it could very well be what was making her struggle. Maybe as she healed during the first months, some of her ligaments, muscles, tendons weren't jiving with the way the pins were placed. Except now, she'll be in the crate for a while yet!

After the first 6-8 weeks, we were told to let our cat out of the crate and let her "be a cat" but to try hard to only gradually increase to more running and jumping. I think 2 months-5/6 months post-surgery is the riskiest time for re-injury. We mostly concentrated on walking, walking, walking for our cat between 2-5 months -- limiting the running and jumping. I was in her face all the time to slow her down when she got too rambuncitous, as I'm at home and was able to "babysit". We leash-trained her and were able to do "indoor walks" in the hallway of our apartment building for months on end. I found that, in doing the walking "rehab", it was after about 5 months that she reached the point of having a stronger leg. I felt more comfortable letting her jump more and run more after that! I realize most people are not able to monitor the cat a lot post-surgery, so I was lucky in this (I retired early and am home a lot). But she's pretty young and I wanted the leg surgeries to "stick" so that she has lifetime of strong legs ahead of her.

Good luck to you and Mira and we're here if you need us!