Precious has been having trouble jumping up

[avemaria02]

Hi everyone. I have an 8 year old Domestic Short Hair cat named Precious. She is a female and is spayed. She has not been declawed. The only surgery she has ever had was to get her spayed. She does have chronic ear allergies which cause her trouble with her balance sometimes if she has a cold.

Anyway, I have noticed that she doesn't seem to want to jump on to the arm of the couch which is only about 2 or 3 feet off the floor. This has been going on for about a month now. Often when she does jump up here she doesn't make it all the way and so she grabs on with her claws and then climbs the rest of the way up.

So, I am just wondering, what could be causing this? She does not show any other symptoms other than the jumping thing. She doesn't limp around or anything. I am wondering if its possible that she has arthritis in her joints and so she is hesitant to jump or to jump strongly because it hurts. I have also thought it might be possible that she is hesitant to jump because she is afraid of losing her balance.

One example of the balance issues is like if she is on my desk sometimes if she is too close to the edge she will start to fall and I have to catch her. She has had the balance issues since she was about 4 years old when she had a very bad ear infection that she had to be treated for. Ever since then I have to clean ear ears out with cotton swabs once a month or every two weeks depending on how her ears are bothering her. The veterinarian told me that her ears bother her because of ear allergies that she will have for the rest of her life.

So, what do you think could be causing the problem with her jumping up a few feet?

 

[mservant]

Hi, it's  shame you are noticing Precious is more reluctant to jump recently.  She is a lucky cat to live with someone who notices changes like this and looks to find out what is happening for her.  

From what you say it could well be that her balance is affecting her, either as loss of confidence as she finds she is less successful and perhaps falls when she does jump, or because there is something happening with her ears at the moment that has resulted in her balance feeling less secure.  I am assuming from your description that there are no other signs that her balance has got worse though.  Has she seen a vet recently, or shown any more regularity in any signs of her ear problems such as shaking or tilting her head, or scratching / pawing at her ears?

She is getting more mature at 8 years so she may be starting to get a little stiff.  You might notice a change in her gait, like her back  legs appearing a little stiff or holding her back more arched and looking stiff?  Her tail might be held more still and perhaps not upright as much.  Also, she might be sensitive and not wanting you to tough her over some of her joints, but this is not always reliable due to the level of pain cats tolerate before they show us anything is wrong.

Have you noticed any changes with her eyes at all?  Are they as light responsive as they were? Sometimes as cats mature, and with some other conditions they can get as they age, eye sight can be reduced and if it happens suddenly it can take them a bit of time to familiarize with their environment so things like judging jumps can be harder.

Hoping other people have other ideas for you.  If you continue to see this change in her, or any other little things that suggest something is happening for her I would certainly think about taking her along to the vet for a check up.  If she has any joint pain there are quite a few things vets can suggest of prescribe now that help with it, and could check out to make sure it isn't anything else happening which is affecting her balance further.

 

[avemaria02]

Hi, it's  shame you are noticing Precious is more reluctant to jump recently.  She is a lucky cat to live with someone who notices changes like this and looks to find out what is happening for her.  

From what you say it could well be that her balance is affecting her, either as loss of confidence as she finds she is less successful and perhaps falls when she does jump, or because there is something happening with her ears at the moment that has resulted in her balance feeling less secure.  I am assuming from your description that there are no other signs that her balance has got worse though.  Has she seen a vet recently, or shown any more regularity in any signs of her ear problems such as shaking or tilting her head, or scratching / pawing at her ears?

She is getting more mature at 8 years so she may be starting to get a little stiff.  You might notice a change in her gait, like her back  legs appearing a little stiff or holding her back more arched and looking stiff?  Her tail might be held more still and perhaps not upright as much.  Also, she might be sensitive and not wanting you to tough her over some of her joints, but this is not always reliable due to the level of pain cats tolerate before they show us anything is wrong.

Have you noticed any changes with her eyes at all?  Are they as light responsive as they were? Sometimes as cats mature, and with some other conditions they can get as they age, eye sight can be reduced and if it happens suddenly it can take them a bit of time to familiarize with their environment so things like judging jumps can be harder.

Hoping other people have other ideas for you.  If you continue to see this change in her, or any other little things that suggest something is happening for her I would certainly think about taking her along to the vet for a check up.  If she has any joint pain there are quite a few things vets can suggest of prescribe now that help with it, and could check out to make sure it isn't anything else happening which is affecting her balance further.

She has had a bit of a runny nose lately and she's been shaking her head a little so I assumed she had another cold or that her allergies were bothering her. Its possible that her ears are bothering her if she has a cold. She was shaking her head more often a couple of days ago but that has calmed down a lot now.

I think perhaps it has to do with her ear allergies or it could be that she is stiff. I have not noticed any other changes. I definitely haven't noticed changes in her eyes but I don't really pay that much attention to her eyes.

I am going to keep watching her and see if I notice anything else. She does have a veterinarian appointment at the end of December for her booster shots so if it is still occurring by then I will definitely let him know and see what he thinks. It doesn't seem to be a severe problem though. I honestly think its either her ears or possibly she's just stiff as you said.

 

[mservant]

If she's had a cold and been shaking her head a bit it sounds most likely that it's her ears and balance in the way you have experienced before.  If she has had a couple of accidents or wobbles it may well be affecting her confidence as well.  If you feel she is getting better and not concerned about her cold getting worse it is a good idea to ask your vet to check her joints when you see them.  

As she gets older it is worth paying more attention to her eyes, esp as she shakes her head due to her allergies and that might mask some signs of other conditions.  It didn't happen with my cats until they were about 15 but worth knowing about.  I didn't realize it and missed when my cats started to show symptoms of other illnesses which had affected their sight.  With one of them she had slight kidney damage and very high blood pressure but they couldn't decide which condition had caused the other; either way it was her loss of sight that brought them both to my attention.   Both my elderly cats lost their sight gradually so walked and jumped about just as they always had.  Their pupils just got less reactive and stayed more open as their sight deteriorated.

 

[avemaria02]

If she's had a cold and been shaking her head a bit it sounds most likely that it's her ears and balance in the way you have experienced before.  If she has had a couple of accidents or wobbles it may well be affecting her confidence as well.  If you feel she is getting better and not concerned about her cold getting worse it is a good idea to ask your vet to check her joints when you see them.  


As she gets older it is worth paying more attention to her eyes, esp as she shakes her head due to her allergies and that might mask some signs of other conditions.  It didn't happen with my cats until they were about 15 but worth knowing about.  I didn't realize it and missed when my cats started to show symptoms of other illnesses which had affected their sight.  With one of them she had slight kidney damage and very high blood pressure but they couldn't decide which condition had caused the other; either way it was her loss of sight that brought them both to my attention.   Both my elderly cats lost their sight gradually so walked and jumped about just as they always had.  Their pupils just got less reactive and stayed more open as their sight deteriorated.

Oh okay. Thanks for the information MServant. I appreciate it.

That said, I do feel she is getting better with her cold. I am going to keep a close eye on her for the time being and see how she does. If necessary, I'll take her to the vet.

Also, thanks for the information about eyes and health. Is there a recommended way to examine her eyes such as using a flashlight?

 

[mservant]

With the eyes, once you know about it it's kind of obvious, the pupils just don't react to light like they should, they start to stay open more even when it's quite bright daylight or in strong electric light.  I posted a couple of pictures of my girls in the 'show me your eyes' thread- showing them when they were younger and then when they were older and their sight had gone (or started to go). I commented on their sight in the post.   

I think if I'd known about it I would have taken Pal to the vet a few months earlier than I did and her high blood pressure might have been caught earlier. She might have preserved more of her sight and had healthy kidneys if I'd been more aware.  Although the vet wasn't sure I'm pretty convinced the high blood pressure caused the kidney dammage as her blood pressure was seriously high and they said it was amazing she hadn't had a stroke.    BTW - Pal was very arthritic hence my knowing what the gait can look like.  My friends' kids used to call her the robot cat!

 

[mservant]

Just thinking, when her balance isn't so good, have you thought about giving her little stepping stone stages to be able to climb up to the places she likes rather than needing to be lifted or getting stuck down at floor level?