Two sister kittens in rescue, both with differing neurological issues

[sarah_hallstein]

Hi! I am a volunteer with my local cat rescue, and we have two 7 month old girls that have been stumping our vets. While we would love to have MRIs done on each kitten, that is financially not a possibility with our little rescue. I am not asking for diagnoses, just your thoughts of "maybes..." I will list each kitten's symptoms first, followed by the complete family history, and pictures of each if I can attach them. This will be long, but I want to be thorough.

Gia (DLH Orange/White) symptoms:
- Cloudiness of corneas in both eyes, began at 4 months old. We tried various drops with no luck. The vet has said it is degenerative.
- Slight, occasional head tremor
- Complete blood panel done two weeks ago with all measurements in normal ranges.
- Typical appetite
- Typical energy level
- Extremely social

Dory (DSH Orange) symptoms:
- Ataxia, began at 5 months old, is progressive
- Difficulty making it to the litter box in time, but I am hesitant to say "loss of control of bowels" because she definitely feels she needs to go, she just can't get there quick enough.
- Complete blood panel done two weeks ago with all measurements in normal ranges.
- Typical appetite
- Likes to sleep, but also loves to play
- Very friendly

Family History:
Gia and Dory were surrendered at our local animal control with their mother and 2 sisters as newborns. Almost immediately, staff took the 4 newborn kittens away from their mother and placed them with a surrogate mother who had her own 4 kittens. They apparently did this because birth mother was sick. To my knowledge, birth mother either died or was euthanized at the shelter due to illness. Our rescue pulled the surrogate mom, Godiva, with her 4 black kittens and her adopted 4 orange kittens. Shortly after, Godiva's birth kittens became ill with URIs, and one-by-one, they passed away despite our efforts. That left Godiva and her adopted 4 orange kittens. When the kittens were about 6 weeks old, Godiva developed pneumonia. She passed away at the vet's office. Of the 4 orange kittens, 3 were typically sized for 6 weeks, and one was half the size. She went home with a foster, and also passed away.
That left 3 kittens: Mattie, Dory, and Gia. For awhile, things were normal. The girls had a typical URI, with Gia and Dory recovering quicker than Mattie. The girls were combo tested for FIV and FeLV (neg/neg), spayed, and received FVRCP and Rabies vaccines following a typical timeline. Mattie stopped grooming herself, she developed a second URI, and she did not recover despite antibiotics. Her main neurological symptom was ataxia. We took her to the vet and ran bloodwork, which came back indicative of FIP. Having dealt with the disease before, we chose to euthanize her before she began suffering further.

Gia and Dory are otherwise healthy kittens. They love running, playing, and cuddling, and they adore their food. Again, I am not asking for any diagnoses. I just want your ideas of possible things it could be.

Thank you!

 

[Jcatbird]

I’m glad you are giving them so much care. The combination you list could be caused by a great many things. Although I have cared for many kitties with health issues as well as birth defects, I can only share here what I know from a human child but I believe it relates. Medications (possibly including some vaccines) might cause this. Damage occurring as a result. Brain damage and Cerebral palsy. Other toxin exposure and even just genetics but I am mainly wondering about genetics and lack of oxygen during kitten developement, delivery or even shortly after. Knowing that the Moms all got sick or were sick also adds the element of disease but that could be coincidental or part of a loss of oxygen. Only a vet can really tell. I know that kind of testing takes a lot. The thing I would like you to keep foremost in your mind is that with young ones like this, even the most educated predictions about the brain cannot tell us how a life will proceed. Given love and encouragement, they can surpass any and all predictions. Happy, loved and comfortable are the things most important. Thank you for all the love and care given to these beautiful sweet ones. I speak from personal experience, the love returned is as pure and wonderful as it gets. Please do update us.

Hopefully, someone with greater experience will come along and respond to this but please don’t give up. Hope can produce amazing results sometimes. We welcome you, Dory and Gia with open arms.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I agree completely with Jcatbird , especially the remarks that it could well be either genetic or a prenatal incident that caused all of these symptoms. I can tell you that, even with the issues that you have listed, in the right home, these kittens have a good chance of a happy, relatively healthy life. Their lives may be shortened to one degree or another, but THEY CAN BE HAPPY CATS for whatever time they have! Thank you for your care for and of them! We need many more people like you in this world.

 

[denice]

I know that if a cat has panleuk while pregnant the kittens often have neurological issues but they aren't degenerative. That is the only idea that I have.