Weird Cat Problem

[thanatos0042]

Hello again everyone.

So, we have a cat named Bo, a domestic male short hair that is around 2 years old.

A year ago he developed a strange problem where he was so lethargic we rushed him to the vet. The doctors found nothing at all in any blood work, but his temp was low so we wrapped him up in a blanket with 2 heated water bottles. After about 30 or so minutes, his temp was fine and he was acting fine again. He slept for a day and was completely fine.

Over the next year or so this happened a few more times - rinse and repeat and he was fine again.

Today he did the same thing, only he wasn't QUITE as lethargic. As it happened, our regular vet was open so we took him there and she's never seen anything like it (and it's a cat specialty place). His temp was again low and she recommended we take him to a place where they get all the weird problems. They think he might have a neurological problem with his body temp.

This evening he started limping and can't seem to use his right paw very well. I've put him in a carrier with 2 heated water bottles and he is struggling to get out of it, all he wants to do is lie on the cold floor, which is out of the question since his temp was under 96 degrees earlier.

We have an appointment for the 15th with this place that was recommended, but that's a long way away.

Has anyone else ever had any experience with anything like this before? He is a rescue cat..him and his sister were left out on the sidewalk in the rain and they were brought to us, so we have no knowledge of what kind of medical history he might have inherited.

I always do just seem to come here for advice on sick or unwell cats, but this is such a great place for knowledge and otherwise, I just want to cry my eyes out for everyone's losses...ugh.

Any idea on what we can or where we might get some information could be helpful.

Anyway, thank you again for reading this and considering it.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
thanatos0042 - Has your veterinarian done a Vitamin B check - especially for Thiamine deficiency?
.

 

[Daisy6]

Did you see or feel anything weird in his right leg/foot that could have caused the limping? Which right foot are you referring to?

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.

Well, since we don't know Bo's thiamine level, I'll simply post this now:

Very few, "neurological problems," are associated with secondary hypothermia, but the one that comes to mind is Wernicke's Encephalopathy. It's cause in cats is generally thiamine (i.e. vitamin B1) deficiency in cats that are fed an all fish diet containing thiaminase (although one study completed about eighteen months ago showed thiamine deficiencies in cats who were fed dry food whose thiamine levels were below the National Research Council's minimum recommendation). That study - from the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery - is online here:

SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research

The paper you'll want to read before you see the specialist, however is this one - from the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine Volume 25; Issue Number 4:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.0747.x

showing the reversibility of thiamine deficiency-induced neurological secondary hypothermia a cat whose, "CBC and serum biochemistry profile did not reveal important abnormalities," but whose, "rectal temperature was 97.0°F."
.

 

[thanatos0042]

There was no Vitamin B check or Thiamine deficiency check - but would either of those show up in the blood work? which showed nothing.

She didn't do any tests while we were there. She checked a whole bunch of physical things, but didn't see anything she recognized as an issue.

I will check those links out...but he eats very little fish. We feed all our cats a combination of dry and wet food, Bo eats on both...it's all mostly chicken, turkey or beef. We try to avoid feeding our cats very much fish stuff.

I will forward that information along to see what she thinks though. Some of that stuff is way, way over my head in really understanding....though I do find it interesting.

Thank you very much for the information.

 

[thanatos0042]

oh and it's the front right paw. It doesn't appear damaged or anything and he is limping less today it seems, plus he seems more like himself. He's laying on my roommate's desk, instead of on the cold floor and curled in instead of in the "dead cat pose" and his breathing is good, but he is sleeping a lot.

If the pattern holds, by tomorrow he should be right as rain.

and also, he did get his rabies shot when we took him to the vet yesterday. He was overdue, but he never meets any new cats or animals and never goes outside.

 

[Daisy6]

Glad he is doing better. Rabies shots are always given on the back right leg in the United States, so you don't have to worry about that.

 

[silkenpaw]

Thiamine and vitamin B12 are tests that aren’t included in the usual blood panel, so Bo probably hasn’t had them done. I’m glad he’s doing better.

 

[Sonatine]

If they haven't already, try checking his thyroid levels? The thyroid is involved in temperature regulation, and if he's hypothyroid it could cause hypothermia. I know hypothyroidism isn't as common in cats as hyperthyroidism (and it tends to be more common in older cats), but with such weird symptoms it's worth checking out, maybe?

 

[thanatos0042]

Posting here to bring it back up - because poor Bo is having another attack.

He has continued to have them every few months, but they usually aren't so bad. Today he is having a really bad one, breathing with his mouth open, rapid breathing...

We took him to our regular vet 2 times
We took him to another vet 3 times (a 24 hour one we use)
we took him to a specialist vet (neurologist)

no one can find anything abnormal in his bloodwork or any scans they've doine.

We have him on a mostly raw-food diet right now and that actually seemed to stop the weird breathing and temp issues until today.

have him in the bathroom on a thick blanket, shower-hot and running to warm the room up and humidify the room, which usually works.

But I'm just at a loss on this one. We can take him to the vet again and may, but they never find anything. Nothing has ever been found abnormal in any test we've done.

 

[thanatos0042]

UPDATE:

I know it's been awhile, but I wanted to update this thread in case anyone else has a cat with a weird - lay down and want to die problem.

We mostly transitioned at this point to a Raw food mix is from Hare Today and comes with organs and bones ground up and the vitamin mix we get has taurine in it.

We started feeding him that regularly, though sometimes we have to use a mix-in, like Tiki Cat...but we have found that feeding him this in the morning and making sure he gets some wet food around lunch time and then either-or at dinner time and his "episodes" have gone down from every 3 weeks to a month, to every other month, every 3 months...and now maybe longer. Plus the episodes are not as bad and he recovers faster.

It took awhile for the food transition to start working on him, but he has greatly improved. It really does SEEM like it may be some kind of thyroid issue, but we spent a lot of time and money on tests and nothing ever came back.

 

[fionasmom]

Thank you so much for updating this! It is good to know that you have been able to resolve this. As for false negatives on tests, it is a possibility. It does not happen that much nowadays, especially with repeated tests, but I still swear that it happened to me with a dog with both Cushings and thyroid testing and I had one panel sent to Dr. Jean Dobbs.

 

[dnimriaa]

UPDATE:

I know it's been awhile, but I wanted to update this thread in case anyone else has a cat with a weird - lay down and want to die problem.

We mostly transitioned at this point to a Raw food mix is from Hare Today and comes with organs and bones ground up and the vitamin mix we get has taurine in it.

We started feeding him that regularly, though sometimes we have to use a mix-in, like Tiki Cat...but we have found that feeding him this in the morning and making sure he gets some wet food around lunch time and then either-or at dinner time and his "episodes" have gone down from every 3 weeks to a month, to every other month, every 3 months...and now maybe longer. Plus the episodes are not as bad and he recovers faster.

It took awhile for the food transition to start working on him, but he has greatly improved. It really does SEEM like it may be some kind of thyroid issue, but we spent a lot of time and money on tests and nothing ever came back.

Hello! I found this while searching for information on my one-year-old cat who seems to have the “lay down and die” syndrome.

Would you be willing to provide an update? Any more information on your experience? How your sweet babe is doing? Anything else you’ve learned about this crazy weird phenomenon? I would appreciate anything! Regardless, thank you for sharing this. It’s the only thing I’ve found on the internet that is similar
to what my Goose is experiencing.

Below I have a little info on Goose’s issue:

About a month ago, she spent the night at the ER due to being VERY lethargic and with a temp of 97 F. She recovered well after steroids and IV. Her gall bladder had a little bit of fluid so we rechecked her in a few days, and everything was right as rain!
About a month ago, she spent the night at the ER due to being VERY lethargic and with a temp of 97 F. She recovered well after steroids and IV. Her gall bladder had a little bit of fluid so we rechecked her in a few days, and everything was right as rain!

It seems as if we are experiencing a similar issue this morning. I woke up to her being lethargic again. Now I’m a prepared mom—had a thermometer at home so checked her temp. It was 98.5 F, so thankfully I caught it sooner

 

[dnimriaa]

I am on mobile, so my message was scattered. So sorry!

I meant to say as soon as I took her temp this morning, I’ve run to the vet again. She is currently getting blood done, but I would appreciate any insight or updates you may have.

 

[thanatos0042]

Hey there dnimriaa

On March 17, 2023 - Bo passed away in my arms from a seizure.
Here is the thread:
Bo, you were taken too soon. We miss and love you.

Thank you so much for asking how he was, this still brings tears to us (me and Bo's human - my roommate Midnight). We only hope he knew how loved and how much he is missed.

We realized very early that our baby Bo was not going to live as long as his sister (who doesn't share the issue). He made it for 6 years and he never got past having these issues of "lay down and die".

Ultimately - multiple vets - even neuro vets could find nothing wrong with him. We spent thousands of dollars to be told nothing was found and the only thing they could recommend was an MRI. We were quoted it would be at least $5000 and be very stressful for him and we were concerned it might be too much for him stress-wise. We found a few things to mitigate how often the episodes happened and we chose to give him that and spare him the constant stress of doctors and vets.

We started to feed him wet food anytime he wanted it and we also moved them over to a partial raw-food diet (you can find plenty of raw food diets for cats here and elsewhere). These two things seem to reduce the monthly episodes into every few months. Most of them weren't as bad either and didn't last as long (except the last one, which ALSO turned into a seizure from which he passed).

But they never changed - he lost body heat rapidly and got lethargic. We put a space heater in the master bathroom and kept warm blankets on hand - if he had an episode we gathered him up, wrapped him in the blankets, put him in the bathroom with the heather and also turned the hot-water on in the shower to up the humidity in the bathroom. One of us would wait in there with him while it got warm and humid, then we'd turn the shower off and the heater down and leave him in the quiet and semi-dark with food and water. This was as long as his breathing slowed down and he seemed okay, just tired. After a few hours or a day, he'd be normal.

I just couldn't put his body through a necroscopy and wasn't sure if they would find anything, so we just brought his ashes home. But, from the experience - the warm. humid bathroom helped. Vet trips never amounted to anything except fluids and warm water bottles pressed against him. He never had any symptoms that showed up in his blood (despite multiple tests). The food and raw foods whenever he was hungry - helped. We also wouldn't let him sleep anywhere it was cold, that just made us paranoid.

There's a decent argument to be made that it was something related to hypoglycemia or thyroid since his eating made a difference, but tests never proved it. There were thoughts he might have seizure issues and even with medication, he wouldn't ever have been an old cat.

I hope you find some wisdom and help from our experience. I hope Goose has a long and love-filled life with you and yours and that your vets have more luck than ours did.

Blessed be to you and your baby.

and let us know what happens - near term or down the road.

 

[fionasmom]

thanatos0042 Thank you so much for responding.

 

[thanatos0042]

it's no problem at all. I always try and help if I can - even if it's just to share a story.

I know I'm not much of a poster or participator, but beyond posting about the passing of my cats, I do try to look in when I can. I am perpetually ill myself, so I tend to focus on my cats and the ferals I look after (and we are up to 6 for this upcoming winter and at least 2 possums)

 

[fionasmom]

I was just reading your tributes to your other cats, and the iguanas. They are incredibly beautiful stories and show how much you loved and honored all of them.

 

[thanatos0042]

Thank you very much, I really appreciate those kind words. I find coming here to write our stories (their stories and mine - or my roommates) is very helpful for me and my soul. Plus, as long as the Internet exists, they will never be entirely gone and I find that comforting as well. But I do appreciate it, thank you...and I still miss them all, from as far back as I can remember.

 

[dnimriaa]

Hey there dnimriaa

On March 17, 2023 - Bo passed away in my arms from a seizure.
Here is the thread:
Bo, you were taken too soon. We miss and love you.

Thank you so much for asking how he was, this still brings tears to us (me and Bo's human - my roommate Midnight). We only hope he knew how loved and how much he is missed.

We realized very early that our baby Bo was not going to live as long as his sister (who doesn't share the issue). He made it for 6 years and he never got past having these issues of "lay down and die".

Ultimately - multiple vets - even neuro vets could find nothing wrong with him. We spent thousands of dollars to be told nothing was found and the only thing they could recommend was an MRI. We were quoted it would be at least $5000 and be very stressful for him and we were concerned it might be too much for him stress-wise. We found a few things to mitigate how often the episodes happened and we chose to give him that and spare him the constant stress of doctors and vets.

We started to feed him wet food anytime he wanted it and we also moved them over to a partial raw-food diet (you can find plenty of raw food diets for cats here and elsewhere). These two things seem to reduce the monthly episodes into every few months. Most of them weren't as bad either and didn't last as long (except the last one, which ALSO turned into a seizure from which he passed).

But they never changed - he lost body heat rapidly and got lethargic. We put a space heater in the master bathroom and kept warm blankets on hand - if he had an episode we gathered him up, wrapped him in the blankets, put him in the bathroom with the heather and also turned the hot-water on in the shower to up the humidity in the bathroom. One of us would wait in there with him while it got warm and humid, then we'd turn the shower off and the heater down and leave him in the quiet and semi-dark with food and water. This was as long as his breathing slowed down and he seemed okay, just tired. After a few hours or a day, he'd be normal.

I just couldn't put his body through a necroscopy and wasn't sure if they would find anything, so we just brought his ashes home. But, from the experience - the warm. humid bathroom helped. Vet trips never amounted to anything except fluids and warm water bottles pressed against him. He never had any symptoms that showed up in his blood (despite multiple tests). The food and raw foods whenever he was hungry - helped. We also wouldn't let him sleep anywhere it was cold, that just made us paranoid.

There's a decent argument to be made that it was something related to hypoglycemia or thyroid since his eating made a difference, but tests never proved it. There were thoughts he might have seizure issues and even with medication, he wouldn't ever have been an old cat.

I hope you find some wisdom and help from our experience. I hope Goose has a long and love-filled life with you and yours and that your vets have more luck than ours did.

Blessed be to you and your baby.

and let us know what happens - near term or down the road.

Oh, I am so sincerely sorry for your loss. My heart aches for you. I know what this is like, as I had to put my soul cat down last year. It is something I would never wish on anyone in this world. <3

I am wishing you the best and hoping you've found some peace.