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A couple of months ago, my mother took in a pair of kittens someone found abandoned in a puddle.
She sent me video of them and insisted they were very young because they were not walking. Their ears were pointy and their eyes had no film. Their legs were long, too. I insisted they were older. Something was wrong. As time went on, they were still unable to walk. They got around by sort of flailing their way to where they wanted, and over time, once my parents realized something was wrong, they gave the kittens therapy so they could walk, not well, but well enough to go to the litter box and food/water dishes easily. The vet said Cerebellar Hypoplasia with no MRIs or other tests, as those are quite expensive. I don't blame him that much. They seemed like CH kittens in every way.
Fast forward to a few days ago. One of them had a tonic seizure, seizing for hours. The other seized soon after, but only for a short time and quickly recovered. The first kitten could hardly move after her seizure, she was so weak. Despite the best vets in the state giving her anticonvulsants and the best care, she seized every day for days. An MRI showed no cerebellar, or any other neurological, abnormality. Everything treatable was tested for, every medication tried. Night before last I had a conversation with the vet because I'm the only one who understands all of the medical talk; along with everything I already knew, he said she was in her cage, lying on her side, somewhat unresponsive, paddling aimlessly, almost like a coma. Yesterday morning, the decision was made to let her cross the rainbow bridge and end her suffering. We fear her sister is not far behind. I have some education in medicine. I'd like to know why.
Here's what I know, and what it tells me:
A few thoughts from this data:
The thing that jumps out at me is that if it is something that can't be seen via MRI, it has to be microscopic, chemical, or electrical. I'm thinking of the third one as the culprit, because the motor dysfunction could be a result of a malfunction of their neuromuscular junctions, not allowing them to move as the brain tells them to. As time goes on, whatever is causing these electrical problems worsens and it affects the CNS, starting the seizures. Mental decline continues as seizures damage the brain along with the quick final stages of degeneration, until the kitten reaches a dementia like state, then death. So we could be looking for a neurodegenerative genetic disease affecting the brain's electrical signals, with no accompanying deformity visible via MRI.
The interesting thing is that they seized on the same day, hours apart. Even more interesting is that one pulled through, though my parents say they can already see her getting worse, just in minor ways, more slowly.
So, with the data I've gathered and idea I've put forth with my admittedly layman understanding of neurology, does anyone have any ideas? I know you can't make a positive dx over an internet forum, but any guesses, which I do understand are only guesses, would be welcome.
She sent me video of them and insisted they were very young because they were not walking. Their ears were pointy and their eyes had no film. Their legs were long, too. I insisted they were older. Something was wrong. As time went on, they were still unable to walk. They got around by sort of flailing their way to where they wanted, and over time, once my parents realized something was wrong, they gave the kittens therapy so they could walk, not well, but well enough to go to the litter box and food/water dishes easily. The vet said Cerebellar Hypoplasia with no MRIs or other tests, as those are quite expensive. I don't blame him that much. They seemed like CH kittens in every way.
Fast forward to a few days ago. One of them had a tonic seizure, seizing for hours. The other seized soon after, but only for a short time and quickly recovered. The first kitten could hardly move after her seizure, she was so weak. Despite the best vets in the state giving her anticonvulsants and the best care, she seized every day for days. An MRI showed no cerebellar, or any other neurological, abnormality. Everything treatable was tested for, every medication tried. Night before last I had a conversation with the vet because I'm the only one who understands all of the medical talk; along with everything I already knew, he said she was in her cage, lying on her side, somewhat unresponsive, paddling aimlessly, almost like a coma. Yesterday morning, the decision was made to let her cross the rainbow bridge and end her suffering. We fear her sister is not far behind. I have some education in medicine. I'd like to know why.
Here's what I know, and what it tells me:
- Normal MRI; Eliminates brain deformities
- Extreme motor dysfunction; something is keeping the brain from communicating properly with the rest of the body
- Healthy vitals until euthanasia; no involuntary functions affected
- Seizures, dementia/coma-like state, and death in late stage; neurodegenerative
- Other cats, including kittens, exposed, no one else sick (bad idea in hindsight, but they thought it was CH.); non-communicable
- Two sisters share a disease; genetic component
A few thoughts from this data:
The thing that jumps out at me is that if it is something that can't be seen via MRI, it has to be microscopic, chemical, or electrical. I'm thinking of the third one as the culprit, because the motor dysfunction could be a result of a malfunction of their neuromuscular junctions, not allowing them to move as the brain tells them to. As time goes on, whatever is causing these electrical problems worsens and it affects the CNS, starting the seizures. Mental decline continues as seizures damage the brain along with the quick final stages of degeneration, until the kitten reaches a dementia like state, then death. So we could be looking for a neurodegenerative genetic disease affecting the brain's electrical signals, with no accompanying deformity visible via MRI.
The interesting thing is that they seized on the same day, hours apart. Even more interesting is that one pulled through, though my parents say they can already see her getting worse, just in minor ways, more slowly.
So, with the data I've gathered and idea I've put forth with my admittedly layman understanding of neurology, does anyone have any ideas? I know you can't make a positive dx over an internet forum, but any guesses, which I do understand are only guesses, would be welcome.
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I have told my parents to just be kind to the remaining sister and give her love until it's time to end her pain. I wish it was just CH. I'm trying to talk them into adopting a pair of CH boys in Georgia (they live in eastern AL) but it's too soon. Those boys are at a no kill and people are slow to adopt special needs kittens, so I'm hoping after they've had the time to grieve, they can give these boys a good home. They worked so hard with Callie and Scooter. I know that they will be wonderful humans for these boys.
