 Purred: Sat May 9, '09 6:36pm PST |
 | |  | | Well, don't be silly. Max has already been to two vets.
The first vet was completely perplexed. He diagnosed Max with diabetes and thought that the motor problem in his back legs might have been neuropathy. But after that vet almost killed him with a dose of insulin, the "neuropathy" traveled to his front legs and also changed his meow. That vet admitted that he was stumped.
I took him to a second vet who said he DOES NOT have diabetes, that likely his blood sugar was up that day out of stress. His blood work is all COMPLETELY normal. We treated with prednisone (in case he had brain swelling) and antibiotics, in case he had a bacterial infection that was not showing up in the blood. Neither drug helped. The vet ruled out spinal injury, so that leaves us with possible stroke, possible brain tumor or possibly something as weird as "coonhound paralysis". Max is thirteen, young by our standards, as all of our pets (cats and dogs) typically live to eighteen and beyond.
We do not have the kind of money required to diagnose with an MRI ($2,800-$3,200) or a spinal tap ($900+) as I am on a fixed income. Realistically, if he's got a brain tumor, we're not going to treat with chemo. IF he's got Coonhound Paralysis, there's nothing they can do for it but therapy, which we are doing already. If he's had a stroke, there's nothing for that but therapy. I'm thinking (and the vet has agreed) that if he's going to show any improvement (such as might be evidenced post- stroke, post-coonhound p.) we'll know within about six to eight weeks. It's been three weeks, and so far, no improvement...in fact, he's probably a tiny bit worse.
There are a lot of spiders where we live, so it's possible he was bitten by one, but I can't find any info anywhere about a spider bite causing these symptoms. He is an indoor cat, (whose outdoor excursions on our front porch are monitored)--so I feel like I can safely rule out poison, but who knows if he came into contact with raccoon saliva on something? We have a lot of coons around here.
A paralyzed cat is a new experience for me. I was simply asking who else had/is experiencing it, and what problems, diagnosis, etc. you may have gotten. I'm already doing everything for him that I can.
We are keeping him warm and clean and fed and watered and giving him physical therapy 3x a day and lots of love and attention. |  |  | |  |
|
| my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends | [notify] |
2
