Kitten with brain damage? (long!)

[Debbie-Spain]

I have some friends in Mexico who take in cats. They found this cute little girl on 6 June, she was 2-3 days old, and they bottle-fed her(Whiskas Catmilk). She fed well but on 22 June had some kind of attack, basically she was limp and lifeless, eyes open but glazed over, for about 3 hours. They thought she was dying, that perhaps they hadn't fed her properly. But next day she was bright and lively, better than before the attack. On 27 it happened again, worse this time, they took her to vet who
said there was little hope of saving her, and gave her shots of antibiotics and vitamins, but was lost as to what to do. He said that she might have a congenital heart problem that meant blood was not getting to her brain which made her fall into a comatose state, and that it would get worse and she would probably die during one of the episodes. That such a condition could be operated on but not until she was older (not quite sure how he made the diagnosis).

Next day she was fine again. She had another "attack" on 3 July, again lasting about 3 hours, then great afterwards, even more alert than beforehand. In fact, all of her "learning steps" (using the litter tray, feeding alone, etc. have come right after one of the attacks.)

She had two more on 6 July and on 10. Since then she has had no more. They think she has some kind of brain damage, also, if you look at the photos you will see that her pupils point upwards and inwards. They say that she can get up on a chair but then she can't get down again because she can only see upwards. She also has some kind of anxiety attacks, where she bites and scratches, which calms down if they give her food, even though she may have refused food a few minutes before (there is always
food available).

He says that she doesn't have typical epilepsy type symptoms with convulsions and foaming at the mouth etc. but that if he tries to pull her out of her trance she goes into light spasms, kicking her legs out, occasionally she will get up and walk a few steps, whilst totally absent, then fall over again.

I would be grateful if any of you with experience with brain-damaged cats can give me any pointers for him. Their basic worry is that she may die during one of these seizures. I am surprised that she is "out of it" for so long, apparently limp and lifeless for about 3 hours.

The good thing is that the attacks seem to be getting further apart.

I will try to post a photo with this message, but if it can't be seen, you can see several photos of her on:

http://es.photos.groups.yahoo.com/group ... yahoo.com/

The first photo shows the eyes problem.

Thanks for any help

Debbie




[img]http://es.photos.groups.yahoo.com/group ... Colima&.sr[/img]

[Debbie-Spain]

Bendy, how do you send those messages with several photos in them?? I can't even manage to add one!

Debbie

[crittersz]

I want to see more of this little cutie!

[Alisa G]

Hmmmm-it does sound like some sort of seizure to me.
Could bee poor nutrition---Whiskas Catmilk is not complete nutrition for cats or kittens. It is basically a treat. They need to get this kitten on KMR or kitten foo asap!!
I would recommend blood work. That would definately show many of the damages from poor nutrition.

There are links about feline epilepsy,hydrocephalus etc, on the link Di's Feline Health links on Trixie's Page...

Trixie's Page

[critters]

http://www.handicappedpets.com/Gallery0 ... x.htm#link

pics

[Debbie-Spain]

I was thinking you needed to have id and password for the particular site, but I think its just for Yahoo Groups in general. If you're not already on any yahoo lists (handicats specialneedspets, chkitty, etc,), you can go to http://groups.yahoo.com/ and register there. it only takes a minute and is free.
After that you shouldn't have a problem. The same password works for English and Spanish speaking lists.

If you do stil can't get in, all I can think to do is mail them to you,

Debbie
Debbie

[critters]

nm

[Debbie-Spain]

Dont't know why, because it's configured as public access...

See if you can get in this way:

http://es.photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/clubdekat/lst

Then click on the folder that says "Colima"

Pls let me know if it works
Debbie

[Bendy Kitty]

KMR, kitten vitamens, the spanish equivilent of NutriCal (high calorie & vitamen gel).

Mimosa and Ghiradelli do best with "rest" periods, where they are in a crate and their world is limited. Sometimes there is too much going on for them to process. This will send Ghiradelli into the twitching spasms and Mimosa will get very very grumbly and snarl at everything.

Sounds like her motor co-ordination is ok, tho I am clueless as to what is wrong with her eyes! poor little girl!

bloodwork, top nutrition, and lots of patience!

purrrs
Bendy

[Debbie-Spain]

I asked a few more questions and it turns out that the last seizure episode was whilst she was on that Catmilk stuff, since she moved on to kitty food (Whiskas canned kitten I think) she has had no more seizures. They are going to try her on the Nutrigel or Nutrical anyway, to supplement. They are a bit annoyed that the Whiskas Catmilk doesn't say that it is not a complete food for kittens, they thought they were doing the right thing!

If it does turn out that the seizures were due to some kind of nutritional deficiency, then really the only other condition she has is the eyes problem. I have been looking around but haven't found any pictures of eyes like hers. They both point upwards and inwards, and seem to be stuck that way. It causes her problems with getting down from chairs etc.

Will keep researching to see if I can find anything...
Thanks Bendy and Alisa for the input, very useful

Debbie