Cat with slow onset paralysis

[Wednesday]

**I accidentally posted this on the wrong thread a minute ago, removed it and am posting it here.

I have a similar issue with one of our cats, Wednesday, that ksdaddy had with Georgette which was posted last month. Wednesday could not walk well at first and within 3-4 days she could not walk at all. I spent all last week taking her to the vet 2x/day to have her bladder expressed. Once my husband got back into town we went to the vet again and she finally showed us how to do it. We are still learning. I am getting better at every day but not sure that I am getting it all out. I have to squeeze quite hard. We have been given medicine to make her bladder more relaxed, even the doctors had some difficulty.

Wednesday is eating well. She is not drinking much. She purrs and still loves to have her belly rubbed, more or less in good spirits, but she does seem irritated. I would be too if I could not walk or go to the bathroom on my own. My problem is that we just don't know what the problem is. It could be a spinal tumor as was the diagnosis for Georgette, but the vets also think it could be a partial saddle thromus clot. She defiantly has a heart mummer and an irregular shaped heart. If we treat with prednisone she could have a heat attack. I am so afraid of treating her for the wrong thing. Right now we are just giving her as much assistance as we can, moving her legs, massage, heat, expressing her bladder. We hope she improves because with our schedules we will probably not be able to keep up this level of care long term and then I am pushing my husband towards finding someone to adopt.

I guess i just wanted to hear from people that had a cat with this slower onset of paralysis, what diagnosis did you receive? If it was a heart issue did you try prednisone or just heart medication? I am sorry if I am asking questions that have been asked. I have been trying to read all the posts but I keep seeing more of dogs than cats. Thank you for any advice you can provide us. We are continuing to work with the wonderful vets we have too.

[CarolC]

I would be too if I could not walk or go to the bathroom on my own. My problem is that we just don't know what the problem is. It could be a spinal tumor as was the diagnosis for Georgette, but the vets also think it could be a partial saddle thromus clot.

Hi Wednesday,

I have not had your exact situation, hopefully some of the people with paralyzed cats will be along soon.

If there is a saddle thrombus, one or both feet might be cold due to poor circulation, did they check that?

I do not understand why prednisone would cause a heart attack, did they explain that?

[Wednesday]

The vet checked the feet the day I was there but that was the day she completely stopped walking. My husband took her at first and the vet just did X-rays and boodwork. Her feet have been warm according to the vets, they hooked up a blood pressure thing to her feet and found a good pressure, she has had a pluse in her feet too. The fact that she had progressive paralysis and never made anyoud screams makes me not think it was a saddle thrombus.

The vet said that because of her heart condition the prednisone would put her at risk for bad side effects, including heart attack. I would hate to treat her with it have it end up ending her life. It's just so hard to know and we have two other cats so we can't spend thousands on pursuing a diagnosis with specialists, especially because either option is incurable.

Thanks for your response. I hope more chime in.

[critters]

Hmm. It doesn't sound like a clot to me either, but I swear I'd seriously consider a short trial of pred to see if it helps or not. My first guess would be spinal arthritis or another spinal problem.

[FYI]

http://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Express_a_dog_or_cat

[Diana R.]

I really think you need an accurate diagnosis of the reason for the paralysis (possibly see another vet) and I was unclear as to exactly what kind of heart condition Wednesday has. My cat Simon who is 8 years old has paralyzed back legs(he was born that way); he also is incontinent and I have been expressing his bladder 3 times a day now (more when he was months old) since I got him in August 2002. (I also have another cat whose bladder I express 3 times a day.) You DO get the hang of it after doing it again and again. For me it is fairly routine and takes a couple minutes, like brushing my teeth every day. When he was 4 years old Simon was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart---the risk of course with this diagnosis is that they go into heart failure and die. Simon went to a cardiologist to have an accurate diagnosis and prescribe treatment. Typically this involves an ultrasound of the heart. He also had a blood test done which checks an enzyme or hormone called NTproBNP. The concentration can tell the risk of the animal going into heart failure which is what we really want to know. Prednisolone or prednisone is typically a no-no for animals with heart conditions. After several ultrasounds and the BNP test (which indicated that heart failure was unlikely) it was determined that Simon had right-sided heart enlargement related to respiratory issues. He has asthma. He initially was prescribed benazapril and remains on that. He was and still is on terbutaline and an inhaler (flo-vent) for his asthma and about 3 months ago was put on a low dose of pred to reduce the inflammation which helped significantly in clearing his lungs.

So long story short you really need an accurate diagnosis of both Wednesday's leg and heart problems---it may be a situation where she is able to take pred for her legs.

Also I saw her picture on the rescue board and she is a beautiful cat. When you say hospice this suggests to me that she is dying. She may have a lot of years left and a lot to give. My cat Simon is a registered therapy animal and the kids who see him love him and while I worry about him each day, I will be very thankful if I can have him another 8 years.

I hope things work out for you and Wednesday. Again I would consider seeing another vet (including a cardiologist if you don't have a specific diagnosis of her heart condition) who may give you an accurate diagnoses of what is wrong and how to treat her. Diana