11 week old kitten limbs temporarily stop working

[xcha]

Hello! I am hoping someone here can help us with what has been going on with our kitten.

We adopted Charlie at 8 weeks old about three weeks ago, he's 11 weeks old right now. He has been a healthy and energetic kitten up until a few days ago. He loves running all over the house on a daily basis and sometimes he'll even climb up our screen door. We have a lot of stairs in the house but he doesn't seem to mind running up and down them. He has also grown quite big for his age (he was the biggest of his litter mates). He seemed completely healthy and full of kitten energy, with an initial checkup at the vet to support that.

This monday (three days ago) we noticed that he started stumbling around. It started with his right rear leg, which seems to seize/lock up causing him to fall over. He doesn't really meow in pain and it doesn't seem like he feels any either. He just seems a little confused when it happens. A few minutes later he would be completely fine and is back to his normal energetic self. We took him to the vet on that day.

Our vet did a thorough physical checkup on his body and didn't come up with much in terms of physical trauma. His legs and spine are all fine. He passed all other regular physical exams performed by our vet as well and nothing seemed out of the ordinary with he questions he asked. While at the vet Charlie exhibited a new problem, which cause him to lose control of his hind legs and made him fall forward, with his hind legs over his head. The vet suspected a neurological issue but he did also find lots of flea dust on him, and sent us home with flea medication hoping it is the fleas driving Charlie crazy.

So we've given Charlie his flea medication. The first day after the vet he was fine and didn't show any sign of his leg issues, we were excited that it might have just been the fleas. But the day after his legs started acting up again, this time it looks like his right forepaw is seizing up as well, and he ends up tumbling over on the floor. He falls onto his back and can't seem to control his limb movements for a while but still tries to move around, and his claws extend and retract while this is happening. This happened about seven or eight times over the day and each time he would be walking normally again minutes later. He slept most of the day which is normal for him on rainy days.

Now it's the third day, he woke up with TONS of energy, and has been playing and jumping around from 5am to 11am He has a couple episodes seem to be a little less severe, his legs seize up and he lays on the floor for a minute but then gets right back up. We think he's slowly learning to not move around while he's having this experience. Today I've also noticed his head tremors when he's excited (especially when he is about to pounce) and his regular gait is a little wobbly.

We've been looking for answers on the internet since the first day this has happened, but I don't think we've found anything definitive. His symptoms resemble ataxia, but the symptoms aren't constant for him, so I don't know if that is it. We're most confused about this happening out of nowhere since he was completely healthy before.

We are between vet visits at the moment so I was wondering if anyone here could shed some light on our Charlie. My husband and I are both worried sick about him. Thanks for reading.

[CarolC]

He's a beautiful little guy, but what you are describing does not sound familiar to me. I hope someone else will perhaps recognize the description.

Over-the-counter flea medications can cause tremors, but I'm not sure the rest of the picture fits (intermittent) and you did not mention using any before the symptoms started. (I would never use an OTC flea medication myself, so I'm glad you got one from the vet.)

Wish I could be of more help! If you find out what it is, I hope you will post here, as it might help someone else someday and I would love to know.

Please note that there was another post recently somewhat similar, titled "Cat With Random Temporary Paralysis of Back Legs".

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18473

May I ask what state you live in? I will ask the other member, too.

[critters]

What a cutie! Could he be having seizures? It sounds like brain-neurological to me, although it's hard to tell without seeing them. Could he have gotten a head injury? Duh, he's a kitten, so YES!

It sounds like cerebellar hypoplasia (critter cerebral palsy), which could come from injury, poisoning, etc. Head tremors, especially intention tremors, are common. Maybe look up some videos of CHers moving around and see what you think.

[Melissaom]

thank you so much for this information