Cat Facial Paralysis

Neurological Disorders Resources. Treatment and care for pets having pain or trouble walking or standing due to spinal injuries or neurological disorders like IVDD, FCE and DM.
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hellomystar
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Joined: Tue May 22, 2018 10:40 am

Cat Facial Paralysis

Post by hellomystar »

Hi everyone, I need some advice on rehabilitating my cat who is newly paralyzed. Lillie is 10 years old. Around three months ago, she started having bad ear issues. We took her to the vet where they cleaned them and gave her steroid drops. We learned that she has a bad case of polys which grew in a spiral around her ear drum, causing her to be deaf in that ear. She felt better but then stopped eating, dropping food from her mouth, not blinking one eye. We took her back and learned that the polyps were progressing and that she had two teeth that needed to be pulled. The vet pulled two teeth and removed some of the polyps, but the others were too deep. She recovered from the surgery well, but can't move one side of her face. The vet told us that the polyp growing in a spiral caused nerve damage in her ear. She was given Prednisone, but it didn't regain any function.

She was doing great until I left for a week on my honeymoon. Now, she doesn't want to be active. She eats but has no motivation. She is losing muscle mass because she doesn't want to move around. My mom took care of her during this time.

I've decided that she's probably depressed because I'm gone and my mom doesn't have enough time to spend with her, so she needs to move in with me. I was trying to wait until we moved into our new home, but I can't leave her until July.

My husband has a year old cat, she is very spunky and loves to run. She likes to play with his dog (outside dog). I plan on letting Lillie live in our bedroom while they adjust to each other's smells.

Does anyone have advice to regain Lillie's muscle mass and helping the two get used to each other? I thought about playing with a lazer pointer with her.
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BendyMom
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Re: Cat Facial Paralysis

Post by BendyMom »

Before worrying about introducing the cats I would be worried about her attitude. She should not rapidly lose muscle mass from inactivity. Has she improved since she has been back with you? How long has it been? Anesthesia can stress the kidneys, and kidney problems will lead to decreased appetite, general depression and loss of muscle mass especially in the hindquarters.

I would seriously get her checked out again and run labs to check her liver and kidneys, any kind of noticeable muscle mass loss is a huge red flag for that.

Sounds like the polyps did some damage to the transgeminal nerve before it branches into the main facial nerves, glad she is able to eat. How is her balance?
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hellomystar
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Re: Cat Facial Paralysis

Post by hellomystar »

Lillie had surgery almost a month ago. We took her back because she just wasn't herself since the surgery, and the vet told us it was because of the facial nerve damage from the polyps. She had been on the upturn the week before last, active and more social, but I noticed she'd been drinking a lot of water. She is quite unbalanced, but she can walk, jump to the second tier of her cat tree, and get in and out of her tunnels. Our bed is really high and i haven't tried to let her jump onto it, but she jumped off and lost her balance, so I've set her down each time she wanted off. What could the anesthetic have done to her kidneys? What should I ask for? I feel that she has very mild muscle loss because her haunches are a lot skinnier than before this whole ordeal. It just baffles me how quickly my sweet girl went from being active and happy to being sick. I'm terrified that the surgery made her worse and that it's all my fault. I feel hopeless, especially since shes made this bad downturn since I went on our honeymoon last week.

Last night I went ahead and moved Lillie into our home because she was doing so poorly. She had used the bathroom on her cat tree, and hadn't ate, which worried me. Last night, she wandered around our bedroom and then ate nearly two pouches of food (after giving her 1/4 of an appetite inducer about an hour before). She slept with us, and is very vocal about wanting attention and love! Today, she hasn't had any medicine and ate a can of food. She's also peed twice in the litter box which made me very relived. She didn't have a weak flow or strain. She's visited with us, nosed around while I cleaned, and napped in her little cube. She's doing a lot better than she was at my mom's. Could it be that she had separation depression from not seeing me for a week? She's still not feeling great, but shes happy to see me and is eating and using her litterbox again.

Pebble has the rest of the house to herself, but she isn't happy about Lillie being here. Lillie isn't paying any mind to it. They haven't met, and won't for a while, because Pebble is being very pouty.

If she doesn't perk up soon, I'm definitely taking her back to the vet. I'll ask them to check her liver and kidney levels. The two vets I've seen see nothing more to do for her. They say that she is unbalanced due to the nerve damage and the polyps irritating her ear (and they're deep). My friend that is a vet just said that cats can live many years with her condition. Removing her ear canal is an option but it may not fix the problem and there's no hearing left to save in that ear. I also don't have thousands to spend on that and don't want to put her through that trauma. They prescribed a steroid ear drop to use once a week, but each time I used it, her ear hurt and bled. I skipped the last week and it hasn't bled. So I want to ask them about that as well. She also definitely needs drops for the eye that she can't close.

Here is my pretty squinty eyed baby. This was when she was doing really well the week before last.

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Bendy Kitty
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Re: Cat Facial Paralysis

Post by Bendy Kitty »

if ear drops make the ear bleed i would definitley stop them and talk to the vet about it. that shoudl not happen.

steroid therapy is usually the treatment, i'm glad she is doing so much better with you!

here is an article I found.
if it is just inflammation around the nerve from the surgery there is a chance she might recover, but that takes time. A steroid would help as it reduces inflammation. Maybe you coudl ask about an oral steroid since the ear drop is not working, also the ear drop isn't going to help the entire nerve. I'm surprised they didn't give you any ointment for her eye! Yes she definitley needs to keep that eye lubricated. Cats don't blink often but they do blink and need to be able to.

if she keeps acting ok and eating, then likely she was depressed, I woudl watch her closely.

https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/tr ... l-neuritis

Introducing cats is often tricky, they are jealous creatures. You hubby's cat might benefit from getting a calming diffuser, I have used them to help with anxious/upset cats here. they are a plug in and give off a pheramone that we can't smell that makes a cat feel at ease. A calming collar is another option depending on how the cat feels about collars.
In loving memory of Bendy Cute Kitty 9/15/00-4/23/12

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BendyMom
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Re: Cat Facial Paralysis

Post by BendyMom »

somehow i logged in under my old account of bendy kitty, oops.
it's still me, The Bendy Mom.
http://www.alittletlc.com

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Bendy Kitty
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i am not the same without you.
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critters
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Re: Cat Facial Paralysis

Post by critters »

:whale: Curiously, my Kiki is also a polyp-former, and she has one in her ear. Hers will (hopefully) be removed soon, and I was afraid of something similar happening to her. I agree about checking into pred to help the nerve inflammation. Glad she's feeling better!
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