Hello, I have a few questions regarding a paralyzed kitten.
Background: i work in a shelter in Germany and the kitten was brought to us 2 weeks ago with paralyzed hindlegs & tail. No obvious injuries and no bones are broken. What caused this is unknown. He already had atrophied muscles and slight missing fur where the joints craped on the ground, so we guessed whatever caused it was a while ago.
He doesn’t react if you pinch the hindlegs or tail, and he can’t urinate (he will loose urine whent he bladder is full) on its own and looses it’s faeces unvoluntarely. When at rest the legs will be bent backwards at the knees and a bit rotated, sometimes they spontaneously shiver and he extends/pulls in. I have started to move and massage his legs and place them “correct” position while he sits/eats. There is movement in there – but not conscious. If I touch between the toes they will spread, if I touch the inside ot the thighs he will stretch the legs and if I touch the underside of the foot he will pull them in and curl the toes. But it’s not controlled, more like reflex.
Is it a good sign that the nerves react to soemthing, even if not conscious? I wonder it braces could help him to keep his hindlegs from overbending/bending inwards when he runs/plays, so his joints/tendons don’t take damage from the constant “wrong” placement.
Our vet has not much experience with paralyzed cats, so i thought asking around doesn’t hurt. She is very sceptical that we can help him and is mostly concerned if he can’t urinate on his own. He currently gets medication to help his bladder to better contract – which seems to help somewhat. There is more tension in there and he reacts more when we express his bladder. He has a muscle tonus in his sphincter, too. But also no concious control.

I can add photos tomorrow, currently I only have a video that’s too big.

I’m open for any ideas. Thanks so much!

Kitten with completely atonic colon, possible causes? (Long text ahead)
So Nov. 3th in the evening we got 2 kittens, estimated 6 weeks old, thin. However due to being cold outside they already had very thick fur, so it wasn’t visible how thin they were. Weight was 550 & 650gr.
The finder said they have been more active before and only now they were able to get those two. They borrowed to live traps to get the mother and another kitten.
Both were seen eating. They were treated against worms (Milbemycinoxim/Praziquantel) and fleas (Lotilaner)
Nov 4th: Overnight everything was eaten, poo was solid. Kittens were responsive and alert. To the evening only half was eaten. Poo was still solid.
Nov 5th: Nothing was eaten over night, the little one seemed a bit weaker. I started to feed them with a syringe. They started with diarrhea, but that sometimes happens when feeding with a syringe.
Nov. 6th: They still don’t eat by themselves. The smaller one still seemed weaker, but otherwise it seemed fine. A bit diarrhea. In the evening I found it the litter box, not being able to stand, barely reacting. It hat vomited (at least it looked like it), and still had poo stuck on it. It was immediately brought to a vet. It received glucose solution s.c., something against vomiting, pain and an antibiotics. Lung sounded free, heart (ultrasound) was fine, too. A test of parvovirosis came back negative. I took both of them home that night, so I could feed it smaller portions more often and to give more fluids. 2 hours later to was able to stand again. I fed them every 3-4 hours, fluids every 6 (only small amounts obviously). It was lying on a warmth mat. The bigger one was fine, but avoided it’s litter mate.
Nov. 7th: No further improvement. None of them was eating on their own. The smaller one was still lying down most of the time, sleeping, but would react when I came to feed them. It would stand up and walk to the litterbox between the feedings, but the poo had a weird consistency. Not really diarrhea, but veeeery sticky, so it always carried it back to it’s sleeping place. So I had to clean it before every feeding. A test on giardia was positive, treatment started with Carnidazol. Continue to feed them with a Syringe and fluids for the smaller one. Fluids were always absorbed to the next feeding, but it still was a bit dehydrated (skin fold test). The bigger one would play in between and seemed fine otherwise.
Nov. 8th: No changes in the smaller one during the day, still weaker, able to walk, sit and stand, but sleeping most of the time. Today there was rarely poo in the toilet. I assumed that the treatment started working and it was a good sign (although I already had the feeling that something was wrong… wish I would have trusted that feeling). In the evening it seemed weaker, but would still accept being fed with a syringe. It felt different, less body tension, but would still walk away/go to the t. 10pm feeding. More calm, didn’t want to eat that much, peed on me. Meowed louder during giving the fluids than usual and tried to get away. 2am clock, the fluids weren’t absorbed completely, it’s abdomen felt like a sponge. I only fed a tiny amount. 6am weaker, would lie down immediately, breathing was shallow and faster, meowing, I didn’t feed it, fluids still not absorbed. Rushed to the vet.
-> Heart had a low frequency, breathing fast and shallow
-> X-Ray lungs were free, only a tiny amount of fluids in the abdomen, however the complete colon and stomach were filled with food. There was no visible blockage or air.
-> Ultrasound: Absolutely no movement in the colon/stomach, no blockage or air seen either. Kidneys and liver seemed fine
-> Punctation of the abdomen: ca. 3-4ml of fluids, lots of proteins, a bit of blood. Didn’t look like FIP. Possible that the fluids came out of the colon.
It was given something against vomiting, pain, antibiotics, something to help the cardiovascular system and something to get the colon moving again. To help with its breathing got a mask with additional oxygen. However in the next hour it got worse, so we decided to let it go. After it was gone food came back out of it’s mouth. And it didn’t even smell like it had started to digest.
It’s littermate is still with me and fine. It started to eat on its own yesterday.
Now I obviously ask myself what i could have done better/different. By now I think I should have started with additional syringe feeding earlier – at least with the smaller one. And I should have reacted when my feeling told me that something was wrong, even when there were no obvious changes yet. I somehow have the feeling that I sis something wrong and killed it. Did I give too much fluids (but lungs were free and only a bit fluid in the abdomen)? Did I feed too much? Other kittens eat even more without problems – and the other one is fine.
And what can be the causes for the complete stop of movement in the colon/stomach?
I know that FIP can cause this and an ileus (but there were no visible blockage, everything was filled with food), are there other causes? Can giardia do this?

Does Reflux in premature kittens exist?
I’m asking because we got 4 tiny premature kittens yesterday with their mother. She didn’t have milk when the were born, so the little ones were bottle fed/syringe fed the 2 days before they came to us.. However since she still showed interets in her babys they stayed with her. They had around 70gram according to their owner. When they arrived, they were cold and crying. One died a few minutes after they arrived, despite slowly warming up. It had tiny bits of milk in its nose.
(they were fed ca. 60 minutes earlier)

When they were finally warmed up two were drinking, one was fed with a syringe. All were urinating normally, one had a bit of bowel movements (yellow and soft). I placed them to their mother who was very worried about her babies and cuddled around them immediatly. She had a heat pad below her box to help keeping the temperature. She was extremly nervous, so I left her alone for the time being.
When I looked after them for the next feeding, the second one was dead. Milk around nose and mouth. I checked for cleft palate, but there was none visible.
The other two also showed no signs of a cleft palate. However, they felt cold again despite lying on their mothers belly.

I warmed them up again and this time I didn’t put them back – as it seemed that the despite mother and heat pad below they could’t keep their temperature. So they stayed in the box we use for raising kittens.

One was drinking, one was not. The none drinking was tube fed. When I looked after them a ca. 15 minutes later the non drinking one hat milk running out of its nose and mouth. I cleaned it immediatly and it started breathing again – but I guess it still got something in its lungs, as it died a few minutes later.

The remaining one was now warm, still urinating normally and drinking. But it couldn’t settle down. It was always crying and seemed restless. The next two feedings went normally – as dfar as that is possible with such a tiny one. When I wanted to feed it in the late evening I found it dead – a bit of milk running out of nose and mouth. It was the smalles one of them with only 67 gram.

I’m very worried that I did something wrong… They were not the first babys I bottle fed (or syring fed/tube fed). But it’s not like I’m very experienced… Usually the ones I get are at least full term… I only had one premature Baby before, that also died after 2 days. It had only 53 gram when being born – but it was with me since birth.
None of the babyies I cared lost as much milk through their nose – and especially not their mouth. The only ones that did this, had a cleft palate. The healthy babys may choke at some milk at the beginnig when they try to figure out the bottle – and may show a bit milk at their nose when doing so – but they never showed those problems. They were fine later,

These ones died more or less immediatly after I took them in – and that’s why I’m asking myself, if I did something wrong – or if I should do something different next time – as all of them showed milk at nose and mouth. The third one looked like it had spit our everything it drank earlier and the last one also had more than just a drop outside of nose and mouth. I only fed tiny amounts – ca. 1ml each feeding, to get them started, was that still too much? The previous owner said nothing about problems with feeding – and I used the same milk as them.

It seemed all aspirated milk because it came back out of their stomach (reflux).
I know reflux is not unusual in human preemies – but what’s with cats and is their a way to avoid that? (If that’s the reason for their problems at all). But if not why came the milk back up?

Has anyone experience for REM Sleep Disorder in cats?
Ezra is an ca. 8 year old female cat. When she was in our shelter she seemed to be somewhat slow in her movements/reactions. She also had a weird way to walk – she moved her front legs a bit like a prancing horse. She also was a bit wobbly on her feet.
Otherwise she was very affectionate and cuddly, always eating good and didn’t seem sick.
However very often in the morning we found her bed wet. When we were around she always used the toilet and we never saw her urinating in her bed.
When we gave her to the vet, they found out, that she already was neutered and had an urinary tract infection. It was succesfully treated, but the problem still remained.

X-Ray and Ultrasound showed nothing special, same with bloodwork.
Her movements most likely were due to ataxia. Wether due to an accident or if she was born with it nobody knows.

So we found a new home for her and we informed them about her “problem”. I had contact with the new owners and it turned out she only pees when she sleeps. It looks like she has a seizure while she’s in deep sleep and she urinates during that. She may fall down from the chair our wherever she sleeps on due to her rapid movements – and wakes up confused.
When she’s in such deep sleep it is hard to wake her up, but possible.

An MRI then was done without result.

Medication for epilepsy was tested, but she became very quiet and tired with them, without solving the problem, so they were stopped.

Des anyhone have ideas what could be done to help her? Ezra itself doesn’t seem to suffer from this, as she doesn’t realize she’s peeing. When she wakes up she just goes away. But the danger of falling down is still there. The peeing is also a problem, which is why she is not allowed to sleep on the couch or bed when nobody is around.

The owner uses special pads on her chairs etc. depending on Ezras sleep those sometimes are completly shredded.

Maybe someone has an idea how to help in this situation?

How much medication at the same time without damaging the bodytoo much?
So, we have a group of 22 kittens (6 months) and 2 mothers. All are treatet for ringworm (Microsporum Canis) and in 3 days are finished (only 8 showed symptoms, but since they all had contact, all had to be treated).
They were treated with Itraconazole (1 week treatment, 1 week break, 1 week treatment, another 1 week break and a last week treatment). Additionally they were bathed 1 once a week in Enilconazole.

Some of them are treated with marbocyl for cat flu right now (most likely Calici).

Additional they were tested positive for giardia and worms (Toxocaridae?) last friday after most of them developed bad diarrhea that smelled incredibly bad.
For the Giardia they get treated with Metronidazole (twice a day).
Fenbendazole is not an option, as it doesn’t help anymore most of the time.

So now I still need deworm them and make a flea treatment (as they have also fleas). I don’t want to do worm and flea medication at the same day – as that would mean that at least the ones with cat flu would get 5 medications at the same time.

Only two more days till the ring worm treatment is finished, so I thought of doing flea treatment the following day and deworming the day after that to spread the treatment a little.

Some of them are clearly not well right now, so while I would normally deflea/deworm at the same time, I’m a bit hesitant here.

What do you think?

What I have to add – one of the kittens died this morning without known reason. It was not extremly thin or dehydrated and acted normal when I saw it the first time this morning. When a collegue wanted to clean their room she called me because it would lie on the floor and couldn’t move. (I was like 20 meters away in another room) She said it made strange noises and lost poo (diarrhea). When I arrived it was already gone. The hair on his tail was poofed up, eyes/pupils wide, but no heart beat and breathing. I tried to bring it back, but without success.
It had no signs of being extremly sick. It was not affected by ringworm itself and hat no catflu. It had diarrhea, but ate well. It played, was active and so on. It showed no signs of liver problems (as Itraconazole could cause that) like yellow skin.

No one has seen what happened. I was thinking that it may has fallen off a wooden layer that are left and right to the door, right beneath the windows. The cats like to sit in it and look out the windows or wait for someone to come inside. But those are only like 1,20m in height.

So I’m even more worried that all those medicaton already was too much for that one :(.

Fancy Mouse and Tetracycline Antibiotics?

So I had a ca. 9 month old fancy mouse who started with an irriteted eye around 2 weeks ago. She was otherwise fine and healthy and had a weight of 32gram. She got eye drops twice a day for 10 days, but that didn’t help much.
So last Thursday (two days ago) I visited the vet again and she got tetracycline s.c. and I got some of it home, to inject it to her every two days additional to her eye drops.
So when I wanted to give it to her today, I found her outside of her hiding places cold and apathic. She rarely made trembling, seemingly non controlled movements with her head and paws, but couldn’t walk or rob. She didn’t really react when I took her in my hands. I rushed to the vet where she got fluids and vitamins (B12). Her weight was still fine and she was only a little dehydrated. I kept her warm and should keep her hydrated and try to feed her. She still died around 2 hours later, but she was her hiding spot, together with the other mice she lived with.
Is it possible that it was an reaction to the Tetracycline, that she maybe couldn’t metabolize it or something? It just came so suddenly without warning. Thanks for reading.

The kitten was born ca. 4 weeks ago. it had two litter mates, one was born dead: The second one was totally normal, but found dead 3 days later in the morning. It had a wet/sticky mouth, but otherwise everything seemed normal.
The last one had also a wet/sticky mouth a few days later (ca. 1 week age) with little blisters on its tongue. Otherwise it was normal, it still got enough milk from its mother.
With ca. 2 weeks the kitten and its mother showed symptoms of cat flu, and it was also seen that the kitten was staying rather small, but otherwise normally developed.

The vet prescribed amoxcillin for both mother and baby. And an ointment for the eyes, as they were also affected. After 2 days the kitten had to be force-fed because it couldn’t suckle anymore. But it could be fed with the syringe without problem and ate with huge appetite. This was going for one week, with it’s general state of health being okay despite the cat flu. It had some discharge on eyes and nose, but it was otherwise still active and aware. He really is a little fighter, despite staying rather small.

During last week it finally seemed to get better, until friday morning we found it with heavier breathing. One eye was fine, the other closed with discharge. It still had appetite though. On Sunday the breathing was bad, but it could still swallow.

Today the breathing is really bad, it has to use its stomach to breath and also opens its mouth to help breathing (but no real gasping). It has difficulty swallowing and seems to have mucus in its throat. The nose is mostly dry, only few discharge. The infected eye has now a cloudy cornea, despite the eye antibitoics. It is also very restless, walks a few steps, then lays flat down. It’s easily seen that it doesn’t get enougn oxygen.
The vet said it most likely has developed pneumonia. It got something that should help its lung with breathing, and I should continue to give fluids and feeding as long as it will/could swallow. Of course it still gets antibiotics.

What can I do to help the little one with breathing? Should I let it inhale?

Depending on how it looks tomorrow I may have to euthanize it, as I don’t want it to suffocate :(.

Hello,

I’m from Germany and I have a queastion regarding my ca. 25 year old cat. Her true age is unknown as we got her from a shelter. She was in good health and my vet couldn’t believe her age.
She was diagnosed with pancratic cancer in October 2014. It was a random find, as she didn’t show any symtoms.
It was already around 5x4cm in size and I decided for surgery with the option of putting her down if it looked to bad.

The tumor was a solid mass in the pancreas. Small nodules were found in the surrounding tissue, but alls the other organs looked fine. The tumor was removed, which was easy duw to not being connected too much to the surrounding tissue.
My vet told me that the prognosis was still poor, with most patiens not surviving more than 6 months after diagnosis.

Whisky woke up normally and had no problems with eating/digesting afterwards. She was totally fine until after 10 months – in July 2015 – a new small tumour was found, around the size of a cherry.
We decided to wait how fast it will grow, as she still showd no signs or symptoms.
Las Friday on August the 8 I could feel that the tumour had grown fast – now back to old size. I drove to the vet and he confirmed that.
I knew if it grew so fats she would only have around one month more if it would start to cause her pain, so I decided for surgery again. She still was fine, always wanting no live and don’t show signs of old age.

This time it looked bad. Upon opening her up she already hat blood in her abdomen. The tumour was necrotic, starting with „tyrosis“ and half of the pancras was infected. The tumor started to fall apart when he touched it. Addiotionally not only th surrounding tissue had metastases, also the peritoneum now had some nodules. The other organs still looked fine. My vet said it looked very bad, normally he would put her down now, as the progmosis now was more than poor.

I still wanted to try it, and he did his best. Sadly she died during the wake up phase. Most likely it started bleeding again and she died of blood loss.

My vet told me that she would have died during the next days either way due to blood loss and infection during the next days. I now ask myself if she would still life if I didn’t have decided for surgery.
Or is what my vet said right and she would have died the next days either way, with that thing falling apart inside her. I trust my vet, but I have the feeling that I’m resposible for her death, that I have killed her somehow.

If needed I can provide pictures of the masses.

Thanks a lot for reading this wall of text!

Shiria