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Old January 26th 07, 10:47 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
yngver
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Posts: 109
Default 8 year old male with ataxia (wobbly back legs)



On Jan 25, 6:42 pm, "KrazyKatLady via CatKB.com" u31154@uwe wrote:
I know what you mean about vestibular disease. There are 1,001 causes for it
in HUMANS, 9/10 of which they cannot explain or treat (see: benign paroxysmal
positional vertigo, for instance), so why should it be any different for cats?
My sister-in-law had a severe inner ear virus about 10 years ago, and she
said that she still has vertigo from time to time. I myself had (and still
have) a balance disorder caused by fluid retention--luckily I can control it
with something as simple as potassium supplements.

The vet has him on prednisone right now (2x/day), and next week I will reduce
that to 1x/day. After that, she wants to see if there is any improvement
before she tries one pill every other day. If it IS a brain tumor, the
prednisone should reduce the fluid build-up, which is what causes the balance
problems.

This is weird, but I just have the strange "gut" feeling that we will have
him for 2 more years.

Yes, I have had benign positional vertigo myself. Same thing--came on
suddenly, doctor could find no reason, and it took a long, long time--a
couple of years, actually--for symptoms to gradually go away. But I can
still occasionally suffer sudden vertigo if I turn my head to the left
while lying down. Because I knew I how felt, I recognized some of the
symptoms with our cat.

Our vet prescribed prednisone and antibiotics for our cat too, which is
sometimes done with vestibular syndrome. I don't know whether they made
any difference, but as I said, she was getting better gradually anyway.
I hope in your case the prednisone does help, since it should reduce
any kind of inflammation.
-yngver