Another aging cat question

I posted previously about my cat who is 16 years old and seems to have
arthritis. She had blood work about a month ago and nothing was
abnormal. Now, she has this weird thing she's started doing...4 times
in the last 3 weeks, she'll suddenly get really wide eyed and just
constantly sniff around her (my other cats don't smell
anything)...she'll do this for 10 - 20 minutes and the whole time,
kinda stagger around like she can't completely stand up. If we pick
her up and hold her for a little bit she seems to calm down....but
while we're holding her, her head twitches....almost like she's
starting to fall asleep but she's wide awake. I know I have to take
her back to the vet but has anyone seen anything like this?

Suddenly, without warning, The Other Mike exclaimed (5/25/2006 6:16 PM):
I posted previously about my cat who is 16 years old and seems to have
arthritis. She had blood work about a month ago and nothing was
abnormal. Now, she has this weird thing she's started doing...4 times
in the last 3 weeks, she'll suddenly get really wide eyed and just
constantly sniff around her (my other cats don't smell
anything)...she'll do this for 10 - 20 minutes and the whole time,
kinda stagger around like she can't completely stand up. If we pick
her up and hold her for a little bit she seems to calm down....but
while we're holding her, her head twitches....almost like she's
starting to fall asleep but she's wide awake. I know I have to take
her back to the vet but has anyone seen anything like this?

Although I have no experience with this... sounds to me like she might
be having a seizure of some sort. My understanding from reading posts
here for a long time is cat seizures don't always manifest like one
would expect... but the twitching and staggers worry me, I'd definitely
get her to a vet ASAP. It would be really helpful for the vet if you
can videotape when this is happening, so they can see exactly what you are.

jmc

First, my sympathy to you and your cat.

It sounds like some kind of seizure. I haven't seen the smelling
thing in cats. However, in humans, smelling a weird odor, especially
described like "burning tires or burning rubber" is a sign of a type
of brain tumor. I don't see any reason why these signs wouldn't
translate to animals, since they're pretty old parts of the brain,
that we share.

Weird smells are also reported by humans with sinus infections, but
that's more constant and there's no report of staggering with it,

Whatever it is, you need to get her to a vet right away. Some seizure
disorders in animals can be controlled with medication; and if it's
something really bad, at least you'll have accurate information to
help keep her comfortable.

I've had a couple of old cats, who basically died of old age or age
related stuff. Anything wrong in an old cat can be very scary, since
you love them so very much and you know they are so much more likely
than a young cat to have dangerous diseases.



On Thu, 25 May 2006 18:16:40 -0400, The Other Mike
wrote:

I posted previously about my cat who is 16 years old and seems to have
arthritis. She had blood work about a month ago and nothing was
abnormal. Now, she has this weird thing she's started doing...4 times
in the last 3 weeks, she'll suddenly get really wide eyed and just
constantly sniff around her (my other cats don't smell
anything)...she'll do this for 10 - 20 minutes and the whole time,
kinda stagger around like she can't completely stand up. If we pick
her up and hold her for a little bit she seems to calm down....but
while we're holding her, her head twitches....almost like she's
starting to fall asleep but she's wide awake. I know I have to take
her back to the vet but has anyone seen anything like this?

__________________________________________________ _

Camilla Cracchiolo
Registered Nurse
Los Angeles, California

webpage temporarily down

Thanks for the kind words...have an appt. tonight so hopefully they'll
be able to tell me something. Now I have to take my other cat of 16
years with me because he has a golf ball sized lump on his tail. UGH.

On Thu, 25 May 2006 18:16:40 -0400, The Other Mike
wrote:

I posted previously about my cat who is 16 years old and seems to have
arthritis. She had blood work about a month ago and nothing was
abnormal. Now, she has this weird thing she's started doing...4 times
in the last 3 weeks, she'll suddenly get really wide eyed and just
constantly sniff around her (my other cats don't smell
anything)...she'll do this for 10 - 20 minutes and the whole time,
kinda stagger around like she can't completely stand up. If we pick
her up and hold her for a little bit she seems to calm down....but
while we're holding her, her head twitches....almost like she's
starting to fall asleep but she's wide awake. I know I have to take
her back to the vet but has anyone seen anything like this?

In case anyone else has a similar problem in the future...got back
from the vet and she noticed a heart murmer in the cat. Thinks that
the lack of blood flow to the brain has something to do with it her
strange behavior....and also lack of blood flow makes her weak so she
just is too tired to walk around. Not much we can do about it but
keep an eye on her for signs of breathing difficulties...which I'm ok
with as long as she's comfortable and not in pain...that was my
biggest concern. Now my other cat with the lump in his tail...well
that's in a whole different post I just made.