My youngest cat is ill…we have known for a long time that she had some sort of neurological issue, her back legs have always been weak…weak enough so that she falls over when she is petted. She can’t jump down from anything…even the bed which is not high. Last night, my husband had her on the island in the kitchen and he was giving her some treats. She suddenly stiffened and stood on her hind legs (he was supporting her so she did not fall), her pupils were completely dilated and unresponsive and she was incontinent of feces. Once before, she was incontinent when she was left on a table and she could not get down. I took her into my room and put her on the bed and later she went to the edge of the bed which is her way of signaling me that she needs to get down. I lifted her and set her on the rug and thought she might want to go to the litter box. She dragged herself there and put her front paws into the box but could clearly not lift her back into the box so she went to the bathroom…stool again, on the mat in front of the box. I took her back into the bedroom and put her down on the rug while I cleaned the mess and she vomited a white, foamy substance…I have never seen a cat do that. I think she may have aspirated during the seizure. In the past couple of weeks, I have found small pieces of feces in front of the box as well as in a couple of other places in the house. They were formed and easy to pick up and clean but I had no idea which cat was responsible. She cannot stand at all today, she will not drink or eat, I have been moistening her lips with a washcloth and I put some very small amounts of wet food into her mouth and she did seem to tolerate that but she cannot go on like this. I have wondered if she was having seizures during the night for the past few weeks because she twitches when she is sleeping…sometimes rather strongly. Now, I think that after last night’s seizure, she probably aspirated because I can hear her breathing, it sounds like moist purring. I will get her to the vet tomorrow morning as early as I can get her in but I have researched as much as I can and the fact that this seems to be progressing is a very bad sign. I cannot afford hundreds of dollars in vet bills and I also cannot put her through medical torture to keep her alive for me. It would not be fair to her. I have been crying nonstop since last night…not the watering your cheeks kind, the sobbing, flooding mudslide kind.
She is the sweetest, most docile cat in the world…likely because she has never been completely healthy. We knew she had feline herpes when we adopted her from a feral rescue, the entire litter did but this is not something that goes along with feline herpes…she is on L-lysine daily to boost her immune system and I carefully clean her eyes, sometimes several times a day. There were three kittens in the litter, she was the only one who preferred to play alone and did not interact with the other two. They were adopted together.
Say a little prayer for Bijou, sweetest little blonde ever. She is pictured with our other cat, Binx, who is NOT small but who loves her dearly.
Thanks,
Ellen
