# Weak back legs



## lulubel (Apr 28, 2011)

Sorry this post is very long. I didn't realise quite how much there is to write.

Late last night, Sam (12) started to have trouble walking. He'd been his normal self all day, the the only thing we'd noticed was about 10.30pm when we heard a thump from somewhere upstairs. I checked where all the cats were, and looked upstairs to see Sam lying on the chest of drawers on the landing, looking over the edge at me. I figured he'd knocked something off the top, which he does occasionally, and didn't think anything of it. (I later found out he hadn't.)

When we went to bed, he was still there. I took his supper into the bedroom as usual, but he didn't come to get it straight away, which isn't normal. My partner picked him up and carried him to the bed to make a fuss of him. I got into bed and settled down, and Sam spent the next hour or so moving between his 2 favourite sleeping positions. He didn't seem very steady on his feet, but that isn't unusual if he's half asleep (he tends to stand up before he wakes up properly, and wobbles around for a bit, which is quite cute). Then he climbed over me to go to his food, and I had to catch him before he fell off the bed. That woke me up properly, so I held him and offered him his food, but he ignored it and jumped off the bed.

He walked round the room, wobbling and swaying as if he was drunk. Every time he put weight on his left back leg, he would sway to the left and stumble. Then he'd stop and shake his head, and nearly fall. My partner and I spent about half an hour discussing what to do. He was completely his normal self, rubbing round and purring, and he ate some of his food, but obviously a bit emarrassed that he couldn't walk properly. Sam's like that.. 

We called the vet and took him in.

He made an almost miraculous recovery at the vet's, but he was walking around very cautiously and slowly, in that crouched down position that cats do when they're exploring a strange place. He only wobbled a couple of times, and jumped on and off the table successfully. The vet gave him a very thorough physical examination, and said he could feel blood flow in both femoral arteries, and there were no signs of neurological damage (my first thought was that he'd had a stroke). Sam got very irritable and started hissing and growling every time someone touched him, but the vet said he thought he might have injured his left back leg, possibly at the ankle joint, and gave him an anti-inflamatory injection. He also mentioned the possiblility of an embolism that was moving around and causing symptoms that came and went. He said if Sam got worse, or started stumbling to the right, to bring him straight back in. He also asked if we could video him walking around at home, which we'll do when my partner gets home.

Since we got home (at about 3am), he's dozed, wandered around a bit, jumped on and off chairs (unsteadily), eaten treats and some food, purred a lot, and been very clingy - he doesn't want me out of his sight. He hasn't used the litter tray since yesterday evening, which isn't unheard of, but is a bit unusual.

Prior to this, he has eaten well, drunk pretty much nothing as usual, and his toilet habits have been normal. (He lives indoors, so I can monitor those things easily.) He did start eating a lot during the summer, and gained weight from about 4kg to 4.8kg, but we put this down to getting a new, young cat and him needing to dominate her, because he bulked up rather than got podgy! Before that, he'd been quite slender. In the last few weeks, his eating had settled back to normal.

The only thing I had noticed was that he was slightly sick on the bed on Friday and got some on his left shoulder - left side again - where be must have lain down or fallen in it. I put this down to either being a bit dazed from a new catnip toy he'd just been given that was strong enough for me to smell, or being asleep when he was sick, and staggering and falling in his efforts to get up and off the bed. He always tries to get on the floor if he's going to be sick.

I think the vet was wrong. He's still wobbly, and he hasn't shown any signs of pain that I could see. To be that unsteady on his feet, I think Sam would have to be in a lot of pain because he's usually very tough. Plus, the injection doesn't seem to have made any difference.

We'll be going back to the vet tomorrow, with Sam and a video of him moving about. I'm going to ask for blood tests, but I'm not sure exactly what I should ask for. I'm thinking kidney, liver, thyroid, diabetes, although he hasn't lost weight and he isn't drinking/urinating excessively.

If you've got this far - thank you - can you suggest anything else I should be asking the vet to test for or consider?


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## Ianthi (Oct 21, 2008)

Providing a video of thses episodes is an excellent idea otherwise it's notoriously difficult to diagnose mobility/balance problems accurately for the reasons you mention. How is he now? Has he got worse? Sounds more to me than just a leg injury considering his ability to jump and lack of tenderness on examination.

Actually I'm wondering about middle ear infection or vestibular disease which affects balance and I would suggest this to the vet. I would have a full blood panel to rule out other causes and take it from there.

Hope he improves soon.


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## Dally Banjo (Oct 22, 2009)

Might be totally unrelated to Sam's problem but when Simba was diagnosed with thyroid problems he suddenly became wobbley on his back legs as if drunk & needed potassium.


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## Jiskefet (May 15, 2011)

My gut instinct says it is neurological, and I mean in the brain, not the nerves in the leg or spine, either a slight stroke or epilepsy.....
But thyroid problems are a possibility, and there may be other possible causes.

I'd ask a full blood test as indicated by a snior cat with unexplained vague complaints.


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## Misi (Jul 13, 2009)

Many years ago, my then boy Tarka had a spell of sickness and wobbliness. The vet put the wobbliness down to him feeling just so sick and dizzy and awful. It passed in a couple of days. Hopefully this will be the case with Sam. My other feeling was wobbly back legs = potassium deficiency, due to something else going on. Has the vet suggested for blood tests?


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## lulubel (Apr 28, 2011)

Thanks for your replies.

The good news is, Sam seems to be coping better. I'm not sure if he has improved or if he's learning tricks to balance like walking with his back legs wider apart. He's had some treats and some of his favourite food, not very much, but enough to keep him going if it's only for a couple of days. He's also paid a visit to the litter tray (much to my relief because I was getting worried about that), and done a normal wee and poo.

He isn't a good patient, and is starting to get fed up with himself now, so I'm having to follow him around and make sure he doesn't hurt himself.

We've videoed him walking around, and caught quite a lot of the head shaking and falling over. My partner also got a good video of him picking his way cautiously down the stairs in his collar and lead, with me slightly supporting him with his lead. He normally runs down them.

In my vet's defence, he wasn't really showing any symptoms when we took him in. And he quite likely did hurt his leg jumping on the chest of drawers last night, if he lost his balance and had to scramble.

I had wondered about a problem with his ear(s). He has had problems with his ears in the past (mites a year or so ago, and an infection when he was young). The trouble is, at 2 o'clock in the morning, when your senior cat can barely stand up, you immediately assume the worst, which was why I jumped at a stroke. My partner has just pointed out that the anti-imflamatory injection will probably have reduced the inflamation in his ear if there is an ear infection, which would explain his apparent improvement.

I've read up a bit on vestibular disease, and his symptoms do seem very similar. I haven't noticed any strange eye movements, though, despite watching him carefully since I read about it, although I haven't done the lying him on his back test.

Thyroid problems was one of the things that came up when I started researching online this morning, so that's definitely something I'll bring up with the vet.

The vet didn't really suggest anything last night other than to video him and bring him straight back in if he got worse. (This is my usual vet, and it's his practice, so he's the one I'll continue seeing.) We basically established that he wasn't in any immediate danger and it was safe for us to monitor him at home until Monday, unless his symptoms got worse. So, we'll go back tomorrow morning, and I'll talk to him about blood tests and ear infections and vestibular disease.

Thanks again for your suggestions. I was feeling really frightened this morning, but now I know there are a lot of things that can cause these symptoms and not all of them are terrible, I'm feeling a lot more in control.


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## Ianthi (Oct 21, 2008)

Dally Banjo said:


> Might be totally unrelated to Sam's problem but when Simba was diagnosed with thyroid problems he suddenly became wobbley on his back legs as if drunk & needed potassium.


Very interesting DB since potassium depletion is normally associated with kidney disease amongst others though I guess if Sam was weeing _alot_ then this would also be a risk factor. Did it resolve on it's own when HyperT treated or was supplementation needed for a long time?


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## Ianthi (Oct 21, 2008)

Lulubel - Glad to hear of an improvement. Had meant to ask about history of ear problems. With the head shaking, have you looked in his ears? If they appear gunky or very waxy then this could definitely point to problems or did vet manage to examine them yesterday? Yes, anti-inflammatory would definitely _help_ though wouldn't cure it if infection the cause.

Good luck with vet visit tomorrow!


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## lulubel (Apr 28, 2011)

We've had a look in his ears, but can't see anything obvious. The ear mites weren't obvious when he had them, though. It wasn't until he got a small scab and lost some hair on the outside of his ear when it came off that we realised there was something wrong. The vet didn't look at his ears because he was focusing on the possibility of injury or circulation problems rather than balance issues, which Sam wasn't really showing when he was there. I'll make sure he has a look tomorrow, though.

Thanks for the support. It's really appreciated. I'm swinging between near panic and calm control at the moment, probably not helped by barely getting any sleep last night and being very tired. My worst immediate fear is that he'll jump up somewhere, fall, and not be able to right himself, so I'm watching him like a hawk. I'm going to surround the bed with piles of spare duvets and pillows tonight, so he'll have a soft landing if he does fall. Hopefully that way I'll be able to sleep.


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## Dally Banjo (Oct 22, 2009)

Ianthi said:


> Very interesting DB since potassium depletion is normally associated with kidney disease amongst others though I guess if Sam was weeing _alot_ then this would also be a risk factor. Did it resolve on it's own when HyperT treated or was supplementation needed for a long time?


He had some pills for it which were huge, so got it in a liquid form but after his op to remove both thyroid glands fine :thumbup:

Good luck at the vets Lulubel x


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## lulubel (Apr 28, 2011)

I'm getting really frustrated now. I phoned for an appointment with Antonio this morning, and the receptionist (not the usual receptionist) gave me one at 12pm. We arrived, waited 20 minutes, and then were invited into the treatment room by another vet who I'd never seen before. I asked where Antonio was, and was told he wasn't working this morning, despite the receptionist having told me I was getting an appointment with him.

The vet looked at our videos of Sam wobbling and falling over, and watched Sam walking round the treatment room without wobbling or falling over. Then she examined him, looked in his ears (without a light or magnifying tool), took his temperature and pronounced that nothing was obviously wrong with him and it was a difficult one. She suggested they kept him in to monitor him, which I immediately refused because it wouldn't achieve anything except causung him unnecessary stress. His usual reaction to being separated from us and in a strange place is to sit and stare at nothing until we come back.

After that, the vet said we'd have to come back at 6pm to see Antonio, who was working the later shift. (Yes, the receptionist could have told me that this morning, and saved us the wasted trip, and dragging Sam out unnecesarily.) She said Antonio thought it was an embolism causing neurological symptoms, and there might be something wrong in his head. At least, that was the best we could understand with the language barrier. It's also very different to what Antonio said to us on Saturday night, so I'm not sure what's going on. Anyway, they've got the videos on their computer, so Antonio can see them, and we'll go in later and see what he says.

There's still been no mention of blood tests, and my suggestion that it's related to his ears has been mostly ignored.

Meanwhile, I've read up on inner ear infection symptoms, and I have noticed that he's been scratching his ears a bit lately - the base of his ears rather than inside. (By which I mean I've noticed it once every 2 or 3 days, and usually when he's been snuggling on a blanket and got hot, so haven't really thought of it as being significant.) My partner and I have also commented that he seems to be going a bit deaf, which we put down either to his age or sleeping very deeply. Sometimes you can walk right up to him when he's asleep, and he jumps when you touch him.

If I can't get any sense out of Antonio later, I'll have to take him somewhere else for a second opinion, which is just more stress for everyone.

What breaks my heart about this is that Sam has just accepted that his world has changed, and this is the way it is now. He's stopped striding out confidently, and is slow and careful in all his movements, with the result that he now seems quite steady on his feet. It's only when he shakes his head violently that he staggers or falls over. And Eva's already noticed his loss of confidence, and is being a real pain.

I just feel as if I'm beating my head against a brick wall at the moment.

Edit: My partner's just put a video of him on YouTube, where you can see him losing his balance.


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## Dally Banjo (Oct 22, 2009)

Typical  I hope the other vet has some ideas for you later, how old is Sam? he may just have arthritis he looks great in the film apart from the wobbly bits


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## Ianthi (Oct 21, 2008)

This is definitely balance related. Incredible vet didn't look in his ear canals.

I still think it's middle ear infection given the ear scratching, head shaking and a history of ear mites the latter may well having left some residual inflammaton or infection. To be honest I would just start him off on a course of ABs and take it from there. Not sure how old Sam is but sometimes benign polyps can form in middle ear though need to rule out primary infection first.

Hope Antonia can come up with a diagnosis. Good luck.


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## Misi (Jul 13, 2009)

Ianthi said:


> This is definitely balance related. Incredible vet didn't look in his ear canals.
> 
> I still think it's middle ear infection given the ear scratching, head shaking and a history of ear mites the latter may well having left some residual inflammaton or infection. To be honest I would just start him off on a course of ABs and take it from there. Not sure how old Sam is but sometimes benign polyps can form in middle ear though need to rule out primary infection first.
> 
> Hope Antonia can come up with a diagnosis. Good luck.


He's 12, I think. It does look like an ear thing and I'm amazed the other vet didn't have a proper look. Let's hope Antonio will come back with some ideas and most importantly, some kind of action. He's absolutely gorgeous, by the way. What a fabulous shiny coat! (Sam, I mean, not the vet...)


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## lulubel (Apr 28, 2011)

Ianthi said:


> I still think it's middle ear infection given the ear scratching, head shaking and a history of ear mites the latter may well having left some residual inflammaton or infection. To be honest I would just start him off on a course of ABs and take it from there.


Thank you for that. It's exactly what I insisted on when we saw Antonio, and I was starting to have doubts that it was the right decision because it wasn't what Antonio wanted to do, but you've reassured me.

The problems at the earlier appointment seem to have been mostly down to communication difficulties. Antonio does think the problem is ear related, but he wanted to sedate Sam to perform a physical examination for polyps and take some x-rays. He didn't agree with me that there could be an infection inside the ear, especially after he did examine the outer ear properly and couldn't see any sign of infection. My understanding is that infection can be present, but not visible. Also, Sam's first flare up of stomatitis last year had a secondary infection associated with it, and I understand infection can pass from the throat to the ear via the eustachian tube. In any case, it makes sense to me to try antibiotics before doing anything more invasive and stressful, especially when he's shown what is now considerable improvement on the anti-inflamatories.

During Saturday night, he could only lie down with his weight on his left side. Any time he stood up and tried to curl the other way, he overbalanced and fell, and ended up settling back the way he had been. By yesterday evening, he was turning round cautiously on the back of his favourite armchair (with us hovering over him in case he fell, but not needing to help him). This evening, he's confidently turning round on soft surfaces and settling whichever way he wants to, and I've just watched him pick his way along the squishy arm of the chair, onto the arm of the sofa and negotiate a narrow gap between a cushion and the edge with a few wobbles but without falling. I'm also considering (hoping) this might turn out to be a case of vestibular disease that resolves itself.

I mentioned in an earlier post that his initial improvement could be due to learning to compensate for balance issues, but I don't think he could have achieved what he's just done solely by learning to compensate.

I'm feeling positive as I write this. It could all have changed by tomorrow morning, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

We have 7 days worth of antibiotics, and some anti-imflamatory tablets to start on Saturday when the effects of the injection are wearing off. Hopefully he'll carry on improving, and I'll be able to start relaxing a bit.

Thank you, Misi, for noticing what I see every time I look at him. He's my gorgeous baby boy, and if it's possible to love him better, that's definitely what I'm doing.


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## turbocat (Jan 21, 2014)

Hi , just been reading the symptoms of your cat and ours has exactly the same, did you ever get a diagnosis on what it was ?


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

Sam is beautiful i hope he has made a full recovery ??

best wishes for your cat too turbocat ;(


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

turbocat said:


> Hi , just been reading the symptoms of your cat and ours has exactly the same, did you ever get a diagnosis on what it was ?





moggiemum said:


> Sam is beautiful i hope he has made a full recovery ??
> 
> best wishes for your cat too turbocat ;(


This is an old thread ,Sam lost his fight for life last year I think he had a brain tumour poor lad .,


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

oh god so sorry  very scarey  could happen to any of us human or animal , as if i havent cried enough today , thanks for telling us buffiex

ropo sorry you had to hear this not what you wanted to hear but hope this story helps you to get all the relavent tests , best wishes x


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## lulubel (Apr 28, 2011)

turbocat said:


> Hi , just been reading the symptoms of your cat and ours has exactly the same, did you ever get a diagnosis on what it was ?


There are lots of things that can cause these kinds of symptoms, and most are not life threatening. Ianthi made some very good suggestions.

In Sam's case, it was a brain tumour, as buffie said, and I'm very sad to say he is no longer with us. It's been 7 months and 15 days, and I have thought of him on every one of those days, and continue to miss him terribly.

I hope your cat makes a full recovery, and there is every reason to believe he or she will recover.


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

so sorry lulubell your Sam was a very special boy sorry he had to leave you x


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