Have you ever had a cat who had a stroke, as in the medical condition? Did it recover? Was there anything specific that you think may have aided recovery? I've spent more time with this cat than anyone except my parents and my wife and he's still young(ish) at 14 so I want to know if there's anything other than the drugs the vet gave me ("if he's not better in 2 weeks it is very very bad") that I can do.... TIA Dave PS. Anyone who thinks they're posting something funny when actually they come across as a **** will not be popular for a long long time.
You want Dan White to appear with some magic words from his lovely missus. Playfest tonight tho, so answers might be thinner on the ground than usual. -- Dnc B12, ZZR11 A6 2.5TDi V6 Quattro Sport MIB#26 two#54(soiled) UKRMMA#26 BOTAFOT#153 X-FOT#003
I can wait a few days..... But ta anyway. Oh and in reply to the e-mail - it's a goer..... I'll reply in full when I'm on that 'poot (cos (a) i don't like the gmail webinterface, (b) I'm idle, (c) I'm with the boy trying to provide entertainment to keep his brain active and (d) Clerks 2 is on on the BIG TV and its all getting too much to keep on top of..... :0 Dave SPAM: www.lotvalleyenduro.com www.stgerygite.com
Not really much you can do other than what the vet has told you , like people you just got to be there for them . You could take a look on some of the stroke awareness sites on the net , even though its for humans i am sure you may gleen some useful tips hope your cat does get better steve --
Not personally had a mog that has suffered this, but I've heard of it from friends. Basically, it was the classic "lots of tlc and caring" that helped. Trying to give the cat a great deal of company and interaction, if that makes sense. I'm seeing a cat expert chum tomorrow, I'll ask her. They are extraordinarily resilient little animals. And sympathy extended, fwiw. Along with the hope that he improves. I've just had a nice thing with a mog. The aged parents' cat went walkabout almost three weeks ago. Yesterday, a wonderful woman who deserves many nice things, phoned them, as she'd found the idiot tabby. She drove round there with him, and he is happily ensconced back on my father's lap. I hope she has a spiffy Christmas - she made ours. Ali
<Waves> She's actually on a works piss-up tonight, so I might not get (as) much sense out of her, but I'll ask when I pick her up in an hour or so. Seeing as there will be 6 vets there too, this could be useful, depending on how utterly shitfaced they all are
WavyDavy(Mobile) says... I suppose it depends on the severity of the stroke. If they're like humans in the way they recover, then a great deal of patience is required, I know that's what I got and it seemed to work.
<snip> Not from personal experience, but from that of friends and family. Lots of tlc and that, along with the drugs, may work. Otherwise, although the animal may seem pretty much in command, you're looking at other illnesses, incontinence etc, and it may be kinder all round to have the animal put down. Trythe drugs/tlc route first. If it doesn't look like working, don't give it ages in the hope that it might work eventually, It probably won't. Best of luck. I'll risk it, anyway: "I've spent more time with this cat than anyone except my parents and my wife and he's still young(ish) at 14 " made me giggle a bit.
....and here she is: Hi sorry I've not been able to reply sooner. Firstly I'm sorry to hear your cat isn't well, it is not easy seeing them poorly and we can often feel a bit helpless. I would love to be able to try and offer some info but I really need some more background history as to what happened and what tests have been done and what the name of the drug is. I should note that I am not a vet but a qualified veterinary nurse, I have lots of experience but I will not be able to diagnose anything only offer advice and support. My initial thoughts are that your cat may be suffering hypertension, this is a common condition in elderly cats. It can cause high blood pressure leading to a 'stroke' Often, especially with cats they suffer with their eyes, with severe hypertension, which can cause glaucoma, detached retinas and blindness often causing very dilated pupils, the blindness can occur at the time of a 'stroke' (Cats and Dogs do not suffer strokes in the same way as people but the outcome can often look similar which is why the phrase is used). Unfortunately it is really difficult to know if your cat (what's his name?) will get better. It depends how severe his symptons are now and if it is due to hypertension whether this can be improved. You would want to see a small improvement every day, the worry would be that he could have another episode. The first attack in cats can usually be so severe that they can't even begin treatment, the good news for your cat at this time is that you have a chance to treat him. What would be really helpful is if you could let me know a bit more: 1. What actually happened when the attack happened? (assuming you saw it) 2. How was he immediately afterwards? How is he now..eating,drinking, general behaviour? 3. What tests did your vet do? (e.g. blood tests. b.pressure tests and what were the results) 4. Apart from saying stroke, did the vet mention any conditons to cause it? 5. The name of the drug prescribed 6. Any problems with his eyesight? 7. Was there anything unusual with him before it happened (behaviour, eating, drinking more or less, lethargy or overactive, weight loss etc) Let me know and and I'll do my best to help you All the best Becky (Dan's Missus!)
No worries. Thanks for taking the time to reply at all. Could meeting a new kitten cause hypertension....? It can cause high blood pressure leading Guinness (Black with a white head, innee?) will get better. It depends how severe his symptons are now and if it Which we are doing so far, but it has only been about 40 hours since I went to the vet the worry would be that he could have another There's stiull some confusion about this. Nearly 2 weeks ago I found a big pool of sick in the hallway and he was missing. When found he was disoriented etc and we went to the vet. They and we assumed some sort of poisoning and he was kept in overnight on a drip (no idea what) and we brought him home the next day. For a couple of days he was a bit wobbly but then he got progressively better. Last Friday he got worse - it was as though he had constant dead legs in the back legs - and on Saturday I went back to the vets where a different vet said it was a stroke (at this point you need to know that I have to do my best with the translations here as they don't speak English and my techinical/medical French is a bit lacking...). See above for 'immediately'. But he is now eating properly and drinking. He's nothing like he used to be temperament/jumping on things/running around wise but he is moving a little more as time goes on, but still wobbly/stiff. None on Saturday, don't know about after the 'poisoning' episode. On Saturday the vet said that the poisoning may have been the actual stroke but, given that he initially got better it was difficult to tell what had happened when. Again this is where my language skills may have let me down He gave us two, although one appears to be for his bad breath (don't all cats have minging breath?) - Stomorgyl (which contains "spyramicine" and "métronidazole") and the other, for the 'stroke' which is Candilat (containing "vincamine" and "papavérine chlorhydrate") He can see but the pupils are fixed and dilated, it would appear He's not the only cat so it's difficult to say if his drinking or eating changed. I'd say not as it was onlywhen he didn't bother me for breakfast on the day of the 'poisoning' that I thought there might be something wrong. He has lost weight though - I can feel his spine through his fur - and now he's just content to do nothing where before he was always out. That said, he sneaked over to the neighbours' last Thursday night (I think it was Thursday - he came home when they started getting noisy as they just heard on the radio that Spurs had scored...) and he was fine and normal then.... Thanks for anything you can do Dave
Mega-snipped for ease of wife replying... Hi, Hope Guiness is continuing to improve. Been looking up drugs prescribed and does seem to fit my initial thoughts (as does your history) Vincamine is a vasodilator and anti- ischemic drug, basically designed to reduce hypertension (high blood pressure) and prevent strokes/ heart attacks and kidney problems (human info cats do not often suffer heart attacks) Papaverine chlorhydrate has many roles all a bit complicated but most significant relaxes smooth muscle and hopefully reduces heart arrythmia (common in hypertension) Candialt is not a drug I'm familiar with but it does appear to be used by vets in France so I assume it is licensed over there (I don't know how the drug laws work over there) Stomorgyl is one I know and yes often used to treat dental disease. Dental disease can cause serious health issues e.g. endocarditis, kidney and liver probs so sensible move on your vets part. (infection from mouth gets into blood stream and infects organs) Basically Guiness seems to be getting the sort of treatment I would've expected for his symptons. The vet (if he has the equipment) could do a blood pressure test on him. A blood test to ck his liver and kidney functions would also be good. It all helps to determine if a) the treatment is working b) ck that you are treating everything as best you can. (I'm aware finances can play a part and this may be a consideration when asking for tests to be done) I should add, whilst the kitten may have caused some stress to Guiness the likelyhood is that it was an underlying problem that would've occured anyway, severe stress may have antagonised it slightly but unless he seemed completely freaked out by the kitten it's very unlikely to have started it. I don't think there is much else I can add to help for now, but keep in touch (Dan will let me know!) and I'll try and help if I can. All the best to Guiness on his recovery! Regards Becky
