cat stroke?

Our 12-year-old female (spayed) cat has over the last couple of weeks been dragging her right back leg and has no sensation in that foot. She is acting normal otherwise; although, she seems to be a tiny bit depressed. We took her to a veterinary neurologist who took bloods, radiographs; did an MRI and spinal tap. The doctor had told us that there could have been three possible reasons for her problem: 1. inflammation in the spine; 2. yeast (Cryptococcus) infection; or 3. Lymphoma. The bloods came back normal, though with a slightly elevated white blood cell count; and the radiographs showed no suggestion of any slipped discs. The MRI was normal, although there are two places where there is probably a little degeneration; and the results of the spinal tap were normal. He now thinks that it is likely that she may have has a stroke but is confused as to why it did not show up on the MRI.
Has anyone every had this happpen with their cat or heard of anything like this?

 

we had a dog that had a stroke and she lost her motor skills on her entire left side - head drooping, eye drooping, had to walk along beside her or she'd fall over. But we were able to get her to the vet within an hour of the stroke (my mother witnessed it) and vet gave her a vitamin B shot to bring down any inflammation around the brain and she was able to regain her motor skills again.

Did the vet x-ray the cat's hips?

 

I found this

"Strokes and other possibilities in Cats

Question: Dear Dr. Richards: I am a subscriber to your web-service. My question is:
What are the symptoms of a stroke in a cat? Elderly "Kitty" has had about
four episodes since August of this year whereby she walks as if intoxicated.
She's taken to meowing rather loudly, early in the am (not @ typical
"feeding" time).

Also, Kitty recently was running around the house in a disorientated state,
urinating randomly.
A bladder infection might explain the latter symptoms, but we're quite
anxious about her spells of "drunken-disorderly" conduct. We love her
dearly, and all will truly appreciate any feed-back you have to offer.

Respectfully requested,

R. W.


Answer: RW.-

Strokes are unusual in cats but not impossible. The first concern is to
accurately diagnose what is going on with your cat. The symptoms could
occur with vestibular problems, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar),
hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), hypertension (high blood pressure),
seizure activity, heart problems, strokes (can occur when cats have low
platelet counts, very high red blood cell counts, high blood pressure and
probably other causes), toxoplasmosis, brain tumors, inner ear disorders,
liver disease, hyperthryoidism, hypokalemia, cognitive dysfunction and
probably other stuff I'm not thinking of at this time.

A good blood panel with a complete blood cell count including platelet
count and a complete serum chemistry panel including a total thyroxine
(total T4) level would be a good idea as it would help to rule out most of
the above problems. A physical exam could help to rule out neurologic and
cardiac problems. If you get to this point and there still isn't a good
indication of what the problems relate to then it gets a little harder to
figure out which direction to go in.

Strokes often result in paralysis of one side, paralysis of facial muscles
or other discrete paralysis problems associated with the area of the brain
that is affected. This doesn't seem to be occurring based on your note.
That doesn't totally rule out a stroke, it just makes it less likely.

Hyperthyroidism is sometimes linked to increased vocalization and increased
activity at night and it could cause the other symptoms either by inducing
hypertension or cardiomyopathy. It is pretty easy to check for this problem
in most cases so it is usually worth ruling out in an older cat with
behavioral changes. I'm not sure anyone else has noticed a link between
hyperthyroidism and really odd bouts of urination but we have had a client
complaint similar to yours and that cat did have hyperthyroidism. More
normal "spraying" behavior has been noted to increase in hyperthyroid cats.
I'm not sure there is a strong link with this symptom but it isn't out of
the ballpark. Weight loss usually occurs with hyperthyroidism, so it is
less likely to be the problem if there is no change in weight.

If you have already had lab work and physical examinations and there is no
diagnosis, then it might be a good idea to consider asking your vet to
refer you to a veterinary neurologist or internal medicine specialist
(depending on which your vet thinks is best).

Hope this helps some. The first step really is a good chemistry panel and
blood count. There is a good chance something useful will show up in the
blood work. Talk to your vet about getting this done.

Mike Richards, DVM
11/20/99 "

 

thaks!

Thanks Mary_NH!
Where did you find the info? Can you let me know the web-site, so that I can possibly get in contact with this veterinarian?
The weird thing is that it has only affected that one leg...otherwise she is completely normal. Actually sometimes she eats less than usual, but...besides that she is practically the same.
I also wonder if she'll ever regain the use of the leg. It is begining to atrophy from non-use.
Also, even though I have been told that cat stroke is not the same as human stroke, I am worried that she will have another more serious one.
Thanks for the support.

Kerry

 

I did a google search...took awhile cause everything I came up with was about cats and heat stroke so I kept changing my wording. I think if you type in Mike Richard, DVM into your search engine you'll find his website as I've come across it many times. You have to become a "member" of the website in order to ask questions.