Author Topic: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?  (Read 4087 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?
« Reply #15 on: May 28, 2016, 03:21:55 PM »
Thanks Lola.  I remember that recall.  But your cats had consistent symptoms, right?  Jennie had one three minute episode that has not returned.

I, too, feed a rotation of commercial and home prepared raw meals. Jennie and Queen Eva are -almost- on the same diet.  Jennie is still eating the Tiki, 50% of her diet.  I will be very glad when it's gone but it's just too expensive for me to just give it away, unfortunately i had just stocked up on it before I realized they've changed the formula some way. They actually deny it, but the food looks very different from the way it used to look and smell, AND Queen Eva flat out refused it when I started the new batch.

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?
« Reply #16 on: May 28, 2016, 03:49:50 PM »
Thanks Lola.  I remember that recall.  But your cats had consistent symptoms, right?  Jennie had one three minute episode that has not returned.

I, too, feed a rotation of commercial and home prepared raw meals. Jennie and Queen Eva are -almost- on the same diet.  Jennie is still eating the Tiki, 50% of her diet.  I will be very glad when it's gone but it's just too expensive for me to just give it away, unfortunately i had just stocked up on it before I realized they've changed the formula some way. They actually deny it, but the food looks very different from the way it used to look and smell, AND Queen Eva flat out refused it when I started the new batch.

Keeping in mind that I am not as observant as you are...  There was one episode.  Not all the cats "walked drunk."  It was for a very short period of time... minutes.  Never saw it again. 
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2016, 04:40:53 PM »
PS
I would go with your gut instincts.  You KNOW your cats.  You KNOW what they eat.  YOU are pretty darn smart! 
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?
« Reply #18 on: May 28, 2016, 04:46:06 PM »
I can't find anything that describes that symptom for taurine deficiency Lola.  The things I'm reading state that the deficiency takes some time to show up, blindness and dilated cardiomyopathy are the results of prolonged deficiency, the heart may recover with treatment, the blindness probably won't.

It bothers me quite a lot that this vet did not listen to Jennie's heart and lungs.  I am almost positive he did not, though I didn't notice it at the time, it was someone asking me about it in Cat Centric that made me realize.  MAYBE I just have forgotten.

But I remember him laying out his tools, the eye thing and the ear things (what ARE they called haha!) but I can't picture his stethoscope at all.

However we could hear her heart very clearly on the BP machine and it was normal.

Anyway I have always supplemented with taurine since the very beginning of raw...actually even before raw now that I think about it. I just checked Amazon, the first time I purchased taurine was in February 2011 (the NOW brand).  I didn't start raw feeding until May 2012.

Whew, so I don't think I have to worry about that.

I am back to..this was an odd vestibular episode.  I do wish it had been my vet, and if she wants to see Jennie again I'll find a way to bring her in. I don't like her attitude about diet one bit, but other than diet and digestive issues, I trust her judgement in a diagnosis.

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?
« Reply #19 on: May 28, 2016, 06:15:48 PM »
Of course there's something I just thought of that you guys are probably too polite to say and that is that perhaps she HAS had episodes like this before and, since they are of such short duration and apparently have no lasting affect,  I simply haven't been here to see it. 

And...while that is a possibility, the thing is, the amount of time I spend with these cats..if this IS an ongoing thing, I think I would have seen something before now.  And if it is something that has just started and is going to continue...again, I think I am likely to witness more of these episodes.

I am certainly on hyper alert now, good grief.  I can't bear to have her out of my sight for a second.  Poor thing.  funny2

Offline Pookie

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 5441
  • Country: us
  • Proud member of the Wet Food Club
Re: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?
« Reply #20 on: May 28, 2016, 08:52:57 PM »
This:

If you read about what causes a vestibular episode, I think  it's quite possible, likely, this is what happened to Jennie.  She was just lucky enough (or healthy enough) that everything righted itself very quickly.  Maybe even me turning her over onto her back (holding her like a baby) helped things slip back into equilibrium, you know?

I've had Benign Positional Vertigo twice in my life.  Long story short, there are calcium crystals called otoconia in the inner ear that are attached to little hairlike projections.  These crystals add the weight to those "hairs" and pull them down so the body knows where it is in space (up, down, left, right, forward, back, etc.).  Sometimes the crystals detach and float around in the fluid, and if they get out of the area where they're supposed to be, they can cause vertigo, including the nystagmus.  The treatment for it, at least in my case, is something called the Epley maneuver, where you turn the head in certain ways to get the crystal back where it's supposed to be so it no longer disrupts the ear fluid.

From what you described, and esp. now that you mention turning Jennie over, makes me think that might be what happened to Jennie.  I just did a search and it looks like cats also have those crystals (my guess would be that all mammals do):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10792/

Quote
  Scanning electron micrograph of calcium carbonate crystals (otoconia) in the utricular macula of the cat. Each crystal is about 50 mm long.

So it's very possible that she had a crystal dislodge (perhaps from shaking her head or tilting her head to scratch behind her ear, who knows), and when you turned her over, you moved the crystal back where it wouldn't disrupt her balance.

I sincerely hope, for both your sakes, if that's the case (or even if it's not) that it never happens again.   fingerscrossed fingerscrossed fingerscrossed
« Last Edit: May 29, 2016, 10:10:56 AM by Pookie »
2-4-6-8  Please don't over-vaccinate!
"Pass on what you have learned."  -- Yoda, Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: Jennie just scared the pants off me - vestibular episode?
« Reply #21 on: May 28, 2016, 09:20:08 PM »
It makes perfect sense doesn't it?  thank you Pookie! Thanks to all of you.   grouphug

Tags: