poor kitty! feline vestibular syndrome?

[melmar136]

I'm wondering if anyone else has had a kitty with this issue?

I woke up this morning to a very "dizzy" cat. Poor Meeko was walking, then would shake her head like her ear was bothering her and sort of stagger, and occasionally fall over onto her side. Scary!
So, off to the vet we went. The vet noticed that Meeko's eyes were sort of moving back and forth quickly too. I hadn't noticed that, but have since we got home.
The vet said that one possible explanation would be an ear infection. She did a culture and found somewhat of a yeast infection in the ear. She said to give it a couple of days, on some antibiotic drops, and see if she was getting better. If not, we should bring her back in for further testing.

Tonite though, I was looking online and came across this article: http://www.tabbysplace.org/felis-catus/2009/03/26/weird-cat-disease-feline-vestibular-syndrome/
It sounds just like what poor Meeko has! Not sure I want to pay tons and tons on testing to confirm it. I am just really hoping that along with the ear drops, her symptoms go away in a few days like in the article!

 

[bballmom56]

Yes, we had a barn cat with it about 10 years ago. I believe the vet also referred to it as August syndrome or something like that. Her eyes were darting back and forth and she kept losing her balance. As I remember, I think she was treated with prednisone. She improved and the eye movement stopped, but she had a permanent head tilt for which she learned to compensate. She roamed all over the barn, jumping up on things including the pony's back and she never had a problem after she recovered.

 

[TashaRVT]

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth!

There really aren't any tests that we would normally do to get a diagnosis of a vestibular syndrome; I suppose that's not completely true, but for most folks (including myself!) an MRI or CT is just not something that they can do. It's a relatively rare thing in cats, but really quite common in dogs. Unfotunately only time will tell! I know that's really not a very helpful answer, but because it's in the brain, there's really no direct treatment (with the possible exception of steroids like prednisone, but along of vets don't like to use steroids, esp in cats). It's kind of a time will tell thing.

An inner ear issue won't usually cause the rapid eye movement (it's called nystagmus) your poor baby's dealing with, but you never know! We'll keep our fingers crossed for you! And keep us updated

 

[melmar136]

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth!

There really aren't any tests that we would normally do to get a diagnosis of a vestibular syndrome; I suppose that's not completely true, but for most folks (including myself!) an MRI or CT is just not something that they can do. It's a relatively rare thing in cats, but really quite common in dogs. Unfotunately only time will tell! I know that's really not a very helpful answer, but because it's in the brain, there's really no direct treatment (with the possible exception of steroids like prednisone, but along of vets don't like to use steroids, esp in cats). It's kind of a time will tell thing.

An inner ear issue won't usually cause the rapid eye movement (it's called nystagmus) your poor baby's dealing with, but you never know! We'll keep our fingers crossed for you! And keep us updated

Update on my kitty Meeko. Well, I am thinking it must have been the feline vestibular syndrome, or an ear infection that was really messing her up.
We went to the vet on Sunday and by Tuesday her eyes had almost stopped moving back and forth like they were doing, and she wasn't dizzy, or falling over at all!
By Wed. she was back to normal, with just a little head shaking! She is still on ear drops 2x a day, until Tuesday, but all seems good! I'm so glad. That was scary!

 

[kacaju]

yes, I had a cat that had it over 20 years ago. We just found him in the morning like that. It did go away after months.
I also had a cat that had it from having her teeth pulled. That also lasted a few months.

 

[HunterBoo]

We rushed our dog to our vets for an emergency visit on Fathers' Day! We had noticed her acting funny throughout the afternoon, but by the time dinnertime was approaching and my family came over, she ran out to greet them and fell flat on her face. She was stumbling all over and her head was tilted. We thought for sure she had a stroke.

So we cried all the way to the vet's office thinking we were going to put her down Turned out it was geriatric vestibular syndrome (didn't know about it and until reading your post didn't know cats also get it). He said we would likely see some worsening of symptoms and then some improvement. He was right.

When I went online to read about it, it said that it was like they were sea sick or drunk and when they walk they can't feel their feet going down, so it throws them off. We kept her contained for awhile on the main floor and within three days she was showing a huge improvement!

I'm glad your kitty is feeling better. I won't panic so much if my old Abby has it happen again!!!!

 

[melmar136]

We rushed our dog to our vets for an emergency visit on Fathers' Day! We had noticed her acting funny throughout the afternoon, but by the time dinnertime was approaching and my family came over, she ran out to greet them and fell flat on her face. She was stumbling all over and her head was tilted. We thought for sure she had a stroke.

So we cried all the way to the vet's office thinking we were going to put her down Turned out it was geriatric vestibular syndrome (didn't know about it and until reading your post didn't know cats also get it). He said we would likely see some worsening of symptoms and then some improvement. He was right.

When I went online to read about it, it said that it was like they were sea sick or drunk and when they walk they can't feel their feet going down, so it throws them off. We kept her contained for awhile on the main floor and within three days she was showing a huge improvement!

I'm glad your kitty is feeling better. I won't panic so much if my old Abby has it happen again!!!!

So glad your Abby is better too! I was thinking the same thing....that we'd have to put her down. She is 15, so older for a cat. The vet kept mentioning a possible tumor, and I was so worried. It was the weirdest (but greatest) thing to have her get better so quickly from what seemed so serious!

 

[Dee & Greg]

We rushed our dog to our vets for an emergency visit on Fathers' Day! We had noticed her acting funny throughout the afternoon, but by the time dinnertime was approaching and my family came over, she ran out to greet them and fell flat on her face. She was stumbling all over and her head was tilted. We thought for sure she had a stroke.

So we cried all the way to the vet's office thinking we were going to put her down Turned out it was geriatric vestibular syndrome (didn't know about it and until reading your post didn't know cats also get it). He said we would likely see some worsening of symptoms and then some improvement. He was right.

When I went online to read about it, it said that it was like they were sea sick or drunk and when they walk they can't feel their feet going down, so it throws them off. We kept her contained for awhile on the main floor and within three days she was showing a huge improvement!

I'm glad your kitty is feeling better. I won't panic so much if my old Abby has it happen again!!!!

Our dog had this about a year ago.. same situation! we were convinced she had a stroke. She recovered in a few days and was good as new.. very strange!

 

[TashaRVT]

I'm glad to hear that everyone's furbabyes are feeling better!

As a vet, it's almost a relief to be able to diagnose something like vestibular syndrome; while it's not a "quick fix", it's something that's generally short-lived and I'd so much rather give a family that news than the diagnosis of a stroke