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Thursday, June 07, 2007

Cat woes

I'm worried about this little fellow, Leo:



On Tuesday, he was lying on my bed. When he got up, he started shrieking in pain, and holding out his right back leg. He managed to walk a few paces, then flopped down again. He did this a few times, shrieking in agony each time he got up. This was around 14.40. Horrified, I rang the PDSA, and they told me they'd see him as an emergency if I took him in by four. Luckily, I had money in the house, and was able to get a taxi (costing £8.50!) there in time. The vet who examined him could find no obvious injury, swelling or dislocation, and he seemed to be walking okay by then. She suggested, as he had a problem with one of his front legs a few months ago, that he might have arthritis. She gave him a shot of an anti-inflammatory pain killer, and he seemed as right as rain.

Yesterday, he did his usual trick of climbing on the kitchen work surfaces. When I told him off, he moved to the edge to get down. But instead of jumping, he fell off, and again let out a shriek of pain, and immediately lay down, and stayed down for a couple of minutes. But when he got up, he didn't seem to suffer any pain, and was running around in no time, seemingly none the worse. Then, late last night, he went behind the TV, as he often does, then, as he twisted his body to try to get out, he started letting out a hideous caterwauling. But as soon as he was out of there, he was running around again, and seemed happy.

This morning, he stood on his hind legs, front paws up on the kitchen cupboard, as he usually does, when I'm getting his breakfast ready. But when he went back down on all fours, there was definitely something amiss. He stuck out his back leg, and just wasn't able to walk for about ten seconds. Then he walked across the kitchen, and stopped next to a unit, again unable to go any further for a few seconds, his leg utterly useless. But a few seconds later, he recovered, and has seemed fine ever since.

I have an appointment at the PDSA today, for my other cat. So I'll make an appointment for Leo when I'm up there. But if they have no appointments available, I'm just going to take him up tomorrow and sit and wait until a vet can see me. As long as I get him there by nine in the morning, or four in the afternoon, he'll be seen by someone. I just can't work out what's troubling him, but it seems to be triggered by stretching or twisting around. I just hope he doesn't have a tumour on his spine, or anything neurological - he's only six, and one hell of a character.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Siani, good luck with Leo.
Our fifteen year old is having fits and showing signs of age. Rinli, the younger one, has just recovered from an abcess. There is only one vet relatively handy here, but it's easier getting one now than when we were on the island. That was a to-do.

Chris E said...

Fingers crossed for your feline friend, Sian

jams o donnell said...

I hope Leo is okay Siani. He always struck me as a never a dull moment type of cat

Siani said...

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your kind comments. He started the day well, chasing birds, climbing, running around and generally being a cat. But he took another funny turn earlier this evening. Hopefully, it's just a pulled muscle or something.

 
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