[Malakas & Banjo]

Hi,

My cat recently lost the use of his back legs and I found solace in this forum so thought I would share my story in case it helped someone.

I have Siberian 2 cats (siblings), brother & sister that are 9 years old. They have always been extremely nervous and absolutely cannot abide strangers, or anyone but us to be honest. If anyone knocks at the door they run and hide, they are also indoor cats and have never been out.

We had some building work taking place 2 weeks ago which we anticipated would be distressing for them. As predicted this did cause them much stress and they hid under our sofa the whole time the builders were there each day. We stayed with them in the front room but they still wouldn't come out. The builders were there for 90 minutes on the Monday and the whole day on the Wednesday.

Our male cat Banjo refused to eat his dinner on the Wednesday evening. We were not too concerned as they have done that before and we put it down to the stress. However after 3 days of not eating a single thing I became extremely concerned. I read online that cats can only survive for a short period of time without water and that they get 80% of their water from their food (my cats eat wet food). He was also very lethargic and unhappy looking.

I took my cat to the vets on Saturday even though I was reluctant to do so. The last thing I wanted to do was add even more stress. The vet said he was dehydrated and had a fever. They done a blood test and a few things were slightly over & under what they should be. Most of which could be out down to the not eating since Wednesday but given there were about 6 things that were slightly high or low she recommend that we take him to the clinic straightaway.

We took him in and they advised they would need to out him on a drip to get re hydrated before they could look at working on his fever.
They re hydrated him & put him on a course of antibiotics but after a couple of days he still had a fever, was still not eating and was still lethargic. He also hadn't been to the toilet unaided.
We decided to take him home as we thought that he was more likely to eat again at home as opposed to the strange surroundings of the clinic.

There was no improvement at all and he really looked quite unwell. Again I read online that lots of people hand fed their cats in these situations. I went and got some human baby food (recommend online) and started to hand feed him. He did eat it however it was reluctantly. I then tried to get him to drink water from his bowl (which he had been doing before I took him to the clinic), but he now would not drink either.
I thought it was due to him struggling to stand which I out down to the catheter they had placed in his front limb. I started to give him water via syringe which he really didn't like.
We were also having to carry him to his litter tray. He would go wee whilst we held him over the tray but no solid toilet at all.

The following day I put him down next to his litter tray to get him to walk back to the front room. He was struggling to walk but not I noticed it was only his front paw but his hind legs too. The front paw (where the catheter was) was folding in the wring direction so he was falling on it. He was dragging his hind legs and could only manage about 6/7 steps. I tried it several times but got the same result so decided to take him back to the clinic.

The clinic said he would need to go back on a drip and they would do some tests. They tested him for an infection & put him on another course of antibiotics but there was no improvement. The vet said they would need to do an MRI scan to see if there was a problem with his spinal cord.
I love my cat with all my heart but the vet bill was already over £1500 and they quoted £3000 for the MRI, just to try and find out what it was before any potential operations or treatment. I asked them if the MRI would categorically tell us what was wrong with him, they said no but it could tell us and if not it would rule other things out. I read online people had tried injections or steroids so I pushed for them to try them first.

They started him on a course of corticosteroids on Friday morning and said they anticipate that if they were going to work they would start to see an improvement within 24 hours. They called on Friday evening and said they he had already made a huge improvement. He was walking, albeit a little wobbly, his fever had gone and he had shown interest in his food bowl. The following morning he had started to eat (40%) of the food offered to him and had used the litter tray. They said we could pick him up on the Sunday.

He has now been home since Sunday and he is going from strength to strength. He was a little wobbly on his feet when we first had him home and he couldn't jump up on the sofa. But his walking is becoming more steady already and he has managed to jump up on a few things now. He is eating, drinking, going both wee and solid toilet and seems like he is almost back to his old self.

We are giving him steroid tablets once every 12 hours and have to take him back to the vet on Friday to talk about his dosage. They have been clear about the fact that this may not be a cure as they are still not sure what was wring with him exactly but it a solution for now and we will just need to see how he gets on.

I will keep you updated with his progress.