Advice please - sad news

[tab]

Mogs had 1/4 tablet of Instin (?) for HBP so very small. She only yowled at night or when she had an attack so not all the time. In fact I had decided she had dementia as it was only at night until the one time she did it in the day and I went to check and found she was all wobbly at the back end. Took her straight to the vets who kept her in and said HBP. It also affected her eyesight so she always had big eyes.
Its hard to know what to do for the best
love
Tab

[Desley (booktigger)]

Thanks Carol, I doubt she would take too kindly to it though. She has barely eaten her tea, which is a shame as it is pilchards - the vet said the darker the fish, the more it should be avoided in CRF cats, these dont look too dark to me, and it is cat pilchards rather than human ones.

[Jasmine]

Interestingly, I have just popped onto the CRF site to see what the treatment would be (ie would she accept it) and howling is a side effect of CRF too. We dont have many options left for managing her CRF either.

Yep, Metoo (RIP) used to howl at the drinking bowl during the late stages of his CRF.
Sorry to hear this is happening to Zi.
 

[Mark]

HyperT is another cause of yowling?

The comment about a correlation between IBD and yowling is something I had never considered. Alice's yowling has improved quite a lot recently, so I wonder if her change in diet and improvement in symptoms (ie blood in poo) are connected?

I had assumed the yowling was dementia as well. Apparently Omega-3 is supposed to help with dementia; one of the reasons I like Alice to have some salmon.

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

II have an unopened bottle of Kaminox (liquid) that you can have if the vet thinks low potassium is an issue. 

[Desley (booktigger)]

Thanks CArol - she unfortunately does that on her front legs too. I just can't remember if she was doing that when she last saw the vet in Sep or not. Low potassium is what I was referring to when I said it could be kidney related. Interestingly, I have just popped onto the CRF site to see what the treatment would be (ie would she accept it) and howling is a side effect of CRF too. We dont have many options left for managing her CRF either.

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

So sorry to hear Zi is having a bad time.   

Just a quick thought about the way she she has been walking for some time, it sounds like plantigrade posture (see www.lbah.com/feline/diabetes.htm - its an article about diabetes but if you scroll down you’ll find a picture).  This can be caused by low potassium levels and if the levels got very low she would lose balance as well).  Low potassium is not uncommon in older cats especially if they have kidney issues and of course uraemia is one of the prime causes of howling.
 
 I don’t envy you your decision but I think I would be loathe to put her through a lot of investigations given her age and the fact that she is so difficult to medicate. 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Because balance loss usually isnt usually arthritus and you said that it happens even when she is sitting.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Why would you say that Gill? We know she has not only arthritis in her front leg, but her hip has been damaged at some point in her life, and is out of line, so she has a funny gait.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

The head tilt comes later Des and really dont think its arthritus 

[Desley (booktigger)]

The yowling doesn't bother me that much, it is only about once a fortnight at the most. It is the balance and not wanting to eat that concerns me, she certainly doesn't have a head tilt. I will ring the vets to see if the owner is working this week, as she has sen Zi the most, and is the most thorough, the others might just dismiss things as age, but I know she doesn't work Tues (well, she does, but it is for RSPCA), so the earliest I will be able to see her is Wed. I might have to see who is on on Tues, but we are due more snow on Tues. My main concern is that if it is her arthritis (although she can still get on and off the bed) we are out of options

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Kocka yowled and was demetia and it sounds horrible.  She also had many other things wrong.

The falling over I suspect is more serious and usually caused by loss of balance which is usually ear related but often untreatable and they end up with a head tilt cos a virus affects the brain to ear messages.

Could be a stroke also and sounds like she needs to see a vet

Sending lots of good wishes to Zi and you 

[Janeyk]

Poor Zi 

It's probably best to ask the vet and just her checked over it may something simple like an ear infection, she may be getting ear pain and with being unsteady or it could be dementia or something else.

A couple of our older cats have yowled though.  When Squeaky got older he'd go into another room and yowl and if we called him he'd run in to the room we were in, he mainly did that though when we'd been out all day a bit of attention thing I thought.   Schui used to go outside and yowl  a few times every day then come back inside.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Thanks Tab, how big were the tablets, as Zi isn't good at being medicated and I Can't hide things in her food?

[tab]

Mogs used to howl and fall over before she was diagnosed with high blood pressue if that helps. It was as though her back legs had given up. She was ok on the tablets though
I hope shes ok
love
Tab

[Desley (booktigger)]

I have considered an ear infection, but she has reluctantly let me check her ears (she hates being prodded, and so far today I have had to pull some clumps of fur out, check her mouth and her ears - have left the gungy eyt till later). All she has had to eat today is 3 temptations and about 10 pieces of dry renal. She has been drinking a bit more this week too, although I have had the heating on more cos of the weather. She is definitely looking her age, bless her.
Cazzer, not sure why IDB would cause yowling, although my IBD boy is quite vocal.

[Angiew]

ear infection? minor stroke?

[cazzer]

Sorry to hear Zi is not well  .      My Oska has IBD and he does the yowling as well.     Again it is when he is upstairs and we are downstairs.     Originally I put it down to dementia [he is 13].     He has had IBD for years and this week his sister has been poorly and it seems too that she has IBD.    {We are waiting on one test result to rule out a parasite, but a virus is not the cause}.    To a lesser extent Sassie does the yowling as well, again when we are in different parts of the house.       I'm wondering now if it is due to the IBD instead.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I thought it was dementia, but have only ever heard her from downstairs, never seen her actually do it, and it wasn't nice, especially as she fell over after moving away from the food bowl.

Ironically, I have been saying since last Dec that she wouldnt see this Christmas, but this past couple of weeks, as we have been getting closer, I have let myself think she would, but she has lost her balance quite a bit this morning, which could explain why she hasn't really moved for the past 2 hours. I would love to think it is something simple that could be treated, but deep down I dont really think it is.

[JackSpratt]

The yowling sounds like dementia. Oh Desley, poor Zi - she does sound in a bad way. I don't know what to suggest in all honesty.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Have had a bad day with Zi and need some advice on what to do next. Here is her history just in case

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,29108.0.html

She has been grumpy for the past couple of days, which sometimes is just her, but sometimes that things are hurting a bit. Since last night, she keeps losing her balance and stumbling/falling over, even if she is sitting down. I don't know if it is arthritis or kidney related - I think her arthritis is fairly bad, she doesn't often stand/sit/walk on her front paws, she walks on the bit between her paw and the first joint (managed to get a pic of it last night) I really don't know whether to put her through more tests to see if it is something we can treat (bearing in mind she has other conditions that impact on her quality of life, so I could put her through pain/stress of tests and treating one thing for her to decline anyway with something else), or accept she is 20 with multiple issues and has defied both mine and the vets thoughts of how long she would have, and that she has had enough of fighting. The other thing she did last night that concerned me was something she has done randomly for a few months, but never in the same room as me - she normally makes an awful yowl when she is upstairs and I am downstairs, but last night she did it when we were both in the front room. She had her back to me, was in front of the water bowl and just looked at it and yowled about 3 times, before shutting up and having a drink, so now I don't know if that is what she has been yowling at the last few months and what that is a sign of.  She has also decided not to bother eating this morning, she looks at the food bowl, and then decides to ignore it, even when I it it in front of her.