Feline Stroke
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| Healthy Gaia by fofurasfelinas (see below) |
Introduction
The technical term for feline stroke is Feline Cerebrovascular Disease. Lets break that term down. "feline" as we know means that the animal is part of the felidae family of animals, which includes all cats both wild, domestic large and small. "Vascular" means related to blood vessels and "cerebro" means brain in Spanish and Portuguese as a matter of passing interest. The Latin for brain is "cerebrum". The word "disease" is often interpreted in different ways and infers illness. Technically the word describes a pathological condition which in turn means an abnormal structure of an organ or part of an organ of the body as a result of various causes.
So feline stroke is abnormal blood vessels in the brain, which as a result bleed because they rupture (break open). There is another cause as well (see below). Veterinarians call strokes "a cerebrovascular accident". It seems that the concept of cats (and dogs) having strokes is only recently being taken more seriously or at least there is a greater awareness of the possibility.
Types of Feline Stroke
There are though two types, both reduce the supply of blood to the brain.
1. One of which is caused by a broken blood vessel(s) and this is called a "haemorrhagic stroke".
2. When there is a reduced blood supply to the brain under other circumstances the stroke is called a "ischaemic stroke". In medicine the term " ischemia" means a restriction in blood supply so "ischaemic" means relating to a restriction in blood supply.
In the former haemorrhagic stroke, the leakage of blood from the ruptured blood vessel can be (a) inside the brain or (b) on the surface in between the brain and the inside of the skull. When the leakage is inside the brain it is called "intraparenchymal haemorrhage". The term "intraparenchymal" means situated within the functional parts of an organ of the body, in this case the brain. Organs are made up of functional and structural parts. The term "haemorrhage means bleeding.
The second type of bleeding ( (b) above) is called a "subdural or subarachnoid haemorrhage". The term "subarachnoid" means under ("sub") the "arachnoid", which is the middle of three membranes covering central nervous system. This membrane is relation to the brain is between the outside of the brain and the inside of the skull. This area is filled with fluid so the space is a potential space.
Symptoms of Feline Stroke
The lack of supply of blood to a particular site of the brain can cause that area of the brain to be destroyed. The symptoms of feline stroke are somewhat different to those of human stroke. In humans we commonly see one side of the face and body paralyzed. Minor strokes can cause other symptoms in humans such as memory loss and slurred speech.
For cats (and dogs) the symptoms are sudden loss of coordination, circling, falling, loss of balance, blindness, spasms of the face and limbs, paralysis. However, as for humans one side of the body is usually affected. Other brain diseases exhibit these signs too.
Causes
At present the causes of feline stroke are not that well researched it seems but there may have been, prior to the stroke, an infection (Upper Respiratory Infection or URI) that caused a fever.
Causes of a restricted blood supply - ischaemic strokes (i.e. no ruptured blood vessels) could be:
--kidney disease
--thyroid disease
--heart disease
--high blood pressure
--Cushings disease
--Diabetes
--clogging of a blood vessel by fat, tumor fragment, parasites or spinal cartilage
Causes of haemorrhagic strokes could be:
--abnormal development of the blood vessels
--trauma (injury)
--bleeding brain tumor
--diseases that affect blood clotting such as rodent poisons, diseases causing high blood pressure, inflammation of the arteries.
Feline Stroke - Prognosis
In short the damaged parts of the brain cannot be repaired. The welfare of the cat depends on the extent of the brain damage. The underlying cause needs to be isolated to reduce the possibility of further strokes. Care and help should lead to a decent life provided the damage is not to a part of the brain that results in severe disability.
From Feline Stroke to cat health problems
Feline Stroke - Sources:
- Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook by Drs Carlson and Giffin (recommended - quite technical)
- www.medicalglossary.org (for definition of pathological condition)
- www.vetspecialists.co.uk (very useful)
- http://en.wikipedia.org (definitions)
- http://medical.merriam-webster.com (definitions)
This cat has not had a stroke she is just dressing up the post. Great picture by fofurasfelinas (a quality cat photographer well known amongst Flickr members). It is published under a creative commons license (thanks). The license is: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License.
Comments
He was healthy until a little over a year ago, when I noticed that he is profoundly deaf. His personality has changed completely and instead of being anti-social, he is now craving attention and sits on my lap every time I sit down. In the last 4-5 months, he is a sneezer, with a very snotty nose--and seems to sneeze in my face Waaay too often...because he wants to be near me.
I did not add up the symptoms until I noticed yesterday he is having trouble walking and even sitting....he seems to fall along and crashes into walls, doorways, and my legs. I think he may be a stroke victim and am sorry to see there does not seem to be much hope of recovery. I will keep an eye on him and get him looked at, but perhaps the deafness, sneezing and right side impairment are all one and the same-- brain bleeds!?
I was hoping you had more hopeful news, but he has been well loved all these years, and I do not want him suffering if such indignities will lead to pain and wasting.
We are to stop the steroids in five weeks. Of course, if the symptoms resume at this point, we'll have to investigate further... But for the moment, she seems to be recovering.
Normally she would give me a slight attitude and move on when the trailer started moving. Today was different. I stopped and moved her off the trailer. Figured she was just being difficult. She does that sometimes.
After moving her, she just laid down in the driveway. I went back to the truck and started moving the trailer again, she looked at the wheels and decided to move. Got up and almost immediately fell down. I say that she had dragged her right arm. I stopped and picked her up to find her right arm was completely limp. No tension, no claw movement and completely floppy. M did not complain at all and that in itself is completely unusual.
I called for my wife and together we gave her a complete inspection. Her entire right side is either week or limp. Her right leg is unable to hold her weight although she can move it. The right side of her face seems immobile. Her right ear is not as twitchy as her left ear.
M was born bobtail and her movements have always been odd for a cat. But, today is radically different for even M. We couldn't get her to drink or eat most of the day. Finally I decided to fix her favorite dish. Pecan smoked grilled chicken with Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ sauce. She desperately tried to eat the chicken but couldn't seem to swallow or really even chew the chicken. I went to the store and found some 9 lives chunk chicken in gravy. She tore into that like she hasn't eaten in a week. That particular food is very soft an almost doesn't require chewing. She ate a third of the can before resting. She has not moved from her spot in one of my wife's hand crocheted quilts but does try to eat frequently now.
Her right front leg is completely immobile at this time. Her right rear leg is very weak. Unable to even hold up her own weight tho she can move it. She is having a lot of difficulty chewing. Her right ear seams sluggish
I will try to post her status as she improves.
Anonymous: I am sorry to read about your cat. I posted the story about M in the hope that someone else would give there cat the 2-3 weeks he/she needs to recover.
Now for the update. M is doing much better. Right hind leg is gaining strength. She can move that leg easily now and stretch it out to try to climb. Front right arm has tension in the muscles again. She can move the arm and hold it up when she hobbles around. There is still not much strength in that arm and her wrist is still limp.
She is eating good now and trying to climb some. She managed to get onto a box 15 inches high. Took her some time, but she made it without help. She is now grooming herself again. We were touch and go for a day or two while she decided whether or not to live. I think she has decided to live. Bowel movements are sparse, loose and uncontrolled. But, all in all she is in good spirits and improving.
She actually jumped out of my lap when my wife opened a fresh can of 9 lives. Landed lopsided and fell over to her weak side, but still. The day I discovered her she couldn't move 6 inches. Now she looks fit to take on our dog again.
We can see steady improvement day to day. Mostly as she gets the nerve or energy to try to do something. Cats are remarkable. Everyday they do something that completely astonishes me.
Bowel movements still seem uncontrolled. Not loose any more, tho. She is eating solid cat food now. I'm mixing it with canned 9 lives to make the canned stuff go further.
Her attitude is completely back to normal. Including that look she always has in her eye that she's looking for something to kill. She boxed the dog's ear last night with her good arm. Stood up or rather sat up on her hind legs holding her right arm close to her body and popped "The Yapper's" ear with her good arm. Yapper thought she was about to get some revenge on M and but instead had to turn tail and run.
M is keeping to our bedroom but she is venturing to ever higher places to sleep. I expect in a few days she will be roaming the entire house again. My hope and all indications are that she will be killing mice and hunting moles out in the yard in another week or two.
I'll keep posting as her recovery continues.
I highly recommend to anyone whose cat suffers a stroke: give her enough time to recover. Cats are truly amazing and given at least a week to show improvement I'm sure you will be happy you waited. M was discovered about three weeks ago and has fully recovered in that span of time.
You will need to keep her in a low and protected place and be prepared to change her bedding often. We used canned cat food in small portions at first and increased her portions as she was able to chew and swallow.
I hope our play by play story will help someone decide to give their cat a chance to recover irregardless of what their vet says is best.
I don't know if this helped in her recovery or not but it seemed like a good idea.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post everything about M. My husband and I have been so torn about taking our kitty to the vet. With our last cat, after the trip to the vet, she died a week later :( I am hopeful that our other kitty will recover from what we think was a stroke from trauma (when paramedics were in the house for ME). Thanks again and best of luck to your family and M :)