Apparently Duchess had a stroke

[cjsmith]

She acted totally normal in front of the vet. Of course. Goober. After asking me whether the head was TILTED or just TURNED as in a car turning on a road (I confirmed her ears had been level), and after asking me about eye movement (I confirmed no nystagmus), the vet said she'd probably had a small stroke and she had recovered.

They're taking her blood pressure now, to see if she needs meds for it, but basically the answer is "take her home and hope it doesn't happen again".

edit: and now she's on blood pressure meds.

Comments

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Hopefully it doesn't happen again for a Long Time.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I sure hope! Poor little fluffbrain!

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

Poor fluffball! And of course she's fine while she's with the vet - isn't that how it works? :-)

I'm glad it's nothing worse and that she's recovered. Tell her she's not allowed to scare you like that again.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And cars never make that clunking sound when the mechanic is around!

Yeah, this was not a great morning. But I'm glad it's nothing worse.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm sorry, that must have been really scary. I'm glad she is well now and I hope it never happens again!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if she'd kept on doing this sort of thing (said the vet) she'd suspect a brain tumor. Those are expen$ive and $cary. At least this didn't last long.

[recordersmith.livejournal.com]

I didnt know cats got strokes. Are there potentially ongoing side effects as when humans get strokes? I also didnt know that a stroke could be something that you got over with no lasting effects.

You know, when you mentioned the turning in a circle thing, it did cross my mind that that is a behavior I've seen in lab rats in a lab looking at hypoxia. But, that was A Scary Thing and I didnt think to mention it (mostly because in the rats it was a result of an operation, not an illness). Those are very sick rats and I'm glad Duchess is OK.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

This might have been more like a TIA than a stroke, since she did recover so quickly with (as far as we can tell yet) no lasting damage.

I wonder what it would be like to be so hypoxic I couldn't walk a straight line. I've only ever (to my knowledge) been badly hypoxic in small airplanes, and I can't exactly stand up in one of those, much less check my balance and coordination. :) (Don't worry - if I'm the pilot I use oxygen!)

[recordersmith.livejournal.com]

I imagine, not much fun. Glad it wasnt more serious!

If you're not the pilot you dont use oxygen? Be careful with that!

The hypoxic and ischemic rats were.....messed up. Oh, and the oddest of them all, the rats on speed. Yep. Made them pretty hyper. There was this one, it was doing circuits of the cage at top speed, round and round and round.....backwards.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

No worries - we don't fly all that much higher than "cabin altitude" in a commercial jet. I'm not courting major medical trouble, but I'm a bit slower to do arithmetic and that sort of thing. Suboptimal for a pilot, though not so troublesome for a passenger. :)

Oh man, the hyper rats must have been something to see. I've seen a kitten do that sort of thing, once, trying to get out of her don't-eat-your-stitches collar. Full speed all over the house, backwards. But she got over it!

[platypus]

Whew. I'm just glad she's doing better, whatever it was. Skritch her for me!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Me too me too me too! And I sure will. She probably has enough Internet-scritches lined up that the other two will be all jealous. ;-)

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

"Stroke" was my first guess, and I hope it doesn't happen again.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough (given the other things I was thinking), I never thought of a stroke. I thought of an aneurysm putting pressure on something, a tumor (as I'm sure Princess had, but I couldn't figure out how the symptoms would come on so suddenly), or a concussion (except she had no pain on the surface of her head and her eyes were normal). Obviously I knew something was wrong with her head / nervous system. I just didn't think stroke.

Eh well; blood pressure meds if we need 'em. The world of pet ownership does get different as they age, doesn't it?

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

I hope she stays better. Poor kitty; that sort of thing must be very confusing to experience.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I bet she was sooooooo disoriented. She managed to get herself into the kitchen, because after all, she knew she was supposed to get her morning shot (and the treats that come with them). I'm glad I managed to give her a treat. She was satisfied. The Right Thing had occurred.

The other two were kind of discombobulated as well. I'm sure it's because Duchess was acting so off kilter.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yay, fluffy kitty! Glad she's doing better. I'm crossing my fingers that it's a one-time health issue that will never recur.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Me too!

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness! :(

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

*scritches and hugs* to her and you, as appropriate.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Even at her most disoriented, she never stopped wanting scritches, so she was probably still mostly in this reality at the time. She's such a sweetheart. She ALWAYS wants scritches.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

oh, poor Dutchess!! and poor you! i'm so relieved it's not more serious, and you don't have to make Hard Decisions right now.

*scritches* for Dutchess and *hugs* (wine?!) for you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It turns out she does indeed have high blood pressure, even though last month when she went in for teeth cleaning it was fine. So now she gets a pill once a day. This is in addition to insulin twice a day, a special diet, and Little Girl getting a DIFFERENT special diet and a pill twice a day. Having old cats is quite different from having young ones!

[idunno3.livejournal.com]

Those symptoms exactly matched my wife's dog DeeDee's symptoms after she had a stroke. She, sadly, did not recover. Glad to hear Duchess is doing better.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh ouch! I'm sorry to hear that. I think Duchess and I are lucky: this was a warning sufficient to get her on blood pressure medication.

[canseefour.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's worrying and frustrating - you wish they could tell you what's wrong, or at least how they're feeling.

I hope it doesn't happen again and things are fine from now on.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

No kidding! I was standing there in the kitchen this morning saying "Does your head hurt? Are you dizzy? Talk to me!" not because I'm a complete moron who believes she's about to start talking to me, but because I didn't know what ELSE to do except to say that.

There's a great book I just finished reading - "Tell Me Where It Hurts" - about a day in the life of a veterinary surgeon. That's one big thing human docs can do that vets can't: get the patient to say where it hurts.

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that she's better.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Me too. Giving her pills is going to be a dream nightmare, but at least she doesn't have, oh, a BRAIN TUMOR.

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to read that Duchess is doing better. You have my sympathy for the scary situation, vet bills, and new meds.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Things could be a lot worse. *phew*

[kimatha.livejournal.com]

She acted totally normal in front of the vet.

Well, isn't that just like a cat.

I'm glad to hear that she seems to have recovered, but wow, that was kind of scary. I hope she doesn't have another one for a long, long time. Give her some skritches from me.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Just like a cat indeed. Troublemakers, the lot of 'em. Scritches coming right up. :)

[allanh.livejournal.com]

...and deep within your heart, you know Duchess deliberately chose something that the vet couldn't detect.

The tortoises do the same thing ... although not usually with strokes. In Beta's case, it was erections.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I really needed to know that. :)

[allanh.livejournal.com]

No, but your inner six year old was fascinated.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And my inner vet-wannabe is wondering how turtle sex works, mechanically.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Poor kitten! I'm glad she's ok now. :(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Bad planning: three geriatric at once. I've got one kidney decline (special diet) who's licking all her fur off (pills), one diabetes (special diet, insulin) with high blood pressure (pills), and so far, one little round cannonball with no health problems other than a pissy attitude.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

If you find a pill that cures pissy attitudes, I'd like a stash, please. I won't even make you hide mine in tuna. ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, there are those little blue ones, but you'd feed them to Rondo. ;-) ;-)

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I'm glad things are going well now. Scritches to Duchess!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Scritches coming right up! I admit I'm not real pleased with the idea of pills forever. I thought shots were bad. Shots are EASY. Pills are bad.

[gdaniels.livejournal.com]

Glad Dutchess is doing ok - strokes are so odd! Hope she continues on an even keel for a long time to come.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Strokes are just weird, particularly the little ones where the person/animal just seems to "get over it" in a few hours. Very strange.