Dudley

So, I think my cat Dudley had a stroke Friday night. She (yes, Dudley's a girl- long story) was completely normal before we went to sleep. Yesterday morning, Richard took care of the kids, and let me sleep in for a little while (I have the best husband ever!!). I trudged downstairs and into the kitchen to pancakes on the stove, the kids playing, and Dudley laying against the dog in the dining room. Something was wrong with this picture. Dudley hates the dog. While our other cats have gotten used to his presence, and pretty much act like he doesn't exist, Dudley still screams like a rabid beast and attacks him every day. Otie's scared to walk past the doorway of any room she's in. But here she was, lying against him. Weird.

So I watched them for a minute. Otie, seeing me watching him, moved. Dudley, realizing it was a dog she was snoozing with, freaked out. Dog runs away in horror- good, back to normal.

But Dudley was still acting pretty funny. She stood up, and just walked in circles- to the left. Circle after circle after circle- she wasn't stopping. I picked her up, and she couldn't make eye contact. One was slightly more dilated than the other, but both were still dilating and constricting together. I put her back down, and she walked into the wall. Watching her, I realized she was blind. I would make a sound by her right ear, and she would circle to her left to find the source of the sound. There was definately something seriously wrong with her.

I fed the other cats, and she had an appetite, but the poor thing couldn't eat her food very well. I put a pile in front of her, and she would turn in a circle, and grab a peice as she went by, if she could. She made a mess scattering the food all around her (much to Ezra's delight). Water was even messier.

My first thought was vestibular disease. But, it didn't really seem like it. She had no head tilt, and wanted to eat- no ear issues. She just didn't seem like a vestibular cat...

I talked to the on-call vet at the clinic-I was going to bring her in, but really, there's nothing much we'd do for her there that I can't do at home. Being a cat, she's not going to be getting a CT scan or anything... So, it's a wait and see type of thing.

It could be a stroke- that's what it seems like to me. It could be an accute poisoning (like lead or something else ), but being an indoor cat, probably not. And she doesn't eat paint chips, as far as I know, (though she is a weirdo, so who knows). Could be a tumor that's starting to press on surrounding structures. Could be the begining of some other disease process... Don't really know for sure. But since she seems completely content, other than circling and bumping into things, and being blind, I'm going to wait and see for a few days. I'm giving her an anti-inlammatory for a few days to see if there's any improvement, too. If there's any swelling in her little head, she should look better.

She's the same today, though she has managed to figure out how to get around and do the things she normally does. She gets up and down the stairs (though she does a complete circle on each step on her way up and down!). She gets in and out of the litter box (Thank Goodness! If she couldn't, or was incontinent, that would have been her demise). She's fine-tuned eating and drinking while walking in a circle, and she still manages to attack the dog, even if she's a bit off the mark now.

She's our oldest cat- 12, which isn't really that old for a cat. I got her when I was 20- before I met my husband, before I had any kids- she's been through a lot with me. She's a sweetie. I hope to have her around for a few more years...

We'll see.