Neurological, behavioural or pain?

Re: Neurological, behavioural or pain?

Mark Naguib — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 21:19:23 GMT

[quote user="Will McMullan"]Has she lost the ability/willingness to jump? [/quote]

She is still jumping up and down from high surfaces. I thought there may have been a reaction in the region of the thoracolumbar spine initially but it was not repeatable.

[quote user="james hunt"]I''ve found amitryptylline (sp.) helpful for similar cases [/quote]

She has been on amitriptyline for a week now - there has been a slight improvement.

[quote user="Kate Richardson"]Might be worth repeating sedation/GA and examining the rear end again.[/quote]

She was on 0.02mg/kg every 8 hours. I'm hoping to have her in and recheck under GA this week

Thank you all for your help!

Re: Neurological, behavioural or pain?

james hunt — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 13:00:04 GMT

I''ve found amitryptylline (sp.) helpful for similar cases

Re: Neurological, behavioural or pain?

Kate Richardson — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 10:33:35 GMT

Definitely looks like pain but difficult to tell if soft tissue/bony or neuropathic. What dose and frequency of buprenorphine did you use? I rarely see sedation with buprenorphine if there is true pain, so I suspect the cat was more settled because of the pain relieving effect. Might be worth repeating sedation/GA and examining the rear end again. Might even pay to clip the hair off to examine the skin more closely for signs of wounds/cat bite wounds/trauma. I assume cat is eating and drinking normally? What about defaecation- any possibility of pain related to this- either constipation or rectal inflammation? Also worth considering a trial of a corticosteroid?

Re: Neurological, behavioural or pain?

Will McMullan — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 10:23:22 GMT

Has she lost the ability/willingness to jump? Any possibility of tail trauma? Lumbosacral disc disease could cause these signs. Is deep LS palpation painful?

Re: Neurological, behavioural or pain?

Mark Naguib — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 08:09:07 GMT

[quote user="Dagmar Steele"] but... Anal sacs? [/quote]

Apologies, in my haste I missed this out of the first post! I couldn't examine them awake but under GA, the left anal sac was quite enlarged and when expressed appeared to be full of tufts of hair as well as normal anal sac contents - they were actually coming out through the anal gland opening. I completely emptied and flushed it. A few days later, a colleague removed said gland. It appears to have healed post op and histology was not very interesting. I had very much hoped that that was it!

Gabapentin dose was 7mg/kg twice daily - will maybe retry at a lower dose. I have discussed advanced imaging with the client but unfortunately finances preclude this at the moment.

[quote user="CatherineThomas"]traumatising the tip of the tail.[/quote]

There haven't been any external lesions, palpable fractures, luxations or skin changes that I can see/feel - I don't think she is actually catching it - but I shall see her again next week and double check.

Re: Neurological, behavioural or pain?

CatherineThomas — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 07:04:45 GMT

I had a similar case which would suddenly turn around and attack it's tail and kept traumatising the tip of the tail. The owner had looked it up on-line and was sure the cat had hyperaesthesia syndrome. We kept treating the secondary infections and getting the tail to heal by using a collar but he wouldn't stop attacking his tail. I spoke to a dermatologist who thought it was likely to be atopy, so we did a food trial which did wonders. Now he's fine, living without a buster collar and leaving his tail alone.

Re: Neurological, behavioural or pain?

Dagmar Steele — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 07:01:11 GMT

Cat definitely looks like it is in pain. I daren't ask because I'm sure you have checked but... Anal sacs? Apart from it you may need more checks to find the reason. Is MRI or ct an option? If not I'd actually go back to the gabapentin, start with a very low dose (what dose did you use?) and go up once the cat gets used to it. Sedation under gabapentin goes away with time I find.