Hello all,
 
I'm posting to both lists (FML, FAIML) in hopes of getting as many ideas
as possible as to what is wrong with Jasmine.  She has been on Lupron and
Lysodren for her ongoing adrenal problems for a few months now.  She was
fine until bed time on Monday night, when she seemed more tired than usual
just sniffed at her food, didn't eat any.  It was like she was interested
but couldn't bring herself to eat.  Jasmine tends to be picky with food
taste and since we had just started a new bag, I didn't think too much of
it.  She usually gets used to the "fresh" bag with time.  Just to be safe
though, I stopped giving her the Lysodren just in case she was reacting to
it.  On Tuesday, I worked at home and noticed that she ate very little in
the morning and spent virtually no time playing, just slept alot.  She was
this way pretty much until bed time when she appeared to try to vomit
(nothing came up).  I put her in a separate cage from the others so I
could closely monitor what went in and out of her.  When I got up this a.m.
(Wed) she was lying on the bottom of the cage floor, unable to move and
very cold.  I had no clue what to do or what was wrong.  With all the
reading I've done on ailments, I was completely unprepared for this.  I
wrapped her in a blanket and put her on a heating pad and called the
emergency vet.  They paged my vet and we made arrangements to meet at the
hospital.  Its hard to describe Jasmine's condition -- it was like her
head was leaning to one side and the rest of her was trying to follow, so
she ended up kind of twisted looking.  She tried to walk, but had no
coordination at all, and could only sort of flail and roll.  Marie W. if
you are reading this it reminded me so much of your own dear Max after his
stroke.  It was heart breaking to watch and I was sure she was dying.  Her
eyes were very alert and she looked so scared, like she was asking "why is
this happening?" Dr. Welborn took blood and urine for testing and basically
said it was something neurological, describing a condition that occurs in
cats/dogs called vestibular (sp?) syndrome, which basically affects balance
coordination etc.  He also suggested possibilities of stroke, ear infection
etc.  So he gave her subQ fluids, an antibiotic injection, and a steroid
injection.  This afternoon she was still very weak and slept alot, but no
longer tilted.  She is now able to walk, just still tires quickly.  I'm
force feeding her a duck soup concoction, which she fights with all her
might :) but at least its getting into her.  I'm optimistic about the
improvement so far, but baffled about what is wrong.  Any thoughts would
certainly be appreciated.  She'll be going back for follow up tomorrow and
right now that plan is to likely continue treating her with steroids and
antibiotics.  Dr. Welborn did call me this evening to tell me that all of
her tests came back normal, except that her glucose was low, but didn't
think it would cause all of the problems she was having.  So, what do you
guys think???
 
Thanks for any input --  Lucie
 
                        @-"-@
                       (=^ ' ^ =)
                    o00 -\o/- 00o
[Posted in FML issue 2655]