Damn! Cat.. story - Schiff-Sherrington response

naisho

naisho

Forum Disorders M.D.,Ph.D
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Just got back, crazy day.
It wasn't 4th of july for me, last minute changes.

Found one of my cats in lethargic state this morning.. almost paralytic and I was like WTF!
She had been hiding in the patio for ~4 days when I thought she was outside and didn't come back for 3 days in a row.
Cat is usually home by nighttime which I thought was weird when she didn't show up.

Later this morning before eating breakfast, noticed her tail back there and found her lying down paralyzed. It looked really bad. Couldn't reach her because she was hiding in back of the furniture and stuff, had to move stuff around to be able to pick her up.

When I finally could get her, damn she was frail as heck presumably due to not having eaten or drinking for several days. Tried to feed her some fluids and liquid kitty food nabbed from the local store with an eyedropper, but she wasn't responding 100% to it. Then it was vet time.



Had a lot to convo with the vet, had some microbio background to know some of the stuff he was talking about.
Vet discovered she has a Schiff Scherrington response, very rare occurrence and accounts for a fraction of vetinary cases involving cats and dogs. In fact, I think it's totally rare for cats to get it. Usually it's thought of as fatal and terminal when the animal gets it. What it is, is like think if you had your two forearms stretched out and someone gripped your elbows so your arms stick out like that until it's over.


Can't tell if the cat has an infection or a neurological problem at the moment, even blood panel and xray tests can't state anything to pinpoint the cause!

Made sure everything's ok, with a revisit little over a hour ago. She seems a lot better than she was this morning presumably from the IV fluids they've got her on and injections.

Here's some pics I got at the vet. Way better state than she was in before, if I could describe it, she was acting like a drunk cat this morning. She still can't walk yet, hopefully she will be able to soon.

Crazy day. Had to vent off this delirium somewhere. Funny thing is I don't know what to feel, don't feel sad, mad, depressed or anything. Just hoping things go for the better, I gotta pick her up tomorrow before 8am.
 

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Awe.... :( poor kitty.

naisho, your cat is fortunate to have you to love and care for her. Hope she gets better soon.
 
I am really sorry. I hope she is able to make a full recovery . :(
 
Everyone's concerns are appreciated.

She was a good cat, the hunter kind. Often she'd bring back stuff like little prey. Lizards, birds, rats and mice that roam some of the neighborhood.
When she missed her prey she'd bring back a leaf as a consolidation catch.

She passed away last night at around 2:30am. Vet said around 12 am, (2-3 hours after those photos) she began to look uncoordinated and things started to look bad. At around 2:20 - 2:30, she turned her head back up and started to have labored breathing. He was thinking about performing CPR on her, but thought the situation looked grim and left it to drift. He had mentioned to me prior to this was that 1% of cases where when the vets used CPR, the animal came back to life.

Going have to get her cremated later in the day.


I forgot to write this, but about a month ago she had a small wound on her head next to the ear, it looked as if she got into a fight or some injury happened. When I discovered it, there was a huge abscess that leaked at least about one or two tablespoon's worth of pus. Took general procedures by trying to nurse it back to health, treated the area with antiseptic like alcohol and other household medications. She was fine during all this, seemed like nothing happened to her nor did she feel she was in pain.

Come a week later she was doing her usual stuff, eating and drinking. She had been indoors a little more often than usual that time but had always looked and act fairly normal.
Among that, she had caught another rat like a little over a week ago. Buried that thing in the ground in the yard. Don't know how suddenly she's fine at one moment, and paralyzed the next. It is perplexing.


Vet ruled out any general toxicity from rat poison or general infectious diseases but so far without a postmortem exam no one can tell what it was.

My bro, who's doing animal science had the thought that it could have been tetanus or rabies or some kind of infection causing her muscles to go rigid as a preliminary prognosis but we have no methods of being able to perform tests when we are not at the labs in school to rule out anything. Tests from clinic ruled them out as well.

To top it off, even the emergency clinic, with the equipment to test still could not figure out the underlying cause, but it wasn't tetanus or rabies. No FIV or leukemia, the WBC's were a little higher than usual counts. I had questioned about this, wondering which one was it - because when you or even animals have an infection, when you examine the type of white blood cells it might tell you what kind infection it is. Bacterial, viral, allergic or parasitic causes, or if the cells are doing phagocytosis.. But forgetting all that, all I just know is that her neutrophils were within higher than normal levels, about a thousand over average count for cats. Vet suggested that we need to see a guy specialized in neurology, along with a lumbar puncture can be done for further info to see what the heck was going on. She never made it until morning. I still wonder what the heck happened. She looks way better than she was in those pictures and seemed like she was going to pull it through for exams at an animal neurologist the next day, even vet was feeling the same.


I had given the OK prior for the vet to inject mannitol to help see if it would relieve any cranial pressure or help move the fluids building up around her head if it was a neurological issue. He mentioned he had given her only one shot at the recommended dosage (not sure total amount in mL, I think it's the standard 20% vet injection). Before we had gotten there last night, he mentioned her pupils were different - one was dilated and the other was smaller. But when we got there they were back to normal. She could see light and follow our movements which was strange, she seemed like she was back up and healthy except for being unable to move. She was meowing about it too. All in all we had thought she was going to make it to morning.

During the time I was trying to figure out what was going on, I found out from some hours of researching that this sudden issue can happen at any time for no reason.

It can happen to dogs, some vet wrote a personal story about her dog had suddenly collapsed out in the backyard playing and could no longer have control over her limbs. The dog acted normal in itself aside from the inability to move. That vet mentioned that the conditions of her dog's prognosis was so rare that she never came across a case like this in her years of being a vet, she had to call a colleague to see her opinion about it. The lucky thing was, these folks were able to keep their dog treated in the comfort of their own home rather than the clinic, which I can understand as a huge transition for an animal. Luckily with much persistence and treatment, her dog (Bonnie) was back up and the bout ended itself. Sometimes I do wish I had these means of being able to treat like that, maybe it would have been different. Reality begs to differ..


I don't mean to gather any depression, sadness or seeking comfort in this topic. I've seen too many childhood pets go away. Had cat, a dog that both passed away at the vets many years ago and it was unbearable as a child. Had rabbits, turtles, birds and fish pass away too and it feels like it's made me into a cold person that death is always looming about. No wonder I get why some vets don't like owning animals themselves.

A part of why I'm writing a huge details of all this is because there are only 6-8 forum topics out there on the internet, one being here on AD. It really seems to be a rare case that has no explanation nor is there any treatment available when an animal is diagnosed with the Schiff Sherrington reflex.

In case the next person searches the term up on google, be it their pet is going through this or they are reading up on it for vet school. Perhaps this may help them as they listen to my story.

It's been a crazy week, seems like there's always something bad that will offset good proceedings in life.
 
My condolences to you in the loss of your kitty. :hug:
 
It's okay if you are depressed or seek comfort. When my 16 year old Lhasa had to be euthanized, I cried for about 6 months .

Pets are part of your family.

And my vets have pets and rescue them too. I don't think I would trust a vet who was afraid of the emotions involved in keeping pets.
 
Naisho, I am so sorry about your kitty. Know that she is up in kitty heaven now. ((hugs))
 
aww I am so sorry to hear about your kitty. were her name Lucky? She's in a peace one that she had been through the craze moments and good moments too. Sometimes cats need to go for a better place up there. (((hugs))) :(
 
Naisho,

I'm sorry to hear about your cat. Pets are part of your family.

My condolences to you and your family in the loss of your cat.
 
My sympathy!..Pets, to some of us, are our family, best friends....My cat, Whiskey acquired feline leukemia, and our Vet did everything possible for him, even flying in an experimental drug from Tallahassee to try to save his life, but he died.....Then my dog, Buffy, died of breast cancer....

Ahh, cats and dogs have such short lives!...But leave such special memories.....My family even grieved when some of our fish died.....

It's been a few years since Buffy died, but, yes, I still do cry over her from time to time.....I'm sure ur cat and you will meet up, once again, over the bridge!....
 
Thanks for everyone's concerns. It was the hardest when I was putting her in for burial. Decided not to cremate and bury her instead. She was frozen from the vets some time after passing away (precautionary measure).

Wasn't able to keep a straight face at that time she went into the ground. :tears:
 
Sorry this happened, buddy. She was a beautiful cat. Just remember that she's in a better place now. Hopefully writing this thread has been a good way for you to deal with the grief. Best wishes.
 
oh wow I wasn't aware of this thread until today. how awful... :(

:grouphug:
 
I'm very sorry to hear this, dude. I know the feeling when my favorite cat died of the painfully wound by a ruthless driver.
 
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