Christmas Catten, Part 4: Tony Goes Mental
I did a little Googling on the Internet today, and found the probable reason for Tony the Catten’s wobbliness:
Spastic cats (CH cats) are sometimes born to females who have suffered Feline Infectious Enteritis (FIE, Feline Panleukopaenia, Feline Distemper) during pregnancy. Cats which have suffered brain damage through an accident may also be unco-ordinated so these notes apply. It can also be due to injury, poisoning or simply a random development problem. It is not known to be caused by a pregnant cat receiving the Enteritis vaccination and is usually only seen in kittens born to feral, stray or unvaccinated cats.
Adult cats have an immune system which can usually can fight off FIE, but in kittens the virus can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause defects in the cerebellum. Unborn kittens at 1 - 4 weeks gestation are usually killed by the infection and the foetus is reabsorbed by the mother or spontaneously aborted. Kittens at about 4-5 weeks gestation may be stillborn and have major defects; if born live they are unlikely to survive. Kittens infected near the end of the pregnancy may be stillborn or may be born with Cerebellar Hypoplasia (spasticity). These timings and the effects depend on the development stage, size, health and strength of the kitten. It also depends on the mother cat’s health, the environment and the amount of virus she was exposed to. There are different strains of the virus and some may be more damaging to unborn kittens than others.
Affected kittens may not grow as large as unaffected kittens or they may have slower development. The virus affects the cerebellum area of the brain, an area involved in fine motor control. Typical symptoms are ataxia (poor co-ordination), gait abnormalities and perception. Affected cats are wobbly and unco-ordinated (variable degrees from wobbly through to unable to walk) and have characteristic head tremors which are evident when they try to focus on something (e.g. a bird). Many also have sight problems, but it is difficult to assess their sight due to their strange posture and gait. It often looks as though their body goes the opposite of what they are telling it to do, or one part goes in one direction while the other tries to head off elsewhere! They adapt to these challenges, but will always be clumsy and may be nervous or unsure of themselves in new situations. Barring any accidents caused by their unco-ordination, their life expectancy doesn’t seem to be affected and given a safe environment, they live as long as unaffected cats and seem little troubled by their condition.
Amazing: Poisoning, Panleukopaenia, Blow to the Head - Tony’s got the Trifecta! (Poisoned while a feral kitten, caught Panleukopaenia while at Virginia’s house, and Virginia’s husband Phil accidentally closed the refrigerator door pretty hard on his head). We’ll never know exactly what caused it.
Tony seems to be afflicted with a fairly mild case: for example, he has no trouble swatting a computer pointer as I move the mouse — consider that to do that, he has to not only see where it is, but predict where it will be, and then put his paw there.
Read the full posting at Messy Beast.com
The next Catten entry is here, 10 months later.
Post a Comment