Livvy the twirling mystery cat: similar experiences?

Good morning! I am new here and just posted an introduction to our cat Livvy here. Livvy is 13 and ended her remission, starting insulin glargine about four weeks ago. She has some symptoms that seem to be stumping our vet, and certainly are stumping my husband and me.

More specifically, many days (but not all), Livvy has an episode during which her head twists to the right. If you didn't know better, you'd think that she was looking over her right shoulder voluntarily, but the reality is that she can't stop it. When she tries to walk during one of these episodes, she lists to the right.

The first time that we observed this was about eight months ago. It happened very infrequently for a few months. We mentioned it to the vet. He said, "Hmmm." and not much more. We didn't worry about it to much, because it was infrequent and mild.

At the worse of times, she in fact will walk in a circle to the right, obsessively twirling until she wears her poor little self out. The most severe episode was about four weeks ago, on the day that we brought her home from the hospital where she was put on insulin and monitored (curved) to try to get the dost right.

On that day, when we got her home, she circled and circled and we took her back to the vet. We feared for her safety and wanted to know what on earth could be the matter. No answers were forthcoming, other than that her electrolytes were out of balance. Specifically, her potassium was low.

After four weeks of potassium supplementation, her potassium level is normal, but she still has these episodes. They seem to happen before her evening meal, most commonly. There may be some association between the episodes and stress/anxiety, but this is difficulty to say. Sometimes she purrs during an episode. It would be a self-soothing purr, but it's hard to say. She doesn't seem all that distraught during the mild episodes. An episode can last from 30 minutes to two hours.

We have some theories, but no answers. Rather than sharing my speculations, I thought I'd ask, have any of you come across this and gotten any answers? Thank you!

 

Hi Livvy's Mum, I posted on your introduction thread too . Did the Vet check Livvy's ears? There is also something called Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome but nothing specific to cause or cure.

 

My drooler actually had the Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome - her head just started to go to one side and she couldn't walk straight - like a drunken sailor. If I remember correctly there is some sort of bladder type thing that helps keep things in balance and for some reason or another it just goes out of alignment! That is what my vet said. There was nothing to do for it but let it resolve itself. She did get better as her body adjusted to the "new" alignment but she always had a slight tilt to the right.

The other option at the time we took her in was that she had a stroke but vet thought is was IVS so we gave it a few days first.

She eventually ended up just walking in circles near the end, she developed dementia an top of everything else and walked for hours at a time until she fell asleep exhausted. It was at that time we said goodbye as her quality of life was very limited.

I am not sure if this would work the same in cat vs. a drooler.

 

This can be caused by high blood pressure. It would be a really good idea for her vet to check her BP, if he hasn't already done it!

 

Thanks for the idea, Squalliesmom. Livvy's blood pressure has been normal when the vet has checked it...but it seems possible that she could be having spikes in blood pressure, right?

 

Thanks for your reply, Tracey. That is very sad. I'm sorry to ask, but what is a drooler?

 

Thanks for the question, Yong. Her ears check out just fine. The vet's assessment is that this doesn't present like vestibular syndrome. Her walking in circles (which is occasional) suggested that, but the vet said that she doesn't have the classic symptom of her eyes darting back and forth. As well, there is no vomiting associated with these episodes.

I should mention here (and will add to my signature) that Livvy's eyes are dilated all of the time. Her pupils no longer constrict in response to light. The vet indicated that he has seen this before in diabetic cats, or that he has read about this happening (I've forgotten which). She is not blind, and she does not have cataracts.

Thanks for thinking about this!

 

Could be, yes. (Droolers are dogs, btw!)

 

A droller is a dog, that said it was two years from her IVS issue till we said goodbye. She was an old pup and life is like that.

 

Yes, true, and I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed many years with her.

 

I've been wondering if Livvy's "episodes" could be a symptom of her starting to get hypo or hyper as part of the Somogyi effect. Could she be unique in how she presents? Of course, it could be that the vet is just flat out incorrect and that it is indeed Ideopathic Vestibular Syndrome. That said, he convinced us that it isn't that when we suggested it after some research on our own.

 

Once you start home testing you will be able to know if it's her BG levels, lower and or higher, influencing the "episodes"

 

I've got a funny story for you (and while I can't help with the spinning, perhaps this will at least let you know you're not alone on this part)!
So my large cantankerous mean 'ol gal just got diagnosed with diabetes last week. She has a bit of Maine Coon in her so before diabetes she was a fit 18 pounds. She's just a large gal. She lost her fangs due to breakage when she was a couple years old, so she can't hurt anyone with her bite. I clip all my kitties claws so she can't scratch and do damage. Yet she's intimidating. She greets house guests with her old lady meow (not the cute welcoming kind) and the guest usually goes "kitty!" And pets her. But we're busy chatting and she gives a warning meow after 2 pets, but no one pays attention. Well then she will turn growl, maybe swat, but definitely stare you down with her big eyes. She has come up to people and sat on the armrest, and the guest will move seats because they are getting the stare down from this cat that can't actually hurt anyone, lol.
Okay now that you get her personality, we went to the vet and the tech took her in the back to draw blood. The vet came back with her and asked us, "were you aware she's blind?" Which totally threw us off guard. I've moved furniture and this cat has had no problems. We have never noticed any sign that she was blind. The vet said he came up to her and she made no acknowledgement he was there, that was his first indication. He demonstrated for us that she didn't flinch at all when he waved fingers in her face. Then he dropped a cotton ball from a foot above her face to see if she would follow it while it dropped. She didn't... at all.
We brought her home and sat on the couch with our take out dinner. (She is still in aggressive food mode because of her diabetes.) she was following my had that held the French fry. So I put the fry down, as maybe she was following a sense of smell. Well she still followed my hand. This cat wasn't blind at all. She was just angry about being at the vet that her royal highness wouldn't give him the dignity of acknowledging his presence. OMG she is so stubborn!!! So because I've been paying attention to her eyes this week (and she can totally see... we do blinkies to each other) I have noticed her eyes are always dialated. I do think it's because of the diabetes, and hopefully it will also go back to normal once we get her regulated! Please let me know if your Livvy's eyes change or get better!

My cat is so stubborn! Lol.

 

Wow! That is something else! She must be clever in addition to being stubborn! She can control her instincts at will. LOL! I'll keep you posted on Livvy's eyes. Let me know about your gal, too!

 

Yes. Now I just need to learn to test and get going on that!

 

My sister's dog had something similar and they determined that in her case it was a type of seizure. She never lost consciousness, but would do the twirling thing. She was on phenobarbital most of her life, and it really helped. She would still do it a little bit, but much much milder than before. I have no idea if the same type of thing could be true for cats or not though.

 

This may be a long shot, but your description reminds me of a CH cat: Cerebellar Hypoplasia Cats & Kittens. It might be worth discussing with your vet.

 

Sure sounds from your description like a vestibular issue. Does she look something like this -

It's possible that perhaps it's stroke/ischemia related and she is having some hemi-paresia. Perhaps partial seizures if there are discrete episodes with normal behavior most of the time. Perhaps hyperestesia - do you notice lots of "skin rolling" during the episodes?

 

That's interesting! Livvy's episodes certainly seem seizure-like. I'll mention this to our vet, and/or to the internal medicine specialist - we're probably headed there next. Thanks!