Noticed Odd Leg Twitch/Tic

I can't say if Todd is better or not, but after talking with the vet office, I was told sometimes Pancreatitis can take a few months to recover from and that it is very normal to have great days where he is eating and then the next day, he looks like he is on deaths door. She assured me I am doing everything right and not to worry.

But then I noticed something odd.. and I called them back, but they were busy and now they are closed and I have yet to hear from them.

When he is in the meatloaf position, he does this odd twitch/tic. When loafing, he always has his right front paw out a bit, while the other is tucked away. Well.. every few seconds to every few minutes (it is constantly different) he does this little like, shoulder jerk on his right front side. Sometimes it's little and just the shoulder, sometimes it's a bit more, where the whole paw/arm moves a tiny bit and his head bobs. It's not super dramatic and unless you are really watching him, you wouldn't notice it. Of course, I am super focused on it now, so I keep seeing it, even the little ones. He doesn't seem to be uncomfortable, and if I didn't know better, I would think he has the hiccups, but this only happens when he is in the loaf position.

I don't know if maybe it's a side effect of all the medication he is on, or if maybe he is just uncomfortable on that side (maybe stiff or something so he is just shifting a lot) or if he has a little pain and it's just making him flinch every once in a while.

I tried to look it up online, but the only thing I found was someone writing that their cat was having a leg twitch or something and it ended up being cardiomyopathy and the cat died. So yeah, freaked out now.

I don't know if I should be totally freaked out by this or not. He seems pretty good otherwise. Not a terrible day actually.




Thoughts?...

 

I don't have an answer for you, but my Fin does this too when in the loaf position. I only noticed this when we switched to Lantus and started getting lower numbers (for him...). Each time I tested him right after his twitching, his BG was on the low-end. The first time it happened was the first time when he had the lowest number I have ever seen with him since adopting him (105). The second time, he was in the low 200's (which for him is low...we are work in progress).

I will be curious to see what the more experienced members have to say. :smile:

 

With your kitties health issues, there are several possibilities. I hope you talk to your vet soon.

Here are a couple thoughts ( and things to check w/ your vet) :

Is he still on the postassium supps? have those values been checked lately?
low potassium is one potential cause
( and how is his overall electrolyte profile? )

Pain. can sometimes cause tremors and shakes. as you know, P-titis is a very painful disease.

siezure activity. how are his pupils when he twitches ? is he responsive? is the twitching ongoing or comes and goes in waves?

I can't tell if he is still on insulin or not?? I went back through your old posts to get an idea of his health issues.
have you checked his BG?

and as you mentioned -- side effects of meds. -- what is he currently taking?

It would be so very helpful if you could add a profile to you sig line.
Here is the link to tell you how to do that:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17766

There is a template to help you know what info to include.
make sure you give detailed info on his current meds and dosing info. along w/ his medical hx and current dx.
It would be great to have that in one place for board members to look at to be able to offer you more information.
Thanks !

please let us know how Todd is doing. healing wishes being sent

 

He is still on potassium, I asked about a follow up and was told only if he gets worse, which is odd. He will need to be boarded at the vet the weekend of the 28th and they require a vet check, so I am going to get that and a follow up (blood work too) done this coming week.

His eyes look normal when this happens. I have a video on my phone, but I don't know how to upload it. I will be showing it to the vet tomorrow, since no one called me back today, I am gonna drive over there in the morning. He seems to be responsive. If I say his name or make a sound, he will look at me and will sometimes make a little mew. I don't think it's a seizure. I had a cat once who had a seizure. Her eyes would wiggle and she seemed lost. he just loafs and does a little jerk/twitch on his right side and head. I showed the video to my mom and she said it looked like a little tic to her. he seems comfortable, even when it happens. He has even played a bit today. For a minute or so with a feather toy, and for a couple of minutes with a laser pointer. normally he isn't into playing with anything.

My biggest fear is some sort of heart thing. His breathing seems fine though. But after reading that persons comment I found, now I am freaked out.

However, I am also part of a Feline Pancreatitis group and someone there said that their cat had a reaction to the Metronidazole. Her cat developed a tic in his head/ shoulder area. he had neuro-toxicity from too high of a dose. If this is the case, he should get better within a few weeks after stopping the meds.

Current list of meds are as follows:

Lactated Ringers with B complex added Sub-Q 75ml to 150ml once a day to every other day as needed

Buprenorphine 0.25 to 0.3 every 12 hours

Metronidazole One capsule (62.5mg) once a day. (There is one capsule left of this. Due tomorrow)

Baytril 22.7mg Once a day (Finished last night on 8/12

Mirtazapine 1/4 tab every 72 hours (due again on 8/14 in the am)

Tumil-K Potassium Gel 3ml twice a day (We switched today to the Tumil-K tablets. 468 mg twice a day)

Pepcid AC 5mg

Lantus Glargine 1/2 unit twice a day right now (His original dose before getting sick was 2.5 twice a day)

since getting back on insulin, his numbers have been in the mid 200's.


The vet wants to start him on weekly B12 shots tomorrow, and she wants to start him on Denamarin. I don't know what Denamarin is for or if he really needs it.

Did I miss anything?..

Thank you folks!

 

I again called the vet office today to figure out what to do. I called twice yesterday and even stopped by. No word.. nothing. No calls back, no one to talk to. So when I called today I told them I have to talk to someone, because they are closed tomorrow. So I get a call back from the front desk gal. She says our doctor said to bring him today, because she doesn't know what it is. But I can't today, I have to be someplace in an hour... It would have been nice to have them tell me this yesterday, so I could adjust plans. I understand they are busy though. Anyway.. I asked if the vet thought it was urgent and she didn't answer me, so I said lets make an appointment for Monday, but ask the doctor if she thinks it's urgent and if she does, I'll find a way to get him over there today. She said she will call me back. I also explained to her that I thought it might be the neurotoxicity from the Metronidazole. I said the time line was right (started 7 to 12 days after being on the meds) and that the symptoms seemed the same. Looking at videos of cats having seizures and such, it does not look like a seizure to me and if it were heart issues, according to online reports, he would be having problems with his back legs and such. This is his right front shoulder area involving head a bit and it comes and goes, and ONLY when he is in the meatloaf position.

I feel awful that I have to leave in an hour. I don't want to leave him and it's gonna hit 90 today. I'll leave the living room AC on for him. I also check his BG at 10. It was 207 (before breakfast). He didn't want to eat, so I syringe fed him some A/D. I won't be gone all day. I'll be back in a few hours to check on him, before I have to drive over to my mothers house. I'm just so, so worried about him. I hope he will be ok while I am gone.

 

I'm sure he'll be fine until he sees the vet on monday.

on think I noticed on you med list -- he is on mirtz and yet you are needing to syringe feed.
usually cats that do not respond to mirtz are either in pain or having nausea.
you treat the pain and or nausea and they eat very well on it.
since you are giving some bup --- I , personally would treat the nausea more aggressively.

a wonderful med for nausea for p-titis kitties in ondansetron. It comes in pills and injectable.
I used pills. they are generic and worked very well. you might talk to your vet about that.

Hope he did fine while you were away today.

eta denamarin is a combo of denasyl (sam E) and marin( silybin) http://www.nutramaxlabs.com/vet/products/Denamarin.aspx

they are powerful antioxidents and have also been shown in research todays to help the liver heal.
Denasyl and/or denamarin are often recommended for p-titis kitties for their anti -ox properties and as a prophylactic for the liver ( often, because of a shared duct, there is liver involvement with p-titis. )
there is a nice round table discussion about the treatment of p-titis on the Idexx page, in which the panel members agree that this supplement is good for p-titis kitties.

http://www.idexx.com/view/xhtml/en_us/s ... ec-fpl.jsf

It's on the right hand side of the page is a pdf file that is titled " Feline Pancreatitis Roundtable"
It's a good read.

 

Thank you for the info, I'm gonna check it out right now.


I ended up taking him to our old vet, they are right by our house. They boarded him there for the day so he could keep cool and be watched. They said he slept all day. When I brought him home, he ate a little and slept more. I had to run out for a short time and when I came back, he was excited to see me and ate some food (not enough though). I syringe fed him more A/D around 10pm and gave him all of his meds.

I took him back to our regular old vet again today (thankfully they are open on Sundays!). There is only one doctor at our clinic that I like to see, and thankfully she was in today. He has lost one pound since he was last seen there three weeks ago. She pushed on his belly in places and he growled. Then when she was done he just flopped down on his side and stayed there. She said what she would like to do is an Xray today, a blood work recheck and then either tomorrow or Tuesday, have their Ultrasound guy (He's a mobile ultrasound guy) come in and do the ultrasound. I am so thankful they do payments. So they are holding onto him for the day, which is good, it's gonna hit 90 again today. So my house is gonna be awful.

She said it could be just Pancreatitis, or cancer of some kind, or IBD.. or IBD AND Pancreatitis. She also said it could just be he is very, very uncomfortable because he is dehydrated and it's making everything feel worse. Really she said, it could be anything. She said it could also show nothing at all. She said sometimes a cat gets sick and you just can not find the cause until after they pass and you look for the cause with an autopsy. She said that once they do the ultrasound, unless something really jumps out and says I am "THIS".. we should see a internal med doctor soon. She said if it is something like IBD or IBD with Pancreatitis.. with his diabetes, it's going to be hard to manage the treatment for both IBD and Diabetes, so we will have to see a internal med doctor to manage it. Though she said his diabetes isn't that bad. Up until whatever this is started, he never had any problems with it and was managed well. But she in concerned because of the weight loss, not wanting to eat and the pain when pressing on his belly.


I hope for good news. I want good news.. I am expecting bad news though.

 

has he had an fPLI test? i looked at your previous posts and saw where it was suggested, but didn't see if you had it done. If not, please insist on it.
The blood can be done through 2 different places
1. Idexx --- which is the link i gave you above for the round table discussion
or
2 texas a& m where the test was originally developed.

http://www.cvm.tamu.edu/gilab/research/ ... itis.shtml

The Idexx test results tend to come back quicker, But since IBD is also suspected ( and it is not uncommon for it to as the intestines also share that duct I mentioned before with the liver and the pancreas-- when all three are involved it is call triads or triaditis . ) I would suggest you cat get a complete GI profile from Texas.
did you start the B12 shots yet? The GI profile will measure the cobalamin and folate
http://www.cvm.tamu.edu/gilab/research/cobalamin.shtml
which are helpful in evaluating GI disease ( ibd) see the above link for info regarding this.

these tests must be done fasting(12-18hr) -- which can present a challenge for diabetic kitties.
I always made sure winnie got her food at shot time. then took her food away and made sure the test was sced for around the next shot time. and waited to shoot and feed until after the bw sometimes that means a little shorter fast (11hrs) or a little bit late shot that then was readjusted a little at a time over the next couple days. The fasting issue for this test should be discussed with your vet. She/he may have a different thought or approach to this.

the xrays and u/s sound like excellent ideas. They will show if there is anything else in there causing issue . and the u/s in particular, I have found to be an great tool.

The abdominal discomfort from palpitation shows that Todd is in pain. ARe you still giving him pain med?
If so , you might talk to your vet about adjusting the dosing. It can be given more frequently than 12 hrs.

Please keep us posted on how your Todd is doing.

 

Re: Noticed Odd Leg Twitch/Tic *UPDATE*

Just giving an update..


I just spoke with the vet. They took blood, urine and xrays. The blood work should be back tomorrow, the urine will be about 2 days. Though she doesn't think they will find anything with the urine, since he was on two antibiotics.

She said the Xrays looked good. He had a little bit of stool, but nothing backed up. He had what she thought was gas in there.. she did note an area of the intestines that looked.. how did she put it.. not like lumps or masses, but just they way they were.. I think she said clumped together. But she said that could be from the surgery he had last October at the specialty clinic. She said they may have arranged his intestines in such a way that they won't cause another Intussusception. Doing the ultrasound will show for sure on that. I asked if it could be another Intussusception, but she said they don't normally look like this on a xray and she would consider that lower on the scale of what it could be... but there is always that possibility. If that is what he has, I know they can do the surgery, but it's in the $4,000 range. Hopefully we will get the ultrasound done tomorrow or Tuesday, and we can get some good news. She gave him some Sub-Q fluids and said she would call me when he is ready, because I asked if they would please give him the meds he needs for the day. She also said she gave him some canned M/D and after a few hours he did eat a little of it, but not much. He usually won't eat when he is at the vet, so I am not surprised. She said I can certainly syringe feed him, especially if he is not eating enough on his own.

So I guess the good news, no masses seen in his lungs or anything from the Xray, just the.. something, in his intestines which I HOPE is just from his surgery last year and not a mass or Intussusception. I guess if the ultrasound sees nothing, I don't know what we will do... Keep doing what we can, I guess.

Good thoughts for my Toddy Tiger please!

 

Now that he is home (as of 5:30pm) He seems really blah. I suppose he could be high from the Bupe. They gave him 0.25 not long before I picked him up. It's also roughly 80 inside my house right now. I also just syringe fed him, which he hates. So it's hot, he is sick, I just forced food in him and he is on the Bupe. He is kinda just sitting or loafing looking kinda spaced and tired, but sometimes alert enough to a sound or if he sees something. Should I be worried?..

I know, paranoid kitty mom. But my husband just went out of town today, so I am gonna be home alone for the week freaking out about this. nailbite_smile

 

Toddy Tiger, and you, both have my thoughts & prayers.

 

Toddy Kitty Angels and prayers & tons of green healing light coming your way.. Maybe if you tries FF or something different food Just wondering,...Hope he will soon be feeling better Kath And you too remember to Breath if you show you are stress so will he Hugsssssssssssssssssss