cat walks with head down

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Leanin' Cedar - 21 Jan 2005 22:34 GMT

I have a cat that decided to make my acreage home last summer. It can be
approached and I have petted it briefly a couple of times.

It is fed daily and has a dry warm place to sleep in my shop.

From time to time it walks with its head down and sort of shakes it back and
forth while walking. After a number of steps it sits up and looks around.
This lasts a couple of days, and then it is fine for quite awhile.

I can not get this animal into a cage and take it to a vet, but I want to do
something for it.

Any help appreciated
Bob

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M.C. Mullen - 22 Jan 2005 14:51 GMT

|I have a cat that decided to make my acreage home last summer. It can be
| approached and I have petted it briefly a couple of times.
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
| Any help appreciated
| Bob

Do you think it could be the ears? If yes, then you can put some liquid on
its neck once a month to get rid of parasites.
I have never seen such behaviour. Could it be epileptic?
Then again the cat might just try to get a hairball out.

Carola

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Leanin' Cedar - 22 Jan 2005 19:29 GMT

It may be vision related but I don't see how that would be an occasional
thing. I thought earmites, and will get some medicine for that and see if I
can approach it and apply. This morning it would walk 9-10 steps and then
stare at the ground for a long time, then sit on its hind legs, look around
for awhile, and then continue to walk.

Bob

> |I have a cat that decided to make my acreage home last summer. It can be
> | approached and I have petted it briefly a couple of times.
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Carola

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leo@1starnet.com - 22 Jan 2005 17:57 GMT

if you can check its ears, do so. if they have ear mites there will
probably be some dark earwax built up and look cakey like. OR>>> it may
be stalking some minute scent. My cats love to go snifing everything
with head down to the scents. They check out every thing on the patio
and the yard everytime they go out to see who has been visiting.
leo/lee

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Leanin' Cedar - 22 Jan 2005 19:34 GMT

I will try and check the ears for mites. This is not a "sniffing" behavior.
This seems to be a "where am I" behavior, but only lasts for a couple of
days. I have seen this 3 or 4 times since last summer and then weeks of
normal walking and running.

I do not know how old this cat is, but appears to be mature. Possibly this
is "age" related.

Bob

> if you can check its ears, do so. if they have ear mites there will
> probably be some dark earwax built up and look cakey like. OR>>> it may
> be stalking some minute scent. My cats love to go snifing everything
> with head down to the scents. They check out every thing on the patio
> and the yard everytime they go out to see who has been visiting.
> leo/lee

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Dave McMahon - 22 Jan 2005 20:12 GMT

Perhaps you could get to cat to trust you more, perhaps let the cat feed on
a tray in utility room / kitchen with cat flap. I think the cat is lonely
and besides petting the cat will really help it.

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Amy Gray - 22 Jan 2005 21:49 GMT

>I can not get this animal into a cage and take it to a vet, but I want to do
>something for it.

Can you do something sneaky like give it some tuna or something it
likes long enough to put it in a carrier and bring it the vet?

My inclination is it maybe something as simple as an ear problem,
maybe something serious like Seizures?

What the cat really needs now is to visit the vet, maybe have
blood tests, x rays, etc. Until those tests are done it may not
be possible to fully diagnose the problem.

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