Tessa is 19 and a half now and over the last six weeks has started to
go a bit strange. Once while trimming her claws she got very agitated
so we left her, she staggered across the room and slumped down looking
a little glazed and vacant, after about 5 minutes she recovered, had a
drink of water and seemed OK again. A week or so later she had a
violent coughing fit and again staggered about then slumped looking
vacant for a while then recovered and a few days ago did a similar
thing but not with the coughing. Between times she seems fine for an
old cat, sleeps mostly but stills gets around, up and down stairs,
outside to toilet and is happy to sit with us and purrs alot when
petted. Any ideas what might be causing the vacant/glazed over
episodes? She is eating resonably well and drinks a lot of water.
NMR - 21 Dec 2005 11:03 GMT
She is 19 the glazed over effect might be from excess activity causing a
lack of oxygen to the brain making her pause till her body kicks back in.
Just like an old person that has trouble walking they move a little bit
take a few minutes to recover than move again.
Savor every minute with that old cat I just lost our 19.5 year old
precious she would act like that the vet told us old age brings alot of
strange conditions with it.
> Tessa is 19 and a half now and over the last six weeks has started to
> go a bit strange. Once while trimming her claws she got very agitated
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> petted. Any ideas what might be causing the vacant/glazed over
> episodes? She is eating resonably well and drinks a lot of water.
CatDude - 21 Dec 2005 17:54 GMT
On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 22:24:09 -0800, shedman wrote:
> Tessa is 19 and a half now and over the last six weeks has started to
> go a bit strange. Once while trimming her claws she got very agitated
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> petted. Any ideas what might be causing the vacant/glazed over
> episodes? She is eating resonably well and drinks a lot of water.
Sounds like it's definitely time to see the vet to do a checkup.
doby - 23 Dec 2005 08:08 GMT
It sounds like heart trouble, either heart disease or congestive heart
failure. A valve in the heart may not be working properly or not
enough oxygen reaching the heart through the bloodstream. The heart may
not be beating fast enough so that any type of exertion would make the
heart beat faster and if there's not enough oxygen reaching the heart the
heart becomes oxygen-starved and the cat keels over. A vet check-up would
tell you exactly what you're looking at but you could try some supportive
measures such as Vitamin E , Coenzyme Q10, and hawthorne berry extract
( which is used in various forms of heart disease and heart failure in
both humans and animals). Acupuncture also helps to get things moving
and helps alot in cases like this .
www.ivas.org
doby - 23 Dec 2005 08:21 GMT
Your said your cat drinks alot of water? That can overload the kidneys in
even a younger cat. Healthy cats don't drink alot of water. It can be a
sign of hyperthyroidism , kidney disease, or kidney failure. If it's
kidney disease or kidney failure , commercial pet food isn't helping.
It's full of alot of stuff that's hard on the kidneys. Vets offer
k/d
foods, the canned is better than the dry.