Our healthy 15 year old cat has very suddenly acted like she may be having something like a stroke. Her legs go stiff and she stretches her front legs in front of her and even brings one up over her head. Her hind legs go stiff as well. She looses her balance and has difficulty walking. Staggering and leaning against the walls. She is able to follow our hand with her eyes, but is unsteady. We checked her ears and they are clean with no bad odor. Her pupils are even and respond to light, but the response seems slow. She even seems to be looking off into space as if she is hallucinating. She recovers temporairly and seems almost normal, but frightened. She has been vomiting slightly more than usual, furball? This is an 'indoor' cat that is never outside. She is slightly overweight but her fur is glossy and thick. Several months ago she had some sort of angonizing and painful attack that had her screaming and running in circles. We rushed her to the vet who could find nothing wrong with her. Please, if anyone has any suggestion as to what we are dealing with, it would be much appreciated as our country vet has very little experience with this sort of thing.

Well, what you describe sounds like it could be a seizure. However, I'm concerned about the vomiting. What color was it? Did it have a very strong odor? Was it very liquid, or more pasty? With both symptoms occurring, it could definitely be something more serious. Please explain the vomit, & I'll let you know what I think.

Thank you for your quick response. Her vomit is basically the same colour as her kibble and generally happens soon after she eats. There is no mucus or odor and we have restricted her diet to Purina One for older cats mixed with some Friskies Dental Diet. She gets the occasional spoonful of canned cat food as a treat. We thought it might be furball, but we have seen very little hair in the vomit. My husband noticed a small, fluid like, warm swelling between her shoulder blades last night. Doesn't seem to be there this morning.

Hello again... I forgot to mention, she is basically back to normal this morning. Perhaps just a little bit restless and anxious, but we would probably be the only ones to notice as she seems fine today... Really, we didn't expect her to make it through the night. This is very strange... and worrisome.

I would book an examination at the vet once again.

A 15 year old cat is an old cat... ;)

She is nearing the end of her life, so it should not be unexpected to you that she will be developing health complications. Don't get me wrong, she may still have a few years in her... but you will need to have the vet keep a closer watch over her as she progresses through this final stage of her life.

Thank you for your response.Yes... we are aware that she is an old kitty, but not the oldest we've had. One of ours became diabetic and died at 18 and the other, a Russian Blue, went well into his 20s, so 15 doesn't seem that old to us, especially since she otherwise looks so healthy. We do take her in for regular check ups and keep up her vacinations.
Our local country vet hasn't had much luck with these kinds of maladies. If it isn't bleeding, ouzing, or obviously broken, he's kind of at a loss and usually suggest we take them to the vet school at Pullman, Washington, some 10 hours south of here.
I forgot to mention earlier that her vomit is pale yellow/tan (like her kibble) and goes from liquid to pasty but not foamy. Earlier today she looked up at me and her front leg started to shake. If she were a horse, I'd think she had staggers.

Well, the behavior w/ the vomit was leading me to believe seizures due to complications of liver failure. However, the vomit w/ that is usually brownish, & has the most disgusting smell. I still am leaning toward the seizures. I would ask your vet if he could look into that specific problem. It's one thing to do a radom search, but if he was looking for information on just that subject, he might be willing, & he may surprise you w/ what he finds out. Good luck, & wish you & your cat the best.

Though it does sound like some sort of seizure disorder, given the advanced age of your cat, chronic renal failure and the possibility of uremia probably can't be entirely ruled out, and could certainly present as the symptoms you describe. Given that it is an indoor cat, try to observe the frequency of its litter habits. Given that this is a more recent development, it might not hurt to have the vet check the blood for elevated levels of albumin, among possibly other things, as this would likely be the first indicator in such a situation, far preceding most other symptoms. Though I do hope it is nothing that serious. Good luck. Take care.

Thank you for your responses and we will check things out with our vet as suggested. I have been checking the litter boxes (she has two as she seems to use one for urine and the other for feces.) All looks normal, as does she today, even initiating play with the dog. I've checked the house plants for tooth marks and there are none. We keep any even questionably toxic plants well above where she can reach. I will repost if and when we find out what the cause of her seizure was.

Hi Emakala,
Glad to hear she is doing well and everything appears normal as of late. Good idea with the plants, my cats have been known to sample some. Hope everything checks out all right. Thanks. Take care. :)

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Originally Posted by Emakala

Our healthy 15 year old cat has very suddenly acted like she may be having something like a stroke. Her legs go stiff and she stretches her front legs in front of her and even brings one up over her head. Her hind legs go stiff as well. She looses her balance and has difficulty walking. Staggering and leaning against the walls. She is able to follow our hand with her eyes, but is unsteady. We checked her ears and they are clean with no bad odor. Her pupils are even and respond to light, but the response seems slow. She even seems to be looking off into space as if she is hallucinating. She recovers temporairly and seems almost normal, but frightened. She has been vomiting slightly more than usual, furball? This is an 'indoor' cat that is never outside. She is slightly overweight but her fur is glossy and thick. Several months ago she had some sort of angonizing and painful attack that had her screaming and running in circles. We rushed her to the vet who could find nothing wrong with her. Please, if anyone has any suggestion as to what we are dealing with, it would be much appreciated as our country vet has very little experience with this sort of thing.

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Hope this helps: I don't know much about it myself.

Signs of a Stroke in a Cat: Dog & Cat Diseases | eHow.com

Watch this video it describes what happens for the cat. My cat just had one tonight, very scary, I'm so upset. She's my baby. Also an indoor cat only. Hope it is of some help.

Please check the dates of posts. This is from 2006 and unfortunately the cat in the main post may not even be around any more.

I know this was a long time ago but did anything ever come out of it? My cat is having the same issues you describe. Frequent vomiting and she has had a few episodes now where she stands up on her back legs kind of in a trance and moves her paws like she is doing some sort of slow interpretive dance. She puts one over her head and twists her body around to keep looking at it. After the second one she tried to walk and her legs were all sprawled out like she couldn't keep balance.

Our old female had her first what we think was a TIA early this morning around 4:30 am and really freaked us out. We were asleep when we heard something going on in the kitchen and found her laying on the floor, moving her legs erratically but unable to get up. She finally was able to regain her footing and was very frightened and meowed constantly for a while. By the time we finished getting coffee and dressing etc. she was almost back to normal with no obvious lasting effects. She's been fine the rest of the morning. I cannot afford expensive tests at a vet - they are as expensive now as a pediatrician for human kids. I think I came out worse than the cat because trying to pick her up, my vertigo kicked in and I landed flat on the floor with subsequent loss of hide off my arms. I guess both of us, the cat and I are getting too damned old.

My cat is doing the same . Her vomit is dark brown liquid and turns to paste . She screams in pain and her legs go stiff, she is only 2 yrs old. She is at the vet as of now on I.V . He said she had some sort of virus and her white blood cells are really high. Won't know anymore until tomorrow.