cyst or meningocele?

[jcaritas]

I have a stumper for you. Our cat is a ten-year-old, male, tail-less (stumpy) mixed breed named SueBoo. About a year ago, he came in from outside limping, and our vet diagnosed him as having a torn crucious (sp?) ligament in his back leg. He said it would probably heal on its own, which it did; however, since that point, we noticed that he was hesitant about using his back legs, instead pulling himself up onto things and sliding a great deal when he jumped from one table to another. At that point, our vet said there was nothing wrong with the leg, and it was probably psychological.

Since that time, his problem got steadily worse, until lately we noticed that he was walking with a straight-legged gait, and his back legs were very wobbly. When he sat, his back legs would slide behind him and he would have to continually right himself. When we brought him in, our vet did x-rays and blood work, but found nothing wrong, so last week SueBoo had a mylogram, which revealed a mass in his spinal column at the L3 vertebrae. His walking was much worse after the mylogram; for the first day he was unable to walk at all. Our vet suggested immediate surgery, and three days ago he underwent surgery to remove the mass. However, instead of finding the extradural tumor our vet expected to see, he said that he saw a large bubble in the dura. He cut the dura to remove the cyst he assumed was inside, and out leaked a large pool of clear fluid, mixed with the dye from the mylogram. He poked around for the cyst, but kept hitting the spinal cord, and rather than risk damaging it, he sewed him back up. He had removed the top part of a vertebrae and stabilized the spine with a pin, leaving a hole in the dura so that any other fluid that might build up would drain into the surrounding tissue, at least until the dura healed. He was unable to take a biopsy.

Our vet has no explanation for what he found and doesn’t seem to be seeking one, instead taking a “wait and see” attitude (after three days, SueBoo’s walking seems good, but he still sometimes slips). We’d prefer to be more proactive. I’d read that tail-less cats sometimes have meningoceles, which sounds similar to what our vet saw. However, when I asked our vet about this, he said it couldn’t be a meningocele, because those are present at birth, and SueBoo is an older cat. He also said that structural problems in Manx cats occur in rumpies, not stumpies. When I asked him if the clear fluid was spinal fluid, he said that no, it was cystic fluid, mixed with the dye from the mylogram.

I’m confused by this answer, and would love some help sorting it out. Wouldn’t the dye from the mylogram necessarily be mixed with spinal fluid (the dye wouldn’t have been inside the cyst, would it)? And how could the fluid be cystic fluid when he was unable to find a cyst? Is it possible that SueBoo had structural problems that just now caused a meningocele? (Throughout his life he’s hopped like a bunny rather than running like a normal cat, and we recently read that that’s a structural flaw). Or, that the accident which caused the torn crucious ligament also caused some subtle damage to his spine? I also saw a picture of a Manx cat sitting the way SueBoo sat, who was described as having sacrococcygeal dysgenesis (it also said that this cat hopped like a bunny) – could the problem be related to this? (I was unable to find any information about this disorder in layman’s terms). And finally, if it is a cyst as our vet said, what are the chances that this will come back, and also that it’s malignant? And how will the surgery our vet did affect any of these disorders?

Please help! We’d love to know what course of action we should pursue.

Thank you so much.

[Lucky Rescue]

I hope our resident vet sees your post and can help you! I'm sure none of the rest of us can.

All I know is that "rumpy" Manxes are prone to congenital defects, spinal abnormalities, missing vertabrae, etc. but you say your cat is a "stumpy."

You might want to check out this link. Scroll down to "Special Medical problems".

You might want to get a second opinion too.

Manx cats

[Luba]

I wouldn't want to point you in the wrong direction but have you considered chiropractic treatment? I'd take any xrays with you and diagnosis, important medical info etc...and see a chiropractor.

I sure hope you figure it out!

[jcaritas]

I looked over the Manx info and what they said was similar to what my vet had said, but more understandable, so thank you for the reference!

Re: chiropractic -- we'd thought about that before his surgery, but now he has a pin holding his spine together!

I think the best bet would be for us to take him to Texas A&M -- they have an amazing teaching hospital there, if anyone lives within driving distance and has problems they can't figure out. Thank you, though, for your suggestions!