Cat - slow head movement back and forth

[NuggetandWicket]

My cat just had an episode where he seems to become disoriented. He wonders until he finds himself in a corner, then moves his head left and right continuously. This happened a month ago and we took him to emergency. By the time we got there, it had stopped and they couldn’t explain it.
Tonight it lasted longer. He is diabetic so I gave him syrup to make sure he wasn’t in a glucose low. I was also able to get him to eat some kibble by hand. He was too disoriented to eat from his dish. He has been diabetic for almost three years and on a steady dose of insulin. I don’t think this is related to diabetes.
It is not a shaking or tremor like I have seen described elsewhere. More of a slow movement like he is looking for a way out of the corner.
I tried to upload a video but it didn’t work. I will look into it more tomorrow.

[NuggetandWicket]

I cannot seem to upload a video. There is one on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/DElTTmD_Xrg

[hazelrunpack]

Aw, poor Nugget! He looks lost, poor dear.

Maybe a mild seizure?

Did you have the video when you saw the vet a month ago? My best advice is to bring the video to your vet and have them view it. Given that it's happened twice now and the duration was longer the second time, probably sooner than later on that vet opinion.

Nugget is a beautiful boy, btw I hope you can get a quick diagnosis and successful treatment for this latest symptom

[NuggetandWicket]

Thank you both. We had a similar video when we visited the vet at the Metro Emergency animal clinic in Dartmouth. By the time we got there he was back to normal and she didn’t seem to have any ideas based on the video. We left him overnight to be safe and for them to do additional observations. $500 later, we didn’t have any diagnosis. He has been normal ever since. This happened out of the blue again last night.

I don’t feed him dry food since he was diagnosed with diabetes. I have some dry DM that I use as treats. 4-6 pieces of kibble per day. He was too disoriented to eat from the food dish so I hand fed him the kibble. I will check out that site though.

[Barkingdog]

Poor kitty ! Could it be vertigo
I know dogs can get this ? I hope you can find out what wrong with your beautiful cat.

[RUSTYcat]

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Hi Mike!

I've been on the lookout for an answer to your conundrum.

Were you able to get to the bottom of it?

Hope all is well.
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[RUSTYcat]

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Hi NuggetandWicket and welcome to the forum !

My gut feeling is that he has lost/is losing some/all vision.

This can happen in cats for (at least) two reasons

- high blood pressure causing retinal detachment (full blindness, temporary or permanent depending on immediate treatment)
- high blood sugar causing reduced blood flow to the retinas (partial or full blindness)

This is an urgent situation - not one that can wait until tomorrow.

I'm very surprised that an ER facility would not have suspected vision loss - if what you described then are what you described here - with or without that video, loss of vision immediately comes to my mind....and, I'm no Vet.

You need a quality Vet when things get complicated in feline medicine - general practice Vets often just don't 'cut the mustard'. There is a cat-only hospital/clinic in Halifax.....perhaps consider that.

In any case, if there is to be any hope.....treatment timing is of the essence!

Keep us posted.

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Meantime, I see you're still feeding dry food......IMO, you can use some 'pointy' well-informed advice for better managing Nugget's diabetes. There is a specialized online community for folks with diabetic cats - it's well-recognized as the premiere go-to resource for diabetic kitties and has been active since very early Internet days. This is it: Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB

But, don't waste time with it now....get him to the Vet ASAP !
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