Does anyone have any experiance w/ this.
My best barn kitty ended up w/ serious ear infection a $860. visit to emergancy hospital.
He is recovering very slowly in my tackroom. He does have a slight head tilt.
We have finished all of his meds.
Did your pet make a full recovery? partial recovery and how long?
There can be a lot of causes of torticollis in cats, ear infection is high on the list. However, saying that, “bad” ear infections arent that common in cats (compared to dogs) and often have another component like a polyp causing the infection. Once the infection is cleared, the torticollis should go away. However, if there is inflammation of the inner ear, or a polyp (these happen more frequently in cats than dogs) then he may not straighten out his head until these are addressed. If it was a true vestibular event (not related to ear infection) then generally in time it will return to normal.
Best way to diagnose whats going on in that ear is a CT scan of the head. Not cheap, probably run you $500. I dont know if I would do this for my barn cat, but its an option if he is your heart kitty. These images will disect the entire inner ear and show any polyp, infection, malformation etc.
Good luck with him! If he is eating/drinking normally and not vomiting than he is likely handling life well sideways!!
Head tilt no to severe now, eating popping using litter pan just fine.
Is now able to get up and down off trunks and chairs w/ minimual stagger off balance when landing.
Very worried he will not be able to get away from the JRT’s when they fly thru barn or handle up n down loft steps or getting on off hay/straw stacks.
The vets tell me he had a nasty nasty infection behind ear drum…
While I adore the cat expense of CT is just not going to happen…he can always be Tack room kitty he is happy in there lots of places to perch and cabinets to hide in…
Female cat had this oh about 5 years ago. Vet gave us meds and we took her camping with us so we could give them to her, a trip to remember. Didnt have to worry abt her running off cause she couldnt. lol. She still has a bit of head tilt but the neat thing is she can look at you over her own back. Kind of like an owl, tilts her head back and looks up. Heeled fine. Can run or face down anything.
My mom and I found her barn cat hanging to the side of a bale of hay for dear life a few years ago. We thought she had gotten into something toxic and was dying. After madly running her to the vet, she was diagnosed with vestibular disease. She recovered fairly quickly. Now, after a few years, she is just about back to normal. She does have a slight head tilt, though. It’s actually kind of charming.
I had a foster kitten last year who developed a head tilt after a struggle with ear mites and an ear infection. The vet speculates that there was a tiny puncture to the ear drum and the infection got in her middle ear. As a rescue, expensive diagnostics were out of the question. She was treated with antibiotics, two rounds, and prednisone, and fingers crossed. Her balance was never affected, and she seemed otherwise very happy, so after two months of treatment she was adopted out. Several months later she was returned to our rescue for an unrelated reason, and the head tilt was gone. All in all, I would say it took about six months for her to return to normal.
Someone brought a feral and extremely affected vistibular cat into the clinic I work at. This cat was upside down and could not move, however he got better throughout the week and was sent home.
Took my dog two weeks to get over it and there isn’t even much of a head tilt. A year later, she is fine. However, that two weeks was hell, as she couldn’t really walk due to her loss of balance.
A cat upside down! How terrible for that poor animal. I hated seeing my dogs eyes rolling around in her head, I can’t imagine how that felt.
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