Is there a Veterinarian in the house?

Oaxan

Oaxan

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This is the last place I would look for some help, but I'm out of options and I'm broke, so a visit to the local vet is impossible.

My cat, about 13-14 years old, has suddenly come down with a plethora of symptoms. Yesterday he was just fine and dandy. :cry:

Here's a list of what I can tell just by observing him over the past few hours:

Trouble walking. (Back legs aren't fully supportive.)
Lack of energy. (Sleeping a lot, he might be comatose. Only awake for about 20 seconds between catnaps.)
Horrible smell. (Outdoor cat, mind you, so worse than usual.)
Unresponsive to light. (No constriction or movement at all when a light is shined into eyes.)
Lack of appetite.
Extremely vocal when awake between sleeping sessions.

Yesterday he was his usual energetic self, he normally can never stay in one place and he -never- meows unless he's hurting.

I've had the bastard for 10 years, he's been through lots of life threatening situations but he's never been this bad.

Someone shed some light on the situation, please? :cry:

UPDATE: He died this morning a couple hours after I posted this. Still have no idea what did him in, but he was far too healthy just a couple days ago for it to just have been old age.
 
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I'm sorry for your situation, but why not post on some kind of pet website where people in the forums may have more detailed information than CAGs may be able to give you. (That's not to say there aren't CAGs who may know something about this.)

The way you describe your cat makes things sound pretty dire - my gut reaction is that your cat is dying given the age and the symptoms. If you can't afford to take it to a vet I'm not really sure what you can do. Its not like you can x-ray, ultrasound, inject, or cut open your own cat realistically speaking.

With no vet it seems like your only option is to let it be - maybe it'll snap out of this in the morning - maybe it'll die unfortunately. But I'm not sure what more you're expecting without someone to actually examine the cat.

Also, Google is your friend. All I did was type in cat symptoms, and found this website:
http://www.helpmycat.com/

Went to symptoms, went to blindness, and found this:
Gangliosidosis
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Possible Symptoms Of Gangliosidosis

Blindness
Corneal Clouding
Fatigue
Muscle Tremors
Paralysis Of The Back Legs
Poor Coordination
Unsteady Gait
Weakness

General information on Gangliosidosis

Gangliosidosis, also known as GM1, is an inherited metabolic disease. An inherited metabolic disease is a disease in which there are degenerative changes in the central nervous system. What determines the difference between each inherited metabolic disease is which nerve cell metabolism enzyme is missing. In order for a cat to become affected by gangliosidosis, both parents must be carriers of the gene responsible for causing gangliosidosis. Gangliosidosis causes cerebella symptoms and corneal clouding and is most commonly seen in Oriental cat breeds. A cat that is affected by or carries the gene for gangliosidosis should not be bred. The initial symptoms for gangliosidosis appear around when the kitten is weaned off of its mother’s milk.

Treatments for Gangliosidosis

There is no cure for gangliosidosis. Depending on the symptoms present, a veterinarian may be able to prescribe medications to help relieve the symptoms, but in many cases there is no treatment for the symptoms either. It is important that the cats affected by gangliosidosis are not bred as to help prevent future cats from being affected by this disorder.
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That's an absolute stab in the dark. A lot of the blindness symptoms also involved fatigue and related symptoms, but that's the only one that specifically mentioned the inability to use the hind legs specifically.
 
Sorry for your loss. Losing a pet sucks.

Hopefully this helps someone: The beginning of your post reminded me of my oldest cat (13-14 yrs old.) This Summer he started: Not moving much, eating very little, lethargic and not bathing bottom half well. Turns out it was arthiritis in his hind legs and now takes meds twice a week. He has been great since than. I searched online and was fearful it was renal failure.
 
Read most of the topic and was going to say, get the cat to the hospital ASAP even without money. But then I read the edit. :(

I am so sorry. When they get up to that age a number of things can go wrong and fast, and there's nothing to be done about it.
 
I would guess some sort of organ failure... the last 2 cats we had pass away we lost to organ failure (liver on Rikki, kidneys on Chloe). Both cats lost mobility of their back legs, and Rikki was quite vocal just prior to his passing. With outdoor cats, though, it's extremely difficuly to pin down- he could have been poisoned, for example (by accident, on purpose, or getting bitten). I'm sorry for your loss.

If you think you may want another pet soon, check around your area for a discount vet or a humane society... both offer cheap (and in some cases free) pet care. For emergencies, don't write off the local vet... most are willing to work with you on a payment plan, and some even have a charity fund for people who can't pay at all. They came through for us when our dog suddenly couldn't breathe a few years back.
 
So to hear that man. Losing a pet sucks! Having a 2 month old puppy and a 14 year old cat you treat them like kids of your own. My condolences to you
 
OH NOSE!!! I am sorry for your loss Oaxan at least the poor lil kitty wont have any pain in kitty heaven. :(

Got my cat fresh of his mommas teet and he'll be 7 years in a few months. I can't imagine him not being around....
 
[quote name='Oaxan']UPDATE: He died this morning a couple hours after I posted this. Still have no idea what did him in, but he was far too healthy just a couple days ago for it to just have been old age.[/QUOTE]

Sorry for your loss.
 
when they get up in that age bracket, it's usually the kidneys that are the first to go - but really, the cat lived a full life. Sorry for your loss.
 
Really sorry to hear about it. We have a cat who had similar symptoms but it was related kidney failure that was treatable and she made an amazing recovery.
 
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