Nervous system diseases in cats
Diseases of the nervous system are widespread in cats.
Typically, such diseases include damage to the central nervous system, peripheral nerves and spinal cord. The most common cause of nervous system diseases is injury. They can cause damage to the spinal cord and nerve endings. For the central nervous system, viral and bacterial infections are most often the main cause. Neurological disorders are also observed with hormonal diseases. An example of such ailments is neuropathy due to diabetes mellitus and hyperthyroidism.
Possible changes in behavior due to liver complications - hepatic encephalopathy.
Common neurological disorders in cats
- Neuropathy in diabetes mellitus - if the animal has a history of diabetes mellitus, then one of the complications of high blood sugar is degenerative changes in the peripheral nerves. With neuropathy, weakness of the hind limbs, problems with walking and supporting one's paws are observed.
- Myasthenia gravis is caused by a violation of the passage of nerve impulses to the muscles. The main ones affected are the chewing, swallowing and oculomotor muscles, although the respiratory muscles and diaphragm may also be involved in the process. When the last muscle groups are affected, complicated pneumonia and respiratory disorders may occur, even to the point of stopping.
- Hyperthyroidism – occurs against the background of increased levels of the hormone TSH in diseases of the thyroid gland. Expressed in muscle pain, tremors, changes in behavior (nervousness, increased activity, irritability).
- Epilepsy is perhaps the most common neurological disease. Accompanied by convulsive syndrome, which seriously affects the health of the cat and can lead to death from suffocation.
- Inflammation of the membranes of the brain - accompanied by a significant increase in temperature, increased excitement which then changes to depression, tension in the muscles of the back of the head. Convulsions and coma may develop.
Treatment
In most cases, neurological diseases are chronic, so their therapy is accompanied by lifelong drug support.
It is definitely worth arranging the animal’s life - its place should be in a warm room without unnecessary noise and irritants. If you have problems with mobility, it is recommended to limit physical activity.
You should definitely include dairy products in your diet, as well as taking additional multivitamin complexes.
Since a common cause of the development of neurological disorders is the presence of a chronic disease, it is imperative to provide treatment for the underlying illness. Often, when the disease is relieved, neurological symptoms go away on their own.
Cats are prescribed physiotherapy – massage, warming, electrophoresis.
Drug therapy depends on the specific disease and is selected by the veterinarian on an individual basis.
How to recognize
As you already understand, it is almost impossible to do this at home without medical or veterinary education. Take attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for example. Many of us now turn to the Internet for help. If you carefully study the symptoms of mental illness and ADHD, you can find a lot in common. Or cat depression. Or the most common senile dementia! Try to separate the wheat from the chaff!
So everything is very complicated. It’s good when you are an experienced cat lover, you are familiar with the basic “healthy” behavior patterns of cats, you can always suspect and see something unusual. What if there is nothing to compare with? There is only one way out - to carefully monitor the pet, starting from the moment it appears in the house. That is, work according to the principle: “What was - what is now.” If you have the slightest doubt, contact a specialist.
Inflammation of the spinal cord in cats
This disease is associated with disorders that occur in the white and gray matter of the spinal cord. The consequences of the disease are complete and partial paralysis and tissue atrophy. The inflammatory process can occur in the back and sacrum. Also (this happens quite rarely) inflammation of the spinal cord can develop in the neck and chest.
Symptoms of the disease
Symptoms of this disease are dysfunction of the pelvic limbs, internal organs, bloating, paralysis of the bladder and rectum. Movement is difficult for the cat; she moans in pain, licks and bites her paws.
Causes of the disease
The causes of inflammatory processes in the spinal cord are various infectious diseases, poisoning, trauma, as well as rotting processes in the uterus of an animal during pregnancy.
Treatment of the disease
The cat needs to be provided with complete rest. It must be placed in a dark room. The organ in which the inflammatory process is progressing is warmed up with compresses, UHF, and electrophoresis is performed. Also, measures to help with this disease include massage of the lower back and hind limbs. Medicines such as 5% sodium chloride solution, 10% glucose solution with ascorbic acid, thiamine, cyanocobalamin, pyridoxine are administered intravenously. The drugs strychnine, securinine nitrate, echinopsine nitrate, proserine prevent muscle atrophy.
Neurosis in cats
This disease is associated with disruption of the normal functioning of the central nervous system. The consequences of this disease can be various disorders in the body.
Symptoms of the disease
Frequent changes in mood: sometimes a period of strong excitement, sometimes apathy and drowsiness. Frequent fears, increased breathing rate, possible seizures.
Causes of the disease
The causes of neurosis in cats can be fear and physical stress, poisoning. The disease can develop as a result of previous infectious, endemic and endocrine diseases.
Treatment of the disease
First of all, you need to provide the cat with complete rest. She needs to be placed in a quiet, dark place where she will not be frightened by various noises and so on. Diazepam, propazine, thiamine bromide, thiamine chloride, chlordiazepoxide, and aminazine are prescribed as medications. You should consult a specialist regarding treatment for your pet.
Author: Nadezhda Lyubimova, veterinarian with higher education
Neurology of cats
It should immediately be noted that the neurological pathologies of cats have been studied much less well than, for example, the corresponding diseases of dogs. This is not least due to the fact that the nervous system of cats is much more resistant to external influences, including mechanical ones.
Cats, other things being equal, receive significantly less damage than dogs. If we talk about the ability to restore health, then here too the advantage is on the side of cats: with similar injuries, they recover much faster than dogs. So the belief that a cat has nine lives has very serious grounds.
Why are cats so much more neurologically resilient than dogs? Most likely because cats have an adrenal type of nervous system, in contrast to dogs, whose nervous system can be called hypoadrenal. The reduced content of adrenaline in the blood of cats leads to the fact that they practically do not experience stress (in the physiological meaning of the word), and therefore strokes and cerebral infarctions do not occur in them. Cats are more stable and less prone to aggressive reactions.
A significant role in the increased stability of the nervous system of cats can be played by the fact that they (again, unlike dogs) are solitary animals. A dog living in a pack (for a domestic dog the role of the pack is played by the family) experiences a large number of stresses of “social” origin, which are practically unknown to the individualists of the cat tribe. Thus, an imperturbable farmer who lives in the wilderness on his farm differs from a tormented city dweller.
But let's return to the physiological type of the nervous system. The difference in types is largely due to the difference in the living and hunting conditions of cats and dogs. A dog is a pack animal, it hunts “in the pen”: to cut off part of the herd, to surround, to drive, to kill... A cat, as a rule, is a solitary animal, with the exception of a “family” such as a pride of lions. Its hunting territory is clearly limited. Another noteworthy fact is that dogs raise their puppies to a very “adult” state, while cats leave their kittens at a fairly young age. Once a kitten is able to feed itself, it must live on its own. If it survives, it’s good; if it doesn’t survive, the breed will be stronger.
If we look at the hunting process, we will see that the vast majority of representatives of the cat family (with the exception of “hound” cats such as the cheetah) hunt by stealth: a cat can sit for hours over a mouse hole, waiting for prey, and when it appears, it attacks with lightning speed. This implies a completely special type of psyche. In this regard, a cat differs from a dog in the same way as an infantryman whose vocation is a bayonet attack differs from a sniper. But, as they say, every family has its black sheep. There are breed groups that are more prone to affective (explosive) reactions, more aggressive and surprisingly vindictive. First of all, such animals include oriental cats, and some other breeds bred with their participation. What causes such mental characteristics can only be assumed. For example, some gene supposedly responsible for color may be very tightly linked with a gene “responsible” for increased excitability and other mental characteristics.
Now let's move directly to the neurology of cats. Unfortunately, there has been little scientific research in this area, although no less experiments have been carried out on cats than on dogs. Another thing is that the stability of the feline psyche, their caution and, so to speak, neat behavior allow cats to successfully hide their secrets from specialists. And the very stability of the nervous system of cats gives little chance for research by a veterinarian-clinician. For example, stroke in dogs is a widespread phenomenon. But during my veterinary career, I simply have never encountered a stroke in a cat. It is possible that there were such cases, and I simply “missed” them, but in any case we can talk about isolated, unique and mild cases of stroke.
The main neurological pathology of cats is injuries caused by two groups of reasons. The first group is distinguished by the “anthropogenic” factor, which I will explain with an example, often, alas! encountered in clinical practice. Cats have a peculiarity of behavior - they have favorite places to which they are very strongly attached. This amazingly obstinate animal appears where and when you least expect it. When the owner comes home, the cat may be lying, say, on a closet or under the sofa. But as soon as the person sits down in his favorite chair, a hysterical meow is heard: the cat is already there.
Most often, kittens and young cats find themselves in this situation. A kitten hidden in a heap of sheets often becomes a victim of a person going to bed. Traumatic brain and spinal injuries occur as a result of cats “interacting” with furniture or doors. The cat regards any closed door as a restriction of its freedom. If you have a habit of closing the door behind you, be sure to look down. The cat will probably want to sneak through the closing door and may end up in the doorway at the most inopportune moment.
The cat considers it its inalienable right to move freely throughout the entire apartment. Let me emphasize - precisely volume, not area. People often forget about the “vertical component” of a cat’s movements : all the curtains are hers, all the curtain rods are hers. The cat must have vertical structures that are easy to move around. In my home, I use a simple ladder for this purpose, allowing the cat to reach her favorite places. If the cat does not have the conditions for “civilized” vertical movement, then the result will inevitably be torn curtains, wallpaper in tatters, scratched carpets, and injuries, injuries, injuries...
Other safety rules, the implementation of which will reduce “indoor injuries,” include increased attention when “planting and laying down.” The moment you are ready to sit down in a chair, remember that the cat is probably already under you. Any operations with transformable furniture require special attention. If you fold the table, the cat is already “waiting” for you to pinch it. Home injuries often result in traumatic brain injuries rather than spinal injuries. I don’t know what this is connected with. A cat's spine, compared to, say, a dog's, is very flexible. Maybe this is what allows the cat to get its back out of harm's way, but the head suffers.
Symptoms of traumatic brain injury are usually asymmetry, head rotation, asymmetrical constriction of the pupils, hemiplegia (unilateral paralysis). Treatment of traumatic brain injuries is fairly standard: diuretics (to reduce swelling), drugs that improve cerebral blood flow, drugs that improve metabolic processes in brain structures, vitamin therapy. As a rule, a cat tolerates even extremely severe injuries much easier than a dog, and treatment is faster. A typical concussion in a dog heals in 3-4 weeks, and in a cat in 2-3 weeks.
The second group of injuries that should be mentioned is caused by a fall from a height. We can say that this kind of injury is caused, in contrast to apartment injuries, by a “felinogenic” factor, although the role of humans in this type of injury is also quite large. What is the “felinogenic” factor? The fact is that a cat is a very energy-efficient animal. She never jumps “with reserve” (unlike a dog). The cat will take a long time to try it on, calculate the distance, but if it needs to jump one meter, then it will jump exactly one meter, and not a centimeter more.
Diseases of the nervous system of cats
Diseases of the central nervous system of cats are very diverse and can be caused either by direct damage to the nervous tissue itself or as a consequence of some systemic lesions. Such as hepatitis or hormonal disorders.
Aggression
The most common and frequent symptom of many neurological diseases. A behavioral disorder that can be a completely normal condition during periods of “hunting,” pregnancy or lactation. This problem is solved by hormonal therapy or sterilization. In most cases, periods of aggression pass on their own without medical help. But the aggressiveness of cats may be a consequence of any disease, infection in particular. You should be especially wary if the cat's behavior has changed suddenly. This often speaks in favor of rabies. During this period, it is necessary to protect all family members from possible scratches and bites, and create a calm environment around the pet. If these measures do not help, you should immediately contact your veterinarian.
Feline hyperesthesia syndrome
Wavy skin rolling syndrome. Another disease, the nature of which has not yet been established. The disease is relatively rare. The animal suddenly becomes violent and wild. It can rush at its owners, inflicting bites and painful scratches (including on itself). It happens that a cat begins to zealously not bite, but lick the owner. It all ends as quickly as it begins. Experts at the Feline Research Center at Cornwall University believe that this syndrome develops as a seizure. Moreover, such behavior is considered a form of “self-aggression.” The animal must be shown to the veterinarian and everything must be explained in great detail. The doctor will prescribe a comprehensive check of the pet’s health – hyperesthesia syndrome can accompany a number of other diseases. After making a final diagnosis, the specialist will draw up a treatment plan, possibly prescribe antiepileptic or sedative medications, and also give recommendations on changes in the diet and living conditions of the animal.
Original: Can Cats Be Mentally Ill? Source: cuteness.com Photo: pixabay.com
