Hi,
My friend asked me to see if there was anything to help his cat. He found it as a stray several months ago and took it in. It's a male, age unknown or anything else about it's history. Last week it started falling over when it got up to walk, and began hiding under the bed and not coming out. It never was like that before. I think he said it used to scratch it's ears or shake it's head after he petted it, but never thought much about it. The cat also sneezes and the nose runs a bit, that's why he named it Sniff. So he took it to the vet and they told him it had a really severe ear infection. They flushed the ears and gave him an antibiotic, as well as drops for the ears. (I'm sorry but I'm not sure what they gave him, I can find out.) It's about 4 days later, and there is slight improvement, but the cat is still falling over sometimes. I forwarded him a recipe for ear solution that I found that had alcohol, and boric acid and violet in it that I found on this board, but is there something else to give the cat to help with the imbalance? Could the infection have gotten to the brain? The ears are black and crusty and the gunk flakes out, but not pussy. I asked if there were mites, and he said he didn't know, the vet didn't tell him if there were any. I think the cat is eating ok again, and excreting ok. He goes again next Tuesday to have another flush and exam. I have a few books and could not find any remedies to help 'imbalance'. [Is there a decent software program to get? I have Earth's Remedy software, that was inexpensive, and not very comprehensive.]
Thanks,
Re

I found the following in my faithful cat book

Loss of balance on shaking head- Conium
With xtreme sensitivity to noise- Theridion
Falls to left - head falls from side to side with choreic movements- Zincum
Falls to the left- Nat mur
Falls to the right- Causticum.Aconite
Tends to fall forwards- Bryonia.
Circles to the right- Causticum
Circles to the left- Rhus Tox
When moving downwards- Borax
Falls when shakes head- Causticum
staggering , trembling, weakness- Gelsemium
Better when lying down- Cocculus

if the discharge is not from mites then Naja may be worth looking at as that has black discharge and staggering gait. (the discharge can smell fishy!)

Good luck

[ 03. March 2003, 19:45: Message edited by: Hoppitt415 ]

If the cat is on antibiotics, I'm not sure homeopathic treatment on this single symptom would be advisable. The loss of balance is probably caused by the infection and unfortunately if there has been much damage to the ear drum (ie rupture) it might be somewhat permanent. This is very serious and the cat should be under the treatment of a homeopath if you wish to go that route. Chronic URI and ear infections are very difficult to treat and unless the whole case is properly taken I think you will probably get frustrated with the results. The case could also be seriously comprimised if many remedies are "tried", based on these few symptoms.

I would suggest to wait until after the 2nd vet exam. From your description I would think that mites were present, but if the ears were so impacted as to have needed flush, it doesn't really matter as the resulting infection is the worry. As the ears heal, the balance of the cat should improve, but don't expect overnight results as obviously the ears were impacted for a very long time before and will need time now to recover. If anything pay attention to feeding a good diet, perhaps supplement with immune enhancers and give the cat yogurt with live bacterial culture to counter the action of the antibiotics on the digestion.

Dear Hoppitt,

What a nice list! May I ask the name/author of your faithful cat book?

__________________
Sometimes on Earth, you can find something that resembles a little piece of Heaven. And sometimes on Earth, a little piece of Heaven can find you.

Thank You so much for the info on the cat!
Now, does anyone know what to do with an overweight afghan who recently starting eating stools? She's 10 or 11, and her diet is Wysong dry with some raw occasionally. She has incontenance problems at night. She never really had that problem before, but now is really into it. (When the cat box was upstairs, she liked those! But she was not usually after their own) And it's hard to pick up all of them quickly in this snow. It looks like she's is digging for truffles! Yukko.

Eating feces is actually quite normal for dogs, albeit very gross. If this has started suddenly it may be because the animal is malnurushed in someway. Try deleting the dry altogether; give raw (including lots of veggies & fruit)a few small meals a day. Also have her checked. When unusual behavior starts suddenly there is usually a health issue brewing, given her age she may be having troubles with thyroid, diabetes (overweight) etc., any other symptoms such as increased thirst or urination? does she suffer from incontinance really or perhaps is she producing too much urine?

[ 04. March 2003, 18:21: Message edited by: kkrista ]

Hi Gpm

My 'little book' is by Christopher Day who is a well known Homeopathic vet in the Uk.
It's not exclusively for cats but as they are the only pets I have that's what I use it for.

It's actually called
'The Homeopathic Treatment of Small Animals- principles and practice'

Thank you, Hoppitt.

I don't have that book but quite frankly, one line, single symptoms could be of great help to me in treating wildlife. I appreciate the simplicity. At present, we have 3 "circlers", a few "fallers to one side" and one poor little thing who has to pull himself around on his side. All heart breakers. (All squirrels, currently.) There just aren't any other symptoms to use in these cases. No history, no idea how they became damaged before brought to us. Nothing to work with...can't get x-rays, can't afford to take each one to a vet (they have always died if taken there anyway), terribly hard to handle, very limited access to vets who will even look at wildlife or know what they are looking at if they do. So fruitless. Saved a dehydrated, emaciated, orphaned fawn last year with a broken leg and a very nice young vet offered to assist in casting. Then wanted to keep him under observation. (What a relief to have someone else be responsible! But in truth, were I not lazy, I could have cast him myself.) He did the best he could. His staff bottle fed the baby who flourished under their care. Then, days later, in their genuine concern to do the best they could, they dipped him in insecticide to rid him of ticks......which killed him within hours. Neither the staff nor the vet could ever understand that the dipping killed that deer fawn.

I will add Mr. Day's book to my shelf.

__________________
Sometimes on Earth, you can find something that resembles a little piece of Heaven. And sometimes on Earth, a little piece of Heaven can find you.

Why is that gpm? why is it so HARD for people to put 2 and 2 together. I get the same thing constantly. It boogles the mind that vets will insist that pesticides, vaccines, food etc can not possibly kill an animal, its just crazy!

My rant for the day, Krista

I don't know, Krista. Had a vet tell me the other day (who is listed as practicing holistic medicine!) that homeopathy was a rip off, couldn't possibly work and went on and on about how he saw a homeopathic vet decide on a remedy based on the dog's personality .....and how crazy it that?, he roared. When questioned what he meant by being holistic, he advised that he sometimes prescribes vitamins.

Today, I took a squirrel to the same vet that wanted so much to help with the fawn, to have her teeth clipped. Have to say there is a lot of improvement. Not only did he handle the squirrel very well.......no anesthetic (and he actually held her..not many will do that!) and he only charged $10 for the whole affair! Thought I'd fall over. Other squirrels I've taken, when he only looked into the cage, never touched them (5 minutes, tops)... then wrote a prescription (never have used one of them) have been charged at 30% higher than his normal office visit for pets.

Maybe the book I gave him about a wildlife veterinarian had some effect!

Unfortunately, this same vet refused to spay a cat without a rabies vax, for the protection of himself and his staff. Said he will do it the same day as the surgery. Asked if he thought he would be protected from rabies, if she should bite him (immediately after getting the vax) and he said "yes".....egad.

__________________
Sometimes on Earth, you can find something that resembles a little piece of Heaven. And sometimes on Earth, a little piece of Heaven can find you.