on Jones

My Instagram chums will know of the struggles poor Jones has been having lately but I have found this blog a helpful record of dates so I'm going to record it here, too. Skip ahead til tomorrow if you know the story!

Nearly a fortnight ago (on January 6th) Jones had what I thought was something caught in his throat or a furrball or something. He suddenly sat up and started shaking his head with his jaw working back and forth and drooling a lot. It lasted about 20 seconds and then stopped as suddenly as it had started.  I thought nothing more of it. And then he did exactly the same at almost exactly the same time the following night. And I thought perhaps I should be keeping a close eye on him. Then that night? Following a thump in the kitchen (where the cats sleep) we found him lying in a dazed fashion on the floor. And alarm bells started to ring. Was that a fit? He jumped up and started purring and asking for food and was perfectly normal. What the hell had happened? The following day we had a few of the "head bob" fits (my term) and that night when we heard the thump from the kitchen we both sprinted and caught him mid fit. Proper paddling, legs twitching convulsion stuff. The next morning I was at the vets.

They found a slightly raised temperature and hoped it might be a reaction to that - you know how kids can fit when they have a fever? So he was given a course of antibiotics and we were to keep a close eye on him and go back at the end of the week. He had one more middle of the night proper seizure and they stopped. And although his head bobs were still frequent (8 in 24 hours last Tuesday) then they started to lessen, too. He had only had 1 all day when we were back at the vet on Friday. His temperature was still slightly elevated though so they took blood to have a full spread of tests done to see if there was an underlying cause for the fits.

Over the weekend he got much worse. The full body convulsions came back with a vengeance - sometimes he is bouncing about like a fish out of water. I'm not kidding, that's what it looks like. He must be so sore, the wee guy. And this is with us running about trying to move kitchen tables and furniture so he isn't repeatedly hitting his head off of them. I digress. The blood tests came back yesterday all clear. Which was sort of good (no diabetes or kidney disease) but gave no reason for this sudden and aggressive onset of seizures. So this morning I took him to see the consultant neurologist at our local veterinary hospital. 

We are very lucky, he is top of his field and took a detailed history before doing a lot of very interesting tests on Jones. Brushing paws against the table top, checking how his whiskers react and looking in his eyes with a full on ophthalmoscope. *g* (I work in optics, that was interesting!) All to check his reactions and reflexes I'm assuming. And the outcome? Superficially he's a very healthy cat - which we knew. And tomorrow he is having an MRI scan which requires him being under general anaesthetic for an hour and a half as well as a lumbar puncture (virus checking for meningitis and the like) and more blood work. So he'll come back a bit patchy of fur and hopefully with some answers. Keep your fingers crossed he comes through it fine, okay? Thanks.

P.S. Yes, he's insured! This little lot tomorow? Could top out at £2400. Yikes.