Help! My cat experiencing strange problem

My 1yo Calico, Cali, has for the past few days had a very perplexing problem. It all started two nights ago around 1am. She starts wailing in pain and hissing, and hobbles off, favoring her back left leg. She hides under the table and moans in pain. I didn't know what to do at the time, so I just stayed up with her. After about 10 minutes she seemed normal again and I went to sleep.

The next day she was completely normal, purring, playing and eating fine. Then again that night around 9pm she starts wailing in pain and limping on the same foot. Again within a few minutes her pain was gone and she was normal again, but I still grabbed her and took her to the vet that night.

We get to the vet and aside from the fact that she's scared of the new place, she acts normal and is not limping at all. The vet takes her back and proclaims he can find nothing wrong with her. He gives her a pain shot and sends us on our way (with a $135 bill to boot).

She was fine through the rest of the night, but this morning around 11am she starts to get in my lap and suddenly jumped away in pain and again begins crying. Here it is 11:25 and she's acting fine again, but I simply don't understand what is going on.

Cali is a polydactyl with 7 toes on each front paw and 5 toes on each hind paw. I asked the vet if she potentially had an ingrown toe nail, to which he said no.

Any ideas at all??

First, let me welcome you to PT!!! This is rather strange, is Cali fixed? Wonder if you can video her behaviour and then show the vet....Good luck and keep us posted!

Is it possible that she had a close call with a car or some abuser, if she was outdoors at any time unsupervised? Reason I ask is it would seem that this syndrome only occurs when she is inactive and in one position for a prolonged period of time (assumption here). She could be sleeping on too firm a surface and develop a pinched nerve as a result (this could explain the reaction and the short duration of the problem).

Could you, perhaps, encourage her to sleep on a softer surface and see if that helps? She might be having nightmares from some encounter or she could be manipulating you just like a child would with an imaginary boo-boo to get your attention.

It could be a reaction to something in her food. Some cats, particularly calicos because they're recessives, have very sensitive systems that react badly to ordinary ingredients and additives. Try changing her diet over time and see if things improve. Just guessing but if something 'clicks' do check it out. It could be something as simple as gas pains or a more potentially serious kink in the intestines. Try removing anything with fine bones from her diet and see how things go.

Hope something helps. Do keep us posted.

Good luck!

Callie

My sister has a chihuahua who constantly throws his back knee out of joint--usually happens when he's playing rough or jumps from the couch. When it does, he holds his back leg up and won't put any pressure on it until his mom is able to 'twist it back in place'. I wonder if Cali is maybe doing this, and is somehow able to get it back in the socket on her own.....just a thought

That's so frustrating when you do the right thing and take them to the vet and then the vet can't find anything wrong, yet you know something isn't right. I'd give her a good feel; really check her over and test that leg that you think might be the problem. When I read Callie's post about the possibility of an intestinal kink, that somehow clicked w/me. My Puddy, also a calico, had problems w/that and it caused her incredible pain, except that she cried relentlessly until the problem was fixed. I guess all you can do is keep an eye on her, test that leg, and palpate her abdomen to see if you can feel anything unusual and if she cries when you do any of it, get her back in to the vet. Sorry not to be of more help.

Have you had her checked for some less common forms of worms and other things like that? Not all worms show up in fecal cultures at all stages of their (worm) development.

Good luck!

Callie

I might just keep calling or taking her to the vet. At least at my vet a "re-check" isn't as expensive. But your vet sounds a little expenisive. :( Or maybe even take her to another vet the next time she has the symptom.
Good luck, and please let us know an update. :)