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My 16-year-old sweet orange tabby Hugo has adopted some concerning behaviors that got him taken to the vet recently. He was diagnosed with arthritis a year ago, so we know that much! The new stuff includes:1. Night pacing and meowing when we aren't in the room with him. he's always been a very quiet cat!2. Spinning in circles (always to the left)3. Not getting out the way, generally really slow to react!4. Staring into the abyss/walls (although cats do this, Hugo never did it until now)5. No longer purring when getting head and chin scritches.6. Missing the litterbox (but able to climb in and stand in it!) The vet ran blood tests and everything came back fine, which leads him to think it could be a front lobe brain tumor or lesion. He ruled out toxoplasma and other viruses. Hugo's ears/balance seem fine, so the vet doesn't think it's kitty vertigo or vestibular disease either. There's no head tilt or eye weirdness. Hugo can smell, see and hear OK, maybe a little less than a year ago, but pretty good. Also ruled out FELV and FIV. Good. The vet has Hugo on steroids (prednisolone) and gabapentin 1x daily. I'm also giving him CBD oil, the combination of all three has made him more responsive and alert, better in the litterbox and able to traverse a three-story house and jump on and off radiators and beds no problem. It's been that way for about 3 weeks! He was able to stand on two feet and get cat treats no prob. Tonight Hugo was hunched over near his food bowl and having some trouble walking, the right foot was turned inward and he was sorta dragging it. I thought he might have had a stroke, but after getting him to walk around for a bit, he seemed to be back to how he was, although he's walking in a more labored diagonal path to get to where he wants to go now instead of straight. He's still climbing the steps okay. His little bro cat Watt has hissed at him a few times - our vet says that Watt might be able to smell how sick Hugo is. Normally they are best buds. Sad. Our vet says the next step would be a kitty MRI, which I understand is $1700+ - any ideas or other possibilities we might have missed getting to this point? Thank you.

Hey my goat has staphylococcal dermatitis what should I put in the bald spots and pustules? I am getting little scabs on my scalp ”related?Oh and she is a 3 y.o. Nubian That has been more or less dry ”for at least a month ”i mean I separated her 8monthold boy 3 weeks ago when I noticed the bald spots.he could not still be nursing. She s lactating again, really full ”dont want mastitis.what to do? Need her dry to use energy to dealwith this skin prollem!

mr.arrison wrote:My 16-year-old sweet orange tabby Hugo has adopted some concerning behaviors that got him taken to the vet recently. He was diagnosed with arthritis a year ago, so we know that much! The new stuff includes:1. Night pacing and meowing when we aren't in the room with him. he's always been a very quiet cat!2. Spinning in circles (always to the left)3. Not getting out the way, generally really slow to react!4. Staring into the abyss/walls (although cats do this, Hugo never did it until now)5. No longer purring when getting head and chin scritches.6. Missing the litterbox (but able to climb in and stand in it!) The vet ran blood tests and everything came back fine, which leads him to think it could be a front lobe brain tumor or lesion. He ruled out toxoplasma and other viruses. Hugo's ears/balance seem fine, so the vet doesn't think it's kitty vertigo or vestibular disease either. There's no head tilt or eye weirdness. Hugo can smell, see and hear OK, maybe a little less than a year ago, but pretty good. Also ruled out FELV and FIV. Good. The vet has Hugo on steroids (prednisolone) and gabapentin 1x daily. I'm also giving him CBD oil, the combination of all three has made him more responsive and alert, better in the litterbox and able to traverse a three-story house and jump on and off radiators and beds no problem. It's been that way for about 3 weeks! He was able to stand on two feet and get cat treats no prob. Tonight Hugo was hunched over near his food bowl and having some trouble walking, the right foot was turned inward and he was sorta dragging it. I thought he might have had a stroke, but after getting him to walk around for a bit, he seemed to be back to how he was, although he's walking in a more labored diagonal path to get to where he wants to go now instead of straight. He's still climbing the steps okay. His little bro cat Watt has hissed at him a few times - our vet says that Watt might be able to smell how sick Hugo is. Normally they are best buds. Sad. Our vet says the next step would be a kitty MRI, which I understand is $1700+ - any ideas or other possibilities we might have missed getting to this point? Thank you. It sounds like baseline testing has been thorough. No specific diseases jump out at me. I would pursue a neurology referral/consult. Your GP might thing an MRI is next but that would ultimately depend on a neurologist's exam findings so I wouldn't worry about $1700 just yet. An exam might be $125-$150. This sounds like a case I would refer.

scrotescape wrote:Hey my goat has staphylococcal dermatitis what should I put in the bald spots and pustules? I am getting little scabs on my scalp ”related?Oh and she is a 3 y.o. Nubian That has been more or less dry ”for at least a month ”i mean I separated her 8monthold boy 3 weeks ago when I noticed the bald spots.he could not still be nursing. She s lactating again, really full ”dont want mastitis.what to do? Need her dry to use energy to dealwith this skin prollem!I haven't seen or treated a goat in about 10 years I'm sorry.

We've got a kind of new shelter cat that's not the nicest animal. She's warmed up to our family of four over the past four years but still stalks/attacks at times. This is particularly bad with one of our two kids and is reliably the worst at night time after the cat has had dinner. Kid will be going up the stairs to go to bed and she will frequently run up the stairs and claw/bite.Doesn't help that the kid acts like prey - running away and making a lot of noise.Advice?= Justin

Justin Foley wrote:We've got a kind of new shelter cat that's not the nicest animal. She's warmed up to our family of four over the past four years but still stalks/attacks at times. This is particularly bad with one of our two kids and is reliably the worst at night time after the cat has had dinner. Kid will be going up the stairs to go to bed and she will frequently run up the stairs and claw/bite.Doesn't help that the kid acts like prey - running away and making a lot of noise.Advice?= JustinAs you can imagine, this can be tough. If it is as predictable as you say (running up stairs to bed) I would start by putting a collar with a bell on it so she can hear kitty coming and have her carry something with her up the stairs that she can protect/redirect with. This might be a piece of cardboard, one of those cat toy fishing pole-type toys or something else. This can discourage future stalking behavior. Also, consider giving kitty some Zylkene 75mg(amazon link below), it's the rare OTC supplement that seems to legitimately work and can help with this type of behavior. https://www.amazon.com/Vetoquinol-Zylkene-Behavior-Support-Capsules/dp/B00GYHPAFI/ref=sr\_1\_1\_sspa?keywords=zylkene+75mg&qid=1551220586&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

wellbutrin wrote:It sounds like baseline testing has been thorough. No specific diseases jump out at me. I would pursue a neurology referral/consult. Your GP might thing an MRI is next but that would ultimately depend on a neurologist's exam findings so I wouldn't worry about $1700 just yet. An exam might be $125-$150. This sounds like a case I would refer.Thanks! We met with the neurologist yesterday. Hugo got an MRI. Unfortunately, he has a 16mm intracranial tumor. We opted to not biopsy it and are thinking palliative care from this point forward. I'm a little crushed. He's one of the best cats I've ever lived with. Anyways, we brought him home, and as the anesthesia wore off, he was acting like a kitty again, chasing bugs and batting flowers around, even purring in my lap. Today he's taken a 180 degree turn and is not purring, wobbly, staring at walls and has decided to sleep on a wet bath mat near the shower. I'm still being directed to give him the usual steroids and gabapentin, but is this enough to keep him comfortable?

mr.arrison wrote:wellbutrin wrote: steroids and gabapentin, but is this enough to keep him comfortable?I'm sorry to hear about this. It's not unreasonable in most cases to stop the workup/treatment at this point because of limited options going forward. Those 2 medications in combination are generally what are used in situations like this so yes, I think you are doing what you can.