M
mattfry
Guest
We have a 4 year old male F3 Savannah cat, who has been living with us in the Cayman Islands since he was about 6 months old (he was originally born and exported from the UK). Mondo was the first Savannah to be imported into Cayman and we don’t believe there are any others to date.
Recently he has not been well. Approximately 3 weeks ago we noticed he had an upset stomach, and was slightly off balance and falling off beds, tables etc., but he was still enjoying his daily walks and seemed otherwise fine although he was also sneezing a lot.
We took him to the vet 2 weeks ago and was given a clean bill of health with no obvious signs of injury or illness that would explain anything.
Last weekend he seemed a bit worse and was also off his food, so we took him to the vet again on Tuesday. X-rays were clear save a bit of gas in his stomach, and the vet prescribed some pain killers, antibiotics and medication to treat a potential stomach ulcer. He was also give some drops to deal with a small ulcer that had appeared on his nose and the vet noted there was also a small amount of bacteria on his ear swabs - apparently nothing to cause undue concern. (we think it was from a scratch on his nose in his outdoor cage)
We switched him to diet of rice and boiled chicken (his usual preference was tinned tuna, sardines, raw tilapia and raw or cooked chicken) which he has been eating in large quantities ever since.
However, Mondo’s balance has considerably deteriorated over the last 3 days (it now being Friday). Whilst his upset stomach seems fixed, he has another lesion on his nose, is continuing to sneeze with a bit mucus coming out of his nose. He is regularly stumbling, walking with his legs crossed over and falling off any surface, seemingly unable to coordinate his limbs to land safely. Over the last 24 hours he has stopped trying to jump up to any surface above about 2 feet - previously he regularly jumped 6/7 feet without any problem.
Another trip to the vet today shows that all his legs still have a lot of strength (so he is not stumbling due to weakness), his joints are all in good order, ears and eyes are clear and his nerves in his paws/reflexes are normal. Accordingly the vet suspects the problems are originating in his brain and has suggested an MRI - there is no facility to do this in Cayman so we would have to arrange permits etc. to export him to the US for tests - not a quick or easy process. (it might not even be possible as we need Cites approval for Cayman)
Does anyone have any similar experiences with Savannah cats - are they prone to any neurological conditions/genetic problems that could explain why an otherwise healthy animal is declining so quickly in this manner? Mondo is a house cat and other than his walks on a leash and a couple of hours a day in his outside enclosure, has not been exposed to other animals (other than our other cat who does free roam, but who is totally fine), chemicals, poisons or anything else that could account for this change. Any clues/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading this post.
P.S. It does look a lot like the florida panthers who fall over, does anyone know if there are any known causes of this yet?
Recently he has not been well. Approximately 3 weeks ago we noticed he had an upset stomach, and was slightly off balance and falling off beds, tables etc., but he was still enjoying his daily walks and seemed otherwise fine although he was also sneezing a lot.
We took him to the vet 2 weeks ago and was given a clean bill of health with no obvious signs of injury or illness that would explain anything.
Last weekend he seemed a bit worse and was also off his food, so we took him to the vet again on Tuesday. X-rays were clear save a bit of gas in his stomach, and the vet prescribed some pain killers, antibiotics and medication to treat a potential stomach ulcer. He was also give some drops to deal with a small ulcer that had appeared on his nose and the vet noted there was also a small amount of bacteria on his ear swabs - apparently nothing to cause undue concern. (we think it was from a scratch on his nose in his outdoor cage)
We switched him to diet of rice and boiled chicken (his usual preference was tinned tuna, sardines, raw tilapia and raw or cooked chicken) which he has been eating in large quantities ever since.
However, Mondo’s balance has considerably deteriorated over the last 3 days (it now being Friday). Whilst his upset stomach seems fixed, he has another lesion on his nose, is continuing to sneeze with a bit mucus coming out of his nose. He is regularly stumbling, walking with his legs crossed over and falling off any surface, seemingly unable to coordinate his limbs to land safely. Over the last 24 hours he has stopped trying to jump up to any surface above about 2 feet - previously he regularly jumped 6/7 feet without any problem.
Another trip to the vet today shows that all his legs still have a lot of strength (so he is not stumbling due to weakness), his joints are all in good order, ears and eyes are clear and his nerves in his paws/reflexes are normal. Accordingly the vet suspects the problems are originating in his brain and has suggested an MRI - there is no facility to do this in Cayman so we would have to arrange permits etc. to export him to the US for tests - not a quick or easy process. (it might not even be possible as we need Cites approval for Cayman)
Does anyone have any similar experiences with Savannah cats - are they prone to any neurological conditions/genetic problems that could explain why an otherwise healthy animal is declining so quickly in this manner? Mondo is a house cat and other than his walks on a leash and a couple of hours a day in his outside enclosure, has not been exposed to other animals (other than our other cat who does free roam, but who is totally fine), chemicals, poisons or anything else that could account for this change. Any clues/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading this post.
P.S. It does look a lot like the florida panthers who fall over, does anyone know if there are any known causes of this yet?
