So over the span of a week, our cat went from being fine, to seeming a bit clumsy, to being completely unable to walk, to barely moving at all. He's still very active mentally - if we hold him to his favorite toys he wants to play with them, and he's still awake the normal amount. He's only eleven months old - he WANTS to play. But he can't stand on his back legs, and he can't move one of them at all - it's just dead and limp. He can't even clean himself or go to the bathroom without help.
We took him to the emergency vet when we realized there was a problem...but after a glucose test, two bloodwork tests, and X-rays, they had no answers as to why this is happening. The most likely culprit is that his spinal cord is being compressed, but without an MRI and CTAP, we wouldn't know more...and that's $2,000 just to know WHAT the issue is - nevermind the consideration for treating it, and the bleakness of prognosis on an issue like this regardless. I hate the idea of - and myself for - putting a dollar value on a family member's life, but I haven't even finished college, and my fiance is still paying off her college debts ten years later; we're not exactly made of money.
The end result of this right now is that we've taken him home with some pain and anti-inflammatory medication. We've got until Saturday with him on those meds, in the hope that the issue could be a simple bruising. But if that's not the case, right now we've assumed this is the time we have to say goodbye and make sure his final few days are spent comfortably and with his family. If nothing changes, then we bring him back in Saturday.
Realistically I'm not sure why I'm making this post...maybe in the hopes that someone here has experience with this or is a vet and has a suggestion to try. Maybe it's for emotional support; I still occasionally have nightmares about holding my mom's dog for her while she cried as he went limp. Either way, I felt I needed to make it.
And apologies/feel free to delete if this violates rule 4. I elected to post it here because he's not dying (just in pain/having zero QoL), and because frankly there's more people here.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/bv5irt/cat_is_partially_paralyzed_please_help/
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