Help!!! The Vets just told me that our new kitten might have hydrocephaly!!!

loobylou2

Hi hope someone can help.

We got a new kitten at the weekend and I've just taken her to the vets for her first check up. She's eating, drinking, playing and sleeping in fact doing all the things you'd expect an 8 week old kitten to do and seems to be happy enough in herself but, the vet says he's concerned because her head seems to be a little bit domed and he thinks she might have hydrocephaly ( water on the brain!!). Has anyone had a similar experience to this and what was the outcome/ prognosis for their cat? I'm worried to death about her now and she just seems like a perfectly normal kitten to me. Help.....

RacyRed

I'm so sorry to hear that. Lets hope that when the tests are done it turns out that she just has a funny shaped head.

I don't know anything about hydrocephaly but I'm sure someone will be along soon who can maybe give you the benefit of their own experiences with it.

loobylou2

Thanks for that, I'm just hoping and praying now that she"ll be ok because she"s become a much loved family member in a very short space of time. The vet hasn"t suggested doing any tests yet because she"s so young he just said he thought her head was slightly dome shaped and it could be hydrocephaly. He wants to see her again in a month but then said we"ve to go back in a fortnight for her jabs because she"s so small!!! I'm really confused by all of this as you can imagine, surely if he thought that there was something seriously wrong with her he wouldn"t be advising us to have her vaccinated.......She just looks like to a normal kitten to me though and she's certainly behaving like one although she has got big eyes!!!!. Don"t know how I'll tell the kids though if there does turn out to be something seriously wrong with her. They"ll be devastated if she has to be put to sleep. Am worried sick now and wondering if I should take her along to another surgery for a second opinion.

roxalana

I don't know anything about this in cats, but doctors thought I had this when I was a baby. All I really know is that the water can mean the brain can't grow properly so children with it are often brain damaged.

They were planning on drilling holes in my skull to drain the fluid (although this may have changed as this was 27 years ago - and it might be different with cats!).

It turns out that I just had an odd shaped head (my brother loves that I was so ugly they thought I had a serious condition!) though so just because it is suspected doesn't mean it will be so!

Brightness

The only way of telling this is by an MRI scan. I don't know about cats but I lost a lovely Cavalier spaniel in February with Hydrocephalus. He was five and we did well to get him there.

Have a look here http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2105&aid=448

unfortunately, there is nothing listed for hydrocephalus in cats.

All I can say is just don't expect too much of your kitty, intelligence wise if she does have hydrocephalus but just give her a happy and loving, comfortable home Good luck.

loobylou2

Thanks for the replys everyone. I'm really sorry to hear about your dog Brightness. Our kitten still appears to be fit and healthy to me so I"m just hoping that the vet has got it wrong. I'm just concerned because I wouldn"t want her to be in pain or suffering in any way. We got her mainly to be a companion to our older cat and she's already a very much loved member of our family, I'm not expecting much of her intelligence wise anyway. But, she dosen"t seem to be unintelligent to me. She obviously recognises her name when we call her and attempted to follow me out of the door when I went off to work this morning!!!!. Dosen"t always manage to use her litter tray though, we"ve had a couple of accidents but other than this she"s playing, eating and sleeping and pretty much behaving like I"d expect her to. So fingers crossed, as I type this she"s trying to untie my OH's shoelaces and seems happy enough to me, I just wish the vet hadn"t told me that he thought there could be a problem if he wasn"t 100% certain about it. Its just given me something else to worry about......

lowis

keeping my fingers crossed for your kitty x

Brightness

loobylou2 I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it. When we had Charlie scanned the neurologist couldn't believe what he saw. Charlie's brain was literally like a 3cm pencil line either side of the inside of his skull - the rest was water! He gave him 3mths. Charlie was a rescue though and a real fighter - he'd been given 48hrs a few months before when I rescued him!

Anyway, we had him another 3 years and in the end had him pts at home as he was too poorly to go on, bless him. He might have only had a short life but whilst he was with us he had a lovely full one. We were told he would be untrainable but he knew the basics and he also had an inbuilt food alarm in his tummy that went off twice a day and at regular treat intervals LOL.

If he could survive to five when he'd had 2 years of neglect and abuse and being handed back to Dogs Trust 4 times before going somewhere else and then being handed to me then i am sure your kitty will do just fine with all your love and attention

If you need any help or advice at anytime just PM or email me through the site. take care

loobylou2

Thanks a lot for this Brightness, I really appreciate it. Poor Charlie, he was lucky that you were able to give him so much love after having such a rocky start. I will PM you if I need to, our little one seems to have a bit of an upset tum at the minute but other than that and the fact that she seems to be a bit hit and miss with her litter tray, I think she's fine or at least she seems to be. I"m wondering what to do about getting her insured though, I have our other cat covered but now the vet has said this, its probably going to cause problems in insuring her, thing is that he couldn"t be sure though and said she was too small to have an MRI at the moment anyway. She"s going back for her jabs on the 15th so I"ll just have to wait and see what he says then although I"ll take her back beforehand if she becomes unwell at all. Think the upset tum could just be down to a change in her diet!!! ( I hope!!)