Anyone who has a cat as a life partner should seek to offer the maximum possible well-being, so it is important to be well informed of their basic needs and the most common diseases that they may suffer.
From the animal expert, we always try to provide as much information as possible about the animals around us.
- In this new article we will talk about a health problem of domestic cats.
- More common than it seems in principle.
- Read on if you want to know what ataxia is in cats.
- Their symptoms and possible treatments.
You may have seen a kitten with a particular walking mode, walking uncoordinated and reeling, this is because it suffers from something known as ataxia, which is defined as the lack of coordination and precision in the movements of an animal, affects the sensation of movement and balance, stability, posture of the body, especially of the limbs and head of the animal suffering from this condition , if the cat’s steps are short enough, that is, if it moves with the shortest step, and it seems that it jumps instead of walking it will be said to suffer from hypometry, on the other hand, if your steps are longer and it seems that the cat crawls forward, we will find ourselves faced with a case of hypermetry.
This condition occurs when there is a conflict or injury in one of the areas that control movement, so ataxia is considered a symptom and not a disease, these main areas responsible for the movements of an animal’s body are:
Ataxia can occur after any complications or accidents that the cat has had and that have caused an injury.You may still be born with the problem or appear in the weeks or months after your life.The best thing we can do for our small companion is to contact our trusted veterinarian to immediately diagnose the problem, as there are other diseases that produce a similar picture.Once the problem and its cause have been detected, the specialist will tell you how to proceed so that the feline can recover, if possible, or return to maximum normality, depending on the severity of the problem.
Ataxia has several causes, the most important ones listed below
In addition, ataxia can be divided into three different types, depending on the affected area:
The symptoms of ataxia are very varied, depending on the type and therefore, depending on the cause of the ataxia, some of the symptoms vary, but the most important are:
It is extremely important to consult your trusted veterinarian directly for any of these symptoms, especially if several occur at the same time, so we will start testing until we find the reason why symptoms can be diagnosed and start treatment as soon as possible.Possible.
During the clinic visit, the veterinarian will have to perform several tests and will have to do a detailed physical examination where you can see how the kitten moves and what its reactions to the different stimuli are, which will help you evaluate what type of ataxia it can be.
In addition, blood tests, urine tests, x-rays, neurological tests, an eye test, and any tests the specialist may need should be done to be sure of the diagnosis and rule out others.correctly determine what type of ataxia our feline has.
It is true that many causes of ataxia in cats have no cure, so our cat will have to learn to live with this disease, fortunately, in most cases, the kitten can learn perfectly to live with ataxia, as it appears at a very young age.Years.
It is also true that some of the causes have a solution, for example, some of the causes of vestibular ataxia can be treated, it is necessary to know how to treat the main damage of the vestibular system and whether it is actually a correctable problem.If the problem is caused by a tumor, it should be examined whether it is operable or not and if it has an infection, or poisoning, it is necessary to know if it is reversible and what damage it can cause in the cat.That is why it is vitally important for the future of our puppy to go to the veterinarian for a checkup, given the slightest indication or something unusual in their behavior, because there is less risk of complications if we identify health problems in time.
This article is for informational purposes only, in Animal Expert.com.br we cannot prescribe veterinary treatments or make any type of diagnosis, we suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any condition or discomfort.
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you visit our Other Health Problems section.