Chattering-Magpie-blog
How Neffi stands. Or rather, doesn't.
I took little Neffi to the vet last night, but unfortunately, the vet could not give a definite diagnosis. An x-ray appeared to show a malformed tail vertebra that may be pinching a nerve. Luckily it’s in the tail rather than the spine, so it’s missing the most important nerves. She seemed a little tender back there, too.
Neffi’s lymph nodes were also enlarged, suggesting an infection, although her temperature was normal. A simple and cheap blood test ruled out diabetes, often a cause of muscle weakness in cats.
For now Neffi is getting steroids for inflammation and antibiotics for infection. Then we see if she gets any better or not. It’s pretty much guessing game – try something and see whether it works.
We are also observing her to make sure she is eating and drinking and eliminating. The only way I can be certain is to isolate her from the other two cats and see if the food and water disappear and the litter box fills up. Poor little thing has never been alone in her life and she’s miserable stuck in a room with her brother on the other side of the door. It’s only for a couple days, but she doesn’t know that, poor little thing.
It could be the result of a trauma, in which case I would hope she could get better. Maybe Neffi and Rufus played a little rough, maybe she rolled off the top of the kitty condo and landed wrong. I’m disinclined to think this is the case, because I’ve noticed for the last few weeks that she walked kind of funny.
This might be a congenital condition. As long as she’s not in pain, can get around and, most importantly, can make it to the litter box, we can live with this. She’ll be our Tiny Tim.
