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Hi all!The new kitten Pyewacket is doing well, but we did have a scare and I wanted to share, so that the info might help someone else in the future.
June 6th she started displaying neurological symptoms out of the blue: muscles twitching, sort of dancing in place or swaying as she couldn't seem to stand still, eye's glassy. My son Xander woke to her crying and called me at work immediately. I took one look and grabbed the cat carrier.
At the vets, she had a seizure. She probably had at least one at home too, but we didn't see it.
He ran basic labs and her BG was elevated. Did an xray but that was inconclusive. Valium didn't calm her down the way it would have if it was a regular seizure like epilepsy. He sent us up to the ER at NorthStarVets.
I was told it isn't uncommon with a seizure for the BG to elevate then drop low, which is what it did, then it came back up to normal again. She also developed a slight fever from the seizure and muscle spasms, but it also came back down to normal within a day.
They kept her for two days, pushing fluids and giving her something to stop the muscle spasms. Regular bloodwork and virals came back inconclusive.
Now...the possible causes...
MOLD TOXICITY
On the way to the ER, Xander called me to find out what was happening, and I quizzed him about anything he might have seen her get into the day before. He said at 3 a.m. he caught her coming out of his room with a piece of paper that was covered in brown/black mold, that he thinks she dug out from under his dresser (he'd cleaned everywhere else before we brought her home). This is our most likely culprit, since she was dancing around for an unknown time with it in her mouth. The timing works with when the neurological symptoms started, as well, about 8 or 9 hours later.
We live on the water, so mold can be an issue here. There has been some in Xander's room before, but we thought we'd gotten all of it.
http://www.coem.com/programstreatment_MoldToxicity.shtml
PLUG-IN AIR FRESHENER
I thought of this when I was looking around the house for any other things I might have missed in the original kitten proofing. About a week before this happened, I plugged in the air freshener that I hadn't used for awhile. Never even crossed my mind that such a thing could be a danger.
But it occurred to me then that maybe she'd stuck her curious little nose up in the top of it where it vents and what if? So, I looked it up.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5421665_dangers-plugin-air-fresheners.html
http://www.mcs-america.org/airfresh.pdf
Needless to say, it's thrown out and I will never use another one.
Hope this helps keep others from getting sick. It was very scary!
She's back to herself again.
