Cat leaning head to right and falling over

Question

My friend has a cat, and he has lost alot of weight, and now his head is tilted to the right, and he keeps losing his balance. He doesn't seem to be in any type of pain and is still so lovable, unfortunately she does not have the money to take him to the er and her vet said extensive testing would be around 700 dollars, and they didn't find anything in the exam

Answer 1

Your cat has a serious illness. If it doesn't see a vet it will die.  

Answer 2

If your friend is unable to pay for the cat's care, have it turned over to the ASPCA or the vets' office. She can sign over the ownership of the cat so it can receive proper treatment and be adopted out.

It sounds very much like acute vestibular syndrome.

Best Wishes

Answer 3

http://www.petplace.com/cats/head-tilt-i...

Answer 4

well, my cat had the same problem twice, the first time she had small tumors in her ears that went away after a couple days after the vet gave us something, and the other time i don't really know what happened to be honest, we just rubbed small amounts of alcohol in her ears and she was better within the next couple of days

Answer 5

the cat may have an inner ear infection that would respond to antibiotics or it could have a more serious disease such as fip which is fatal.  your friend does need to figure out how to get the cat to a vet, but there really is no need to spend $700 on testing at this point.  are there local spay/neuter clinics in the area? often they do low cost exams. some rescue groups will give some money toward a vet visit, you might check out groups in your area. you can at least get antibiotics which are cheap and see if that helps.  and, if the cat isn't eating (inner ear infections can make them nauseated) you need to address that quickly as cats crash fast.  if it isn't an inner ear infection and the vet thinks it is something like fip, there really is no definitive testing so i wouldn't invest a lot of money.

good luck to your friend and the cat. i hope your friend gets the cat examined and it is an easy cure.  the cat sounds like it is in trouble right now and somehow it needs to see a vet.  this is serious.

Answer 6

I am not certain what is making the cat sick, he needs to see a vet for sure.  Your post makes the it sound as if this illness has not just happened suddenly, so it it probably not the result of being hit by car or other trauma.  I have a few suggestions that you can do right away to help this cat survive long enough to hopefully get to a vet.  

1.  You can buy PEDIALYTE for toddlers at the grocery store. It is a liquid drink with electrolytes in it that will help this cat get re hydrated.  You can get it unflavored and just replace this liquid in his water bowl.  

2.  At a pet store you can get A high calorie vitamin food supplement  in a container like a toothpaste container that is good for sick animals.  It is called Nutri-Cal Appetite Stimulant and is a tasty, high calorie dietary supplement intended for animals that require extra calories and vitamins. If you cannot get this make sure your friend offers the cat a food that he likes.  If she feeds dry food usually then she should try canned food or tuna.   Since he is under weight dry food should always be available for him and offer small amounts of can or tuna a few times a day.

3.  Keep the cat in the house and make sure he is warm.  If she has a heating pad she can put it on low and let the cat sleep on if he wants the extra warmth.

Answer 7

Its possible that your cat had a seizure of some sort. Have you tried calling clinic that will take payment plans. Also there is a credit card called care credit you can apply online and it will let you pay for your cats visit to the vet and then it will defer the payments for 3,6 ,9, or 12 months or more. Check into it. I used it for my cat just last month and it was great because I got to make payment on the bill without paying anything extra. www.carecredit.com