As some of you may know, in August our younger son split up from his partner and moved back in with us while he looked for, then started the buying process for a new house. He's almost ready to exchange contracts but he won't be able to move before Christmas.
He also brought with him his cat Dylan. The RSPCA said he was 5 when our son got him 11 years ago, but the vet reckoned he was older. In spring, Dylan got a thorn in one eye. Nothing worked, he was in a lot of pain, so the vet removed his eye. So we now have an elderly, one eyed cat living with us.
About a month ago he started sneezing, then one day I heard this sort of explosion and found Dylan sitting on my son's bed surrounded by a spatter of blood. The vet said it was probably cat flu, gave him an antibiotic and steroid injection and said just keep an eye on him. That was Monday last week and he had an appointment to have a camera inserted up his nose last night.
On Friday, he couldn't get in through the cat flap. Same on Saturday lunchtime. Our son went away overnight, and Dylan spent all Saturday afternoon, evening, all Sunday and Monday just walking and walking. He never stopped. He became very passive, allowing us to touch him at any time. We were very, very worried. His personality had gone, he was working on auto pilot. The worst part was he kept walking into tight spaces and getting stuck. He went though the staircase spindles on the landing and my husband managed to catch him. There are spare duvet covers over all the staircase to hide the spindles; pillows stuffed into spaces; furniture moved to close up gaps; a suitcase across the top of the stairs so he can't fall down. He went to the vet on Monday evening, we didn't expect him to come home. But the vet gave him a stronger steroid injection. Our son had found a small lump on Dylan's forehead the week after his eye op. It is now the size of half a golf ball. The vet thought it was either bone cancer which was now pressing on his brain, or a brain tumour.
Tuesday morning, he walked and walked again. Our son took the afternoon off work to be with him, and he perked up - and slept and slept. Today is Wednesday. Dylan came into our room last night and demanded to be be fed - he'd eaten all the wet food put out in the evening - then lifted into our bed and be stroked for hours. This morning he woke us up at around 7, wanting more food as he'd eaten all the food I put in his dish at 3 am. At lunchtime he begged some cold cooked chicken off my husband then went into the garden and next door's garden, finished the morning's wet food, ate half his dry food, then asked for more wet food. He even managed to climb the stairs on his own. He is now asleep on his favourite dining chair - the one next to the fish tank because it is warmer there.
We cannot believe it. From a cat which looked about to die on Monday, he is back. His personality has returned. He is eating like he's not fed for a month. His weight had dropped from 4 kilos to just 3. The way he's eating, he'll put it back in next to no time. He is still quite weak, and seems scared to go anywhere unless there is a human with him but the change is extraordinary.
We are new to cats, he's only been with us 4 months. Is this type of recovery normal for an elderly cat? Is the lump on his forehead just a co-incidence and the problem was an infection?
Have any other cat owners had this happen?
