Vestibular Syndrome in Cats - Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Author: Laura McKinney
Date Of Creation: 10 August 2021
Update Date: 4 May 2024
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What is Vestibular Disease?
Video: What is Vestibular Disease?

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Vestibular syndrome is one of the most common disorders in cats and presents very characteristic and easily recognizable symptoms such as head tilted, staggering gait and lack of motor coordination. Although the symptoms are easy to recognize, the cause can be very difficult to diagnose and is sometimes defined as feline idiopathic vestibular syndrome. To learn more about feline vestibular syndrome, what are its symptoms, causes and treatments, continue reading this article by PeritoAnimal.

Vestibular syndrome in cats: what is it?

To understand what canine or feline vestibular syndrome is, it is necessary to know a little about the vestibular system.


The vestibular system is the ear organ set, responsible for ensuring posture and maintaining body balance, regulating the position of the eyes, trunk and limbs according to the position of the head and maintaining the sense of orientation and balance. This system can be divided into two components:

  • Peripheral, which is located in the inner ear;
  • Central, which is located in the brainstem and cerebellum.

Although there are few differences between the clinical symptoms of peripheral vestibular syndrome in cats and central vestibular syndrome, it is important to be able to locate the lesion and understand if it is a central and/or peripheral lesion, as it may be something more or less severe.

Vestibular syndrome is the set of clinical symptoms that can appear suddenly and that are due to vestibular system changes, causing, among other things, imbalance and motor incoordination.

Feline vestibular syndrome itself is not fatal, however the underlying cause may be, so it is It is very important that you consult the veterinarian if you notice any of the synatomas that we'll refer to below.


Feline vestibular syndrome: symptoms

The different clinical symptoms that can be observed in vestibular syndrome:

head tilt

The degree of inclination can range from a slight inclination, noticeable through a lower ear, to pronounced inclination of the head and difficulty in the animal to stand upright.

Ataxia (lack of motor coordination)

In cat ataxia, the animal has a uncoordinated and staggering pace, walk in circles (the call circling) normally to the affected side and has downtrend also to the side of the lesion (in rare cases to the unaffected side).

nystagmus

Continuous, rhythmic and involuntary eye movement that can be horizontal, vertical, rotational or a combination of these three types. This symptom is very easy to identify in your animal: just keep it still, in a normal position, and you will notice that the eyes are making small continuous movements, as if they were trembling.


Strabismus

It can be positional or spontaneous (when the animal's head is raised), the eyes do not have the normal central position.

External, middle or internal otitis

Otitis in cats can be one of the symptoms of feline vestibular syndrome.

vomiting

Although rare in cats, it can occur.

Absence of facial sensitivity and atrophy of masticatory muscles

Loss of facial sensitivity can be difficult for you to discover. Normally the animal does not feel pain, nor is being touched in the face. The atrophy of the masticatory muscles is visible when looking at the animal head on and noticing that the muscles are more developed on one side than the other.

Horner's Syndrome

Horner's syndrome results from the loss of innervation of the eyeball, due to damage to the facial and ocular nerves, and is characterized by miosis, anisocoria (pupils of different sizes), eyelid ptosis (drooping upper eyelid), enophthalmia (slumping of the eyeball to inside the orbit) and protrusion of the third eyelid (the third eyelid is visible, when it normally is not) on the side of the vestibular lesion.

An important note: there is rarely a bilateral vestibular lesion. When this injury occurs, it is a peripheral vestibular syndrome and the animals are reluctant to walk, unbalance to both sides, walk with their limbs apart to maintain balance and make exaggerated and wide movements of the head to turn, not showing, usually head tilt or nystagmus.

Although this article is aimed at cats, it is important to note that these symptoms described above also apply to canine vestibular syndrome.

Feline vestibular syndrome: causes

In most cases it is not possible to find out what is causing feline vestibular syndrome and that is why it is defined as feline idiopathic vestibular syndrome.

Infections such as otitis media or internal are common causes of this syndrome, however although tumors are not very common, they should always be considered in older cats.

Further reading: Most common diseases in cats

Feline vestibular syndrome: caused by congenital anomalies

Certain breeds such as Siamese, Persian and Burmese cats are more predisposed to develop this congenital disease and manifest symptoms from birth to a few weeks of age. These kittens may have associated deafness, in addition to clinical vestibular symptoms. Because it is suspected that these changes may be hereditary, affected animals should not be bred.

Feline vestibular syndrome: infectious causes (bacteria, fungi, ectoparasites) or inflammatory causes

At otitis media and/or internal are infections of the middle and/or inner ear that originate in the outer ear canal and progress to the middle ear to the inner ear.

Most otitis in our pets is caused by bacteria, certain fungi and ectoparasites such as mites otodectes cynotis, which causes itching, ear redness, wounds, excess wax (ear wax) and discomfort to the animal causing it to shake its head and scratch the ears. An animal with otitis media may not express symptoms of otitis externa. Because, if the cause is not an external otitis, but an internal source that causes the infection to arrive retrograde, the external ear canal may not be affected.

Diseases such as feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), toxoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and parasitic encephalomyelitis are other examples of diseases that can cause vestibular syndrome in cats.

Feline vestibular syndrome: caused by 'Nasopharyngeal polyps'

Small masses composed of vascularized fibrous tissue that progressively grow occupying the nasopharynx and reaching the middle ear. This type of polyps is common in cats between 1 and 5 years old and can be associated with sneezing, breathing noises and dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing).

Feline vestibular syndrome: caused by head trauma

Traumatic injuries to the inner or middle ear can affect the peripheral vestibular system. In these cases, the animals may also present Horner's syndrome. If you suspect that your pet has suffered some type of trauma or trauma, check for any type of swelling on the face, abrasions, open wounds or bleeding in the ear canal.

Feline vestibular syndrome: caused by ototoxicity and allergic drug reactions

Symptoms of ototoxicity can be uni or bilateral, depending on the route of administration and the toxicity of the drug.

Medications such as certain antibiotics (aminoglycosides) administered either systemically or topically directly into the animal's ear or ear can damage the constituents of your pet's ear.

Chemotherapy or diuretic drugs such as furosemide can also be ototoxic.

Feline vestibular syndrome: 'metabolic or nutritional causes'

Taurine deficiency and hypothyroidism are two common examples in the cat.

Hypothyroidism translates into a state of lethargy, generalized weakness, weight loss and poor hair condition, in addition to possible vestibular symptoms. It can originate peripheral or central vestibular syndrome, acute or chronic, and the diagnosis is made by medication of T4 or free T4 hormones (low values) and TSH (higher values ​​than normal). In most cases, vestibular symptoms cease to exist within 2 to 4 weeks after the start of thyroxine administration.

Feline vestibular syndrome: caused by neoplasms

There are many tumors that can grow and occupy space that is not theirs, compressing the surrounding structures. If these tumors compress one or more components of the vestibular system, they can also cause this syndrome. In the case of a old cat it is common to think of this type of cause for vestibular syndrome.

Feline vestibular syndrome: caused by idiopathic

After eliminating all other possible causes, the vestibular syndrome is determined as idiopathic (no known cause) and, although it may seem strange, this situation is quite common and these acute clinical symptoms usually appear in animals over 5 years old.

Feline vestibular syndrome: diagnosis and treatment

There is no specific test to diagnose vestibular syndrome. Most veterinarians rely on the animal's clinical symptoms and the physical examination they perform during the visit. From these simple but essential steps it is possible to form a provisional diagnosis.

During the physical examination, the physician must perform thorough auditory and neurological tests that allow us to perceive the extension and location of the lesion.

Depending on the suspicion, the veterinarian will determine which additional tests are needed to discover the cause of this problem: cytology and ear cultures, blood or urine tests, computed tomography (CAT) or magnetic resonance (MR).

O treatment and prognosis will depend on the underlying cause., symptoms and severity of the situation. It is important to inform that, even after treatment, the animal may continue to have a slightly tilted head.

As most of the time the cause is idiopathic, there is no specific treatment or surgery. However, animals usually recover quickly because this feline idiopathic vestibular syndrome resolves itself (self-resolving condition) and the symptoms eventually disappear.

never forget to maintain ear hygiene of your pet and clean regularly with suitable products and materials so as not to cause injury.

See too: Mites in cats - Symptoms, treatment and contagion

This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Vestibular Syndrome in Cats - Symptoms, Causes and Treatment, we recommend that you enter our Neurological Disorders section.