Kitten acts fine, but walks wobbley

by Karissa
(santa clarita, ca)

we have a 4 month old kitten that we found about a month ago for sell in the pennysaver. from the day we picked her up from the person till about a week ago everything had been perfectly fine. last week my husband woke me up and told me that something was wrong with our kitten, the colored part of her eye had a red spot in it like as if a vessel popped, and also she was hardly able to walk. after a couple of days her eye returned normal, but she still wasn’t able to walk straight or even stand without falling over. we haven’t been able to see a vet about it for financial reasons, but a couple days later she has been wanting to play, jump and do things that cats do, but again would loose balance and fall. at first we thought she had broke her hind leg, but as she started to walk and play a tad more each day we figured that it was a different cause. i read that the ear can have a part in balancing issues, and noticed that when i rub under her left ear she will want to scratch it immediately. just two days ago we had the hallway door open, she saw it and attempted to run out of the room, but got stopped by my husband. last night she went into full on play and running mode, but still tumbles. she tries to shake and falls, jump from thing to thing and sometimes falls in mid jump, and i also noticed that she sometimes twitches her back when i lightly touch or pet her. everything returned normal with her she doesn’t seem to hurt at all, but she is still slightly off balance. do you know any possibilities of what it can be?

Answer by Kate
Hi
I can't believe they were selling kittens in a pennysaver shop. This world will never cease to shock me I think.
Anyway Unfortunately i am not a vet so can not give you a proper diagnosis and any way it is likely that only after a full examination would the true cause be discovered.

yes it could be a inner ear problem but it may also be a brain bleed or similar. the fact that there was a blood spot on her eye may suggest this.

Whether or not a vet could help her or not I could not say. It may be that it will get better over time but if it were me I would want to know and give the kitten the best chance of life and take them to see a vet for a proper diagnosis.

I hope you can find her some help soon and i hope she is better soon

best wishes Kate

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