So yesterday Bob has his first acupuncture session with Dr Poon, a vet that used to practise at The Animal Clinic and is setting up her own practice. (We know lots of you are hoping to know where it is going to be open and the location, will share when we find out more from her!)
During Bob's consult with Dr Poon we also learned a few more things about his condition. Firstly, the initial prognosis for Bob is that he is suffering from a cerebellar disorder which is likely to be inherited or congenital. If it is truly a congenital defect, Bob may not live for very many years - not the full 14-17 years an average house cat has. However, because Bob previously responded to Clindamycin antibiotics - which treats toxoplasmosis that causes such neuropathic disorders - and got better after that, it is possible that his brain disorder may also not be inherited, and recovery is possible. The truth is, we can't tell for sure if it is congenital or viral in cause or even both, so we can only treat him in the best possible way and monitor his progress (which has been great).
Dr Poon's analysis of Bob's gait, motor control and balance pointed out that while he can walk pretty well now (no more leopard crawl) his head still somewhat tilts a bit here and there. The initial acupuncture points Dr Poon tried, one was below his skull near the cranium. But his muscles are extremely stiff there and the acupuncture point could not be accessed. So we are focusing his aromatherapy massages on his neck now. (With a 'Good Boy!' when he relaxes his muscles.) After massaging him for a while now it is getting easy to identify stiffness and tension and when the tissue massage helps.
So Dr Poon accessed the other acupuncture points, one of them is for the kidneys, where she identified some weakness upon entry. In TCM, weakness of the kidneys is usually inherent in sickies, so I asked Dr Poon if she has any advice on helping his kidneys be better. A TCM herb (apologies for not knowing the name as we are not well versed in TCM ourselves) might help so Dr Poon will give us some of that for Bob. She approved of the supplements of Vit B (including Vit B12) and magnesium, and the herbal remedies of skullcap and St. John's wort, so we are continuing him on that. (Speaking of which, he is beginning to prefer kibbles more over wet food, so today his supplements will be syringe-fed rather than mixed in food.)
By the way, Dr Poon consulted for Bob pro bono too and we are very grateful! She will be seeing him again, possibly at our foster home, to continue his acupuncture sessions.
