Ataxia refers to a lack of coordination. It comes from the Greek language meaning “lack of order”. It is used in reference to all animals and people. A cat with ataxia will suffer from an inability to coordinate voluntarily muscle movements. Ataxia is a symptom of some central nervous system disorders or injuries. It is not because of muscle weakness.
There are many causes. One is Feline Cerebellar Hypoplasia. Gordon (above) has this disease:
I won’t go into great detail on causes but other possible causes are:
- an inherited metabolic disease that causes the degeneration of the central nervous system. Apparently Siamese cats amongst the cat breeds are most often affected (see also Siamese health problems). For a breeder it means a DNA test needs to be carried out to remove carriers from the breeding line.
- inflammation of the brain caused by an infection. Viruses that cause this sort infection include feline infectious peritonitis, panleukopenia (“panleuk”), feline leukemia.
- feline stroke.
Update: this is Flick in a video from Marion of Cats Protection (see comment). Flick has CH (Cerebellar Hypoplasia) and it makes her head wobble.
Here is a tortie navigating the stairs with ataxia. Well done to her.
Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.
SOME MORE ON ATAXIA:
I would love to take on the challenge of caring for a cat with this condition. I have never come across one. It would be a unique challenge, but rewarding too. Maybe they can improve somewhat with the correct approach. Keeping them safe would be the main concern. I never thought of the dangers they face if dropped. Normal cats pretty much land on their feet. But a cat with balance and coordination issues won’t easily land correctly, and could be injured when falling or jumping down from a height.
Marion, I’ll embed the video into the page. You can’t embed videos in comments.
Thanks a lot Marion, I wasn’t aware that this disease also caused the head to wobble like that. It is sad to hear that CH is more common. I’ll check that out. See what I can find out.
Embedding didn’t work so here is link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uijEceSEHA&list=UUO0T_WpPBPaAKAG3nmvvaMw&feature=share&index=5
Don’t know if embedding works but this is Flick our CH kitty when she was a skinny kitten a few months ago. Sadly CH kittens are on the increase in our area, I posted about them on my Facebook after one was described by a so called behaviourist as nodding head because bored:_(
This was my post<<<
CH kittens, otherwise known as wobbly head syndrome, aren't some cute wobble head ornament they have special needs and need extra care. While it is true they can live happy healthy lives and their condition doesn't get any worse? In fact they quickly learn to cope better with it the head wobble isn't just a cute feature and definitely isn't increased because they bored. Their depth perception is affected and while they seem to act like normal kittens running and climbing they are in fact more predisposed to injury as inclined to land on their head or neck even if only dropping out of a child's arms. If they are unlucky enough to be homed to irresponsible owners their fate is sealed:-( they should NEVER be allowed to breed as the stress is simply to much and stress aggravates the head wobble. Their neck muscles are going to have so much more strain on them than they were ever meant to have so developing problems as they get older. Outdoors is a added danger to them as they more likely to climb higher and fall awkwardly. Insurance a good idea if you can get a good deal but at the very least expect vet bills from accidents. Recently we are seeing an increase in CH kittys and that's worrying to think the mum cats are having this type of kitten due to either toxoplasmosis or panlacupenia (spell) and sadly they aren't getting neutered or treated . Don't expect vet to always know what's best for a CH kitty as some have gone their whole careers without coming across one. Before last year even i had only known a few sadly this year looks like i am about to meet a few more.
No – that’s thelast thing I would laugh at. Poor little ones have so much trouble with that. Some have it alot worse than others (hypoplasia).
It is caused by the mother having FIP- so the kittens are born with hypoplasia – as I know it.