Cena's about 3 month update

Cena in a box! It has now been a little over 3 months since the onset of Cena's Mystery Illness. He is doing so much better! I found him today curled up in this box. He crawled in by himself. He can curl up on both sides. Before he could only lick his right side. Now he can do both. He can move his whole left front leg, but it still doesn't bend. His left front paw is still limp and gets turned under.

Cena enjoys spending time on the couch. He loves to be petted and talked to and he loves to sleep. He can get up on the couch and down from the couch himself. My husband took him outside the other day and Cena got away from him. He had to chase him down. Cena was an outside cat before his illness and wants to go back out. Since he can't get around like he used to, I am afraid to just let him go in case he can't get back home.

Cena and Pumpkin like to sit on the couch together. When Cena walks now, he walks straighter other than the left front foot. His back legs are stronger now and his left front foot has room to move and not drag as much. Cena loves to walk through the house on his own. He is doing so much better!

Cena has made so many improvements! He seems very happy, purring, eating, drinking, sleeping. Continued prayers are greatly appreciated for his continued improvement.

Three Week Update

Cena says hi! He is doing so much better, but still not walking. It is like watching a baby learn how to do things. He can roll over on one side better than the other. He can take two steps before he falls. His left front paw now bends! That is a huge improvement. All four limbs went from being totally lifeless to the other three legs moving, but his left front one being stiff as a board. Now that the paw moves, Cena is getting around better.

Cena enjoys being outside in the yard. He crawls around and is never where I put him. This past weekend I put him down, and had to get him away from the high weeds. He was trying to hide in them!

Cena will guard his food while eating. He curls the one paw around the bowl to keep it from moving. His left front paw now curves and doesn't look as stiff as it did. He tried climbing up on the couch the other day and actually moved the left leg! That is a huge improvement!

Cena gets tired of all the pictures lol. It is so wonderful all the improvements he has made over the past week. He will walk a couple of steps, crawl, roll to the couch and then climb up to get on it to lay down.

And the biggest improvement this week? He was sleeping curled up in a ball! He has been out straight, no bend to him, and now that he can bend his left front paw, and has been licking himself, he now can bend into a ball. He looks so much more comfortable!

Two Week Update

Here is the vast improvement this week! Cena propped up and eating. He is discovering more movement this week. His back left leg is showing more mobility, catching up with his right side. Cena puts his right back leg under him, trying to get up, but his back left leg isn't quite ready to help. But he's getting there!

Cena can now stretch to lick himself. His left front leg will help to hold himself in place, but he still can't move it. His right front and back leg he can move to lick, scratch, and try to get up. Once his left side catches up and he regains strength in those limbs, he will be so much closer to walking again!

Here's picture of his left leg and how it just hangs there. He can't control the leg or the paw. If he could start holding the paw out of the way, he might be able to get around better. But he is using it to hold himself in place if he is sitting up, licking, or scratching. He is itching where they shaved him. He loves to be rubbed!

Here's what he tends to do most days, just lie around and sleep. After trying to move around, he gets really tired. Pictured is my cat Sassy and Foxy the Pomeranian/ Spitz mixed. They enjoy laying around watching Cena recuperate. The chihuahua Milo brought the ice cube in and left it to melt. I am so thankful for Cena's great strides this week. Hoping next week shows more improvement on his left side and maybe even sitting up on his own!

One Week Update

I took a picture of Cena as we were laying on the trampoline. I had no idea he had his tongue stuck out! He is doing so well for it to be only one week since his incident. He is trying to get up, but can't get his back legs under him. His right front leg is stronger, but his left front leg is still useless, but had resistance to it when I tried to move it. He flexes his claws on his right front and back legs. He reaches back and licks his back leg now. He is still eating and drinking on his own. When I stand him up, he can get his right front and back leg in position, but his left back leg still does not move right to stand on it and his left front leg still gets in the way since it just hangs down.

Cena still does a lot of sleeping while he is healing. After he's been active, rolling over, scooching around, or eating, he lays down and takes a nap.

This is Cena holding his head up. When we feed him, he can prop himself up to eat, and he drinks out of a shallow watering dish on his own. I am sure hoping by next weekend there is a lot more improvement! He tries to get his back legs under him. If he could get more control of his left back leg, I think he could get up on his own. When we carry him around, he is able to hold his head up and look around for an extended amount of time now. He is making great strides!

Everyone's Happy Cena's Home

Cena has been recuperating for 5 days now. He still can't walk, does not have any strength in his legs, and the vets still don't know what is wrong with him. However, he holds his head up now, stretches and squirms and scooches across the floor, eats, drinks, and moves his legs, all except for the left front leg.

Yesterday, he started licking himself and his right front leg, once he could move it close enough. It's like he's learning to move all over again. Cena uses his back legs to kick your arm away if he's had enough petting. He can now maneuver his back legs to stretch, curl up, or flex. His tail hadn't been moving, but I noticed today he was flicking it back and forth. He still doesn't have the strength to stand, but we are praying he will regain the strength he needs to fully recover. These other guys sure have missed him playing around.

This is our cat Sassy. They usually just tolerate each other, but when I put Cena in the floor, she came over to say hi. She has now gone to the other side of the living room and Cena is snoozing.

This is Milo. He and Cena run around and play. He doesn't know why Cena won't get up. He's giving him encouragement. Cena needs it.

Since he can now move, flex, stretch, lick, we're hoping it won't be long before he gets all better. Really wish the vets knew what was wrong with him so they could tell us how to help him, or how long it will be before he's all better. I'm hoping since he appears to be improving, it wasn't rat poison he came in contact with. I'm leaning more toward a stroke or spinal cord trauma, but I guess we will never know.

Day Three

On Monday, two days after we found Cena unable to move, we took him back to the vet for a follow up appt. He still has no feeling or movement in his legs. He can lift his head, purrs, eats and drinks, but doesn't seem to be improving as far as being able to walk. He is in a lot of pain and is on pain medicine and taking the antibiotics.

During the follow up visit, the vet is clearly not finding out what is wrong with Cena. He has not improved. She decides to keep him for observation and so other vets can put their heads together to see if they can come up with other ideas.

While he's there they go back over the xrays of his back, which didn't show anything. The blood tests didn't raise any flags. Liver and kidneys are fine. They decide to shave him to see if there was any bruising, especially around the left front shoulder. His left front foot is affected the worst. It has no feeling, is completely useless, as is his back left foot. It seems his right side is a little better as far as moving limbs, but Cena can't stand, can't put any weight on his legs, and when the vet would try to stand him up, his legs had no idea what to do. They just hung there. As a last resort, they give him a steroid shot.

He is still very alert, eating and drinking, purring, loving the attention he is getting, but everyone is completely baffled as to what is wrong with him. Please continue to pray for him and his battle with this mystery illness.

Day One

On Saturday June 21, 2014 we found Cena lying on the floor by the front door. He'd been inside all night. No other animals were around. He was seen around midnight the night before and was fine. Around 5:30am on Saturday morning, we found him lying on the floor, unable to move. It was like he was paralyzed from the neck back. His legs wouldn't work; he couldn't walk. He couldn't do anything.

We took him to the vet. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. She mentioned a new rat poison that is out now. It targets the neurological system. She mentioned a stroke, spinal cord trauma, but ultimately could not figure out what is wrong.

The vet ran blood work, did xrays, gave him an antibiotic, and pain medicine. Saturday he was completely numb. By Sunday, he was in a lot of pain.

Please be praying for Cena. They still don't know what is wrong with him, what caused his symptoms, or if he'll get better. He is very alert, eats and drinks, he just can't get up and walk.