Vestibular episode in 15 year old cat

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Anyone been through this? Woke Thursday to my little girl wobbling in litter tray and walking like she was drunk. Visit to vets is suspected vestibular episode. And is a bit better today with some normal walking but some wobblyness.

I'm really torn. I obviously don't want her to suffer, but her vital signs are good ( still eating, going to loo etc). There has definitely been some cognitive decline in the last few months, but generally she seems happy.

Any advice?

Big hugs to you and your poor cat x
Sorry no real advice, I experienced this but with a dog although I imagine it’s much the same.
First time it happened I was convinced it was the end as she was 11, but she recovered and was back to normal after a few days but then she had a couple more episodes over the next year before she died but I think as long as your cat is still eating, drinking and toileting and isn’t having any pain then just take each day as it comes xx

Thank you, that is so helpful. I'm feeling the same. I was convinced it was the end on Thursday, especially given her age. It can be caused by a tumour but she was examined all over and there were no yelps or miaows of pain. Day by day is great advice. It's hard to keep a sense of perspective when emotions are running high. Thank you xx

My 8 year old female had this about a month ago. It’s so distressing to see - but in our case, she made a full recovery after a couple of weeks.
we made sure that she had water and biscuits nearby, and left her in her hiding place. I hope your cat will be feeling better soon.
our vet did say that it’s generally just a temporary thing.

Thanks for this and so glad your cat recovered. It is so distressing to see. My girl has rallied hugely and is now almost back to normal. It's interesting that you were told this was temporary. This was never said to us, so obviously we feared the worst, given her age. Looks like we have her for a while longer, which is amazing 😻

I know not quite the same but my little dog had the same thing last Sunday. Initially listing to one side, then completely losing balance, head shaking and eye flicking.

I didn’t know it was a thing and had assumed he was having a stroke or seizure, I was completely convinced it was the end!

They said to me it almost always passes by its self in a couple of days, there may be a bit of wobbiliness for a week or so.

He’s 100% back to normal now, you wouldn’t know anything had happened.

I panicked and took him to the local emergency vet (£££££), and I’m glad I did, but they did say if it happens again he doesn’t actually need anything other then to be somewhere safe to wait it out as a pp has said.

I think it’s something that looks a lot worse than it actually is.

My dog had this a few times but always recovered by the next day. It looks worse than it is .

Thanks all. My mind is definitely put at rest 🙏

Like other posters it happened to our wonderful Ddog.. he was walking around in circles. He sort of ralied but he then lost all his spacial awareness over the next month.... which was dangerous on walks because he had jumped off a very high wall. So lead walks only from then in. Which being a Springer distressed him.
Unfortunately he continued to deteriorate (fell off the sofa) and we decided to do the kindest thing.. our daughter is a vet nurse and often said 'better a month too early .. than a day too late '. He did have some kidney failure too which was getting worse (all this during lockdown but we were lucky that our DD could take him into the vets).
We were worried about a middle of the night emergency so we chose a date just before our DCs were going back to uni/deployment and we had a lovely party for ddog. Next morning we walked on the beach and an hour later he was gone..
I'm sorry you are going through this..
Is your dcat an outdoor cat?

Sorry to be negative..

Our 17 year old cat had an episode of this back in February and it was awful to see. We honestly thought she’d had some sort of stroke and would need to be pts.
Vets the next day and they found she has high blood pressure too. The wobbliness resolved after a few days and the advice was she would need up to three weeks to recover. She was back to normal within a few days which was reassuring.

Definitely worth getting blood pressure checked. Cats usually respond well to meds if bp is high.
Apart from that- what will be will be

namechange62
don't worry about negatively, it's just about doing the best for our pets. Dc is an outdoor cat, but doesn't go far these days. She's asleep on the sofa next to me now and you really wouldn't think anything was wrong last week!

cotedazur28
bless her, I'm she's ok. That sounds like exactly what happened to us. Looks really scary but now pretty much recovered!