‘Wobbly kitty syndrome': Cerebellar hypoplasia

Iota has ‘Wobbly kitty syndrome': Cerebellar hypoplasia

This is cutie is Iota. Iota was born with a condition called Cerebellar hypoplasia (CH) or more commonly referred to by rescue organzations as 'wobbly kitten syndrom'. Though we do not know exactly what has caused Iota’s CH, it is normally caused by bacterial infections and viral infections caused by feline parvovirus (while in utero). The disease can also be caused by malnutrition, poisoning, injury or general accidents during development in the fetus. Cats with CH have uncoordinated movements and fall over often in severe cases they are unable to walk. Iota has a moderate CH case. He is able to walk and even run but falls over every time he stops or slows down.

the veterinarian told us not to get too attached to Iota because he could end up falling behind his siblings.

As fosters we were unsure of what we were getting into taking on a special needs kitten and his family, especially after they all had upper respiratory infections from being strays. In the first week and a half of taking care of them there were 3 or 4 vet visits and one emergency vet visit. On one of those visits the veterinarian told us not to get too attached to Iota because he could end up falling behind his siblings (worst case scenario), though it is normal for CH cats to fall behind Iota was determined to prove to everyone he could do everything a normal kitten could do, we too were determined to make sure he had the best chance possible!

yum yum!

The veterinarian told us that we might have to hand feed Iota because every time he’d get close to the food bowl he would get excited and fall into the food once he’d fallen in he was afraid to eat. So we had to come up with a way that made Iota feel confident he wouldn’t fall into his food, first we separated him from the frenzy of eating with 3 kitten siblings and his mom but he still wasn’t that interested in eating. We bought some chicken flavored baby food, Iota loved it, but we knew he needed kitten food so we slowly started mixing the kitten food in with the baby food and he kept eating it all up.

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Iota and his brother Mercury.

many CH cats and kittens are being euthenized because there is not a lot of awareness...

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