Mary Allen
If your cat tilts its head, it suffers from a so-called tilted head posture. As a rule, this posture is triggered by other diseases that affect the animal’s organ of balance. Read here what exactly can be behind it.
Long-term head tilt is the most common symptom of vestibular disease in cats. If your cat only tilts its head for a short time, it may have something in its ear, its hearing organ is inflamed, or it feels disturbed. The cat can still move its head normally here. It is different from vestibular syndrome: Here the animal cannot keep its head straight for a long time.
Other Symptoms of Vestibular Syndrome
In many cases, in addition to the head tilt, there are other symptoms that indicate a disturbance in the vestibular system. These include:
● The animal may not be able to walk straight, often tilt sideways or roll in one direction.
● The cat is squinting.
● Horner’s symptom: Here the pupils are small. In addition, the eye may lie deeper in the socket, the third eyelid may have prolapsed, or the lower one may droop.
● Dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
● Severe symptoms such as fainting or a seizure indicate disorders in the brain that affect the balance organ.
You should definitely take these symptoms seriously because the causes are varied and sometimes extremely dangerous. When in doubt, always take your cat to the vet.
Head Tilt Due to Vestibular Syndrome: Causes
The possible causes often relate to impairments and damage directly to the balance organ, which are referred to as peripheral diseases. They include:
● Inflammation of the inner ear
● Injury to the eardrum
● Inflammation of the middle ear
● Polyps
● Congenital vestibular syndrome
● An idiopathic vestibular syndrome is a special form with an as yet unknown cause. It can appear suddenly and at any age. The cat usually recovers after a few days.
● Fracture of the petrous bone, a bony structure on the inner ear
● Tumors
● poisoning
Other disorders affect the nerves or the brain. They trigger that the information can no longer be processed correctly. These impairments and impairments are called central diseases. They include:
● Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)
● Hemorrhage
● An injury and associated traumatic brain injury
● Tumors in the brain and nerves
● Thiamine deficiency
● Inflammation of the brain and meninges (meningoencephalitis)
● Parasites (protozoa)
Your Cat is Tilting Its Head: This Is How You React Correctly
Go to the vet if you have a head tilt. He must find out the exact causes and assign the vestibular syndrome to a peripheral or central disease. This normally requires a comprehensive laboratory test with a blood count, serum biochemistry, and a thyroid hormone profile. The veterinarian can use an otoscopy to determine whether an ear infection is a cause.