Hello! 

 

We would love to introduce you to Finn, who is one of the most special cats to walk into our lives. We first heard of Finn after someone called us about a stray kitty they found who seemed to have movement issues. Upon meeting him, we noticed his head bobbles and his difficulty walking, but the thing that instantly caught our attention most was his sweet, trusting personality. From taking him to the vet to get blood work and doing independent research, we found the most likely cause for his irregular movements seemed to be cerebellar hypoplasia, aka CH. CH is a neurological condition affecting the cerebellum which is an area of the brain that regulates movement. While this sounds like a terrifying disease, many CH cats can live a long, happy life and even learn to adjust to their disability.

 

Right before Christmas, we noticed Finn having episodes that appeared like seizures. Our local veterinarian put him on seizure-prevention medicine called phenobarbital, but we knew we needed to do more for him, starting with an official diagnosis. Not only would this give us a better idea of his medical needs, but it would also give him a chance to be adopted out to a forever family. 

 

On January 6th, we took Finn to University of Florida’s Small Animal Hospital to get him examined and hoped to get the official diagnosis. The veterinarians at UF Small Animal Hospital were amazing, but there is only so much they could advise without doing MRI’s and a spinal tap. They were hesitant to attribute Finn’s episodes to seizures based on their observations and recommended us to take him off of the phenobarbital that Finn was on since the medication seemed to dampen his normally playful personality. Within days after the appointment, Finn had another episode, except this time he stayed in his faze. We rushed him to Northwood Animal Hospital and hoped for the best. Finn has now returned to a mostly normal state and is happily living in a foster home within our rescue, where he is under close observation and seems to be improving.

 

At this point, it is safe to say that reason is thrown out when it comes to Finn. Spending one minute with this amazing cat reminds you of the strength and love that can be found in an animal. Our next steps with Finn are to get him back to the UF Small Animal Hospital to receive his MRI’s and spinal tap in an attempt to find the cause of his seizures and get closer to an official diagnosis. 

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