Geriatric cat (16) sudden head tilting

[justice]

I have a geriatric cat that is terrible with strangers. I've had vets refuse to treat him because he goes crazy on them, and so I'm reluctant to take him in unless it is something major. I woke up this morning and he has been doing something really strange with his head. Basically ducking down almost with his head touching the ground while he is in an upright seated position. If I press on his ear a bit he will start to kick his leg, and so I'm thinking it is probably an ear infection. Essentially I'm just trying to decide how long I should wait to see if it gets better before I commit to taking him somewhere to be looked at... likely sedated cause thats what they seem to always want to do. It stresses him out terribly and is a huge ordeal. He has no medical history of anything except he is starting to get arthritis in his shoulder.

He still is walking around fine (he always limps pretty much so hard to tell if he is staggering, he also doesn't do much moving around if he can help it so its hard to tell), has appetite, drinks water, etc. He just won't look up. If I call him or make noise he will glance and then immediately put his head back down as if looking up discomfits him.

Can you just give ear drops to a cat in the hope that it is an ear infection? This is the first day that it has been happening and so I'm curious on how many days of symptoms is too long to safely wait with these types of issues.

[Mollycat]

I wouldn't wait at all for this one. It could be ear mites, or "just" an ear infection, or neurological. There isn't really such a thing as "just" an ear infection though, left untreated ear infections are serious and if balance is affected that means inner ear and that is already becoming serious. Plus, any ear drops you could get without seeing a vet are likely to be at best useless and potentially harmful.

[Ruth B]

If he is registered with a vet it might be worth seeing if they can do a video call, or if you can send them a video of how he is acting, it might be able to tell them something, or at least make them realise he needs to be seen.

It could be ear mites or an infection in which case the vets might be able to prescribe some basic treatment without needing to actually examine him, or it could be they will want to book him in for scans in which case they could sedate him for the scans and do any other ear checks at the same time, reducing the number of vet visits.

I have to agree that you really do need to at least talk to a vet about it, and if it is one that doesn't know what he is like, then explain it to them fully. If they are prepared for the worst, then if he isn't so bad it isn't a problem.

[justice]

I will have to get in touch and talk with a vet I guess. Over the nightit seems to have gotten worse. He just keeps his head down and will not even look up pretty much no matter what. I'm not convinced it is even with his ear anymore. He just kinda staggers around looking straight at the floor and won't move his head.

[Mollycat]

How was the arthritis diagnosed? Did he have any blood tests done at the same time?

[justice]

I know they took an xray at the time, that was 3 years ago. I'm not certain if they did blood work at that time but I believe they did. I had to get his shots for moving to a new apartment, etc and tried to get him looked at during that time since they already had him sedated.

He is a bit more lively today, and was jumping up with his front paws to counters, etc and trying to look on the counter that way, which is a good sign. He also seems to be glancing upward again from time to time. Still has a strong appetite and giving me an attitude about wanting on top of the sink heh.