Is The News Good???

Some of you where wondering if the news on Moki was good? To answer that best, I would have to say that the news is good to neutral...

(Picture of where they shaved the back of Moki's head to do the CSF Tap...)

It really depends on how you look at it. The fact that the CSF Tap showed nothing is great news. We where afraid that we might find something fatal like "dry" FIP, and we didn't. This was a huge relief, and in that sense the news was good!

Despite some findings on the MRI, we where also relieved to learn that we where not dealing with anything major like a brain tumor, or something that would require brain surgery. So that too was good news.

(Moki's now bald back leg.)

As for the cerebellar size, it is only slightly decreased in size when compared to a normal cat. This too, while not as good news as we would have liked (the best news would have been to hear that his cerebellum was fully developed...) was also good news when we take into consideration, just how under developed Moki's cerebellum could have been, compared to the slightly under developed cerebellum he actually has...

The "slight decrease in some of the cortex, and dilation of the fluid filled spaces surrounding Moki's brain," was also not the greatest of news, but this was also only slight and could have been much, much worse, plus the fact that he did have more "fluid filled spaces surrounding [his] brain," most likely made it easier for Moki's doctors to collect the CSF Tap sample, so we will count our blessings, on this news as well...

(Moki's shaved right front leg...)

The above neurological findings would most likely indicate that Moki's mother had feline Panleukopenia (which is like the feline version of the Parvo virus.) His mother was most likely carrying the virus at the time of Moki's conception, and thus Moki most likely developed a slight condition of Cerebellar Hypoplasia. Cerebellar Hypoplasia is usually seen at birth, but in some cases, such as would be the case with Moki, it can take a few months to become apparent. With that said, we are not 100% positive that this is indeed the case, it does however, at this time appear to be the most likely cause of Moki's slightly under developed cerebellum. The good news here is that the condition will never get any worse and it is not life threatening.

So for now, we will put Moki's neurological problems on the back burner being as there is currently nothing they can do to treat them medically, and their is no indication at this time that they will get any worse or be fatal.

Moki's orthopedic issues, on the other hand, are a major concern at this time. If Cerebellar Hypoplasia is behind the neurological problems did it also contribute to the orthopedic issues, and by this I mean, did Moki's compensation for being off balance, (the cerebellum is the portion of the brain that coordinates movement and balance) cause him to hold his muscles so tightly that they pulled the bones along his thoracic inlet out of alignment, or is there something else going on here that is causing the orthopedic problems?

What we need to find out now, is what caused such a dramatic change in the bone structure of Moki's thoracic inlet in such a short period of time and why. We also need to find out exactly what we can do to fix the problem and or keep it from getting any worse. Take a close look at the two images belows. The first one as I mentioned yesterday was taken approximately four months ago, and the second image was taken on Wednesday.

Do you see the difference in the second picture? The bones in Moki's thoracic inlet are now bending upwards towards the spine, causing that space to narrow and more or less pinch Moki's organs (trachea and esophagus) which run between the thoracic inlet and the spine. The narrowing of this space is thus the most likely cause of Moki coughing and extending his neck way forward like he is choking or gagging after he eats. My personal guess is that when Moki extends his neck way forward and coughs, this allows a slightly larger opening of the space, and therefore makes it easier for food to pass through, this narrow inlet. Now with that said if the narrowing of this space where to continue to get worse, it could create some very serious and perhaps even life threatening problems for Moki, therefore our main focus now needs to be on what we can do to fix this, thus Moki's neurologist is contacting the orthopedic surgeons on staff to collect "opinions and ideas" for ways to treat this and the other orthopedic issues Moki is having with all four of his limbs. We are expecting a call next week to learn more about how we should proceed from here... Thus one chapter of our story has come to an end, and another has just begun...

Now we have an extra treat for those of you who mentioned they enjoyed seeing all the images of Moki. Moki's neurologist, has offered to put all of Moki's MRI images on a disk and mail it to me, so that I may share all of the images with all you! How cool is that? We'll have the images up just as soon as we receive the disk, so stay tuned!