Cat Ouched

[The Snark]

Why can't they make a crutch/brace/prosthesis for his leg? That should brace him so his spine won't get hurt?

Color me clueless. The ortho doc that I feel would have been able to competently answer that question died in a plane crash in the early 80's.

 

[The Snark]

And... he's now walking on all four again, albeit gingerly. At first it was purely autonomic but now he is voluntarily reaching out to snag things.
Technical: the extensor muscles over the radius were partially paralyzed along with unknown degree of effect on the sensory and spontaneous/autonomic associated nerves. Basically it's all about nerves since they stimulate all cellular regrowth and they grow very slow - as little as 1mm a month.
So if you happen to get tagged by a cobra and are no longer able to fit your elbow in your ear, there is hope. Give it a few months while practicing your yoga.

 

[The Snark]

So here it is, abouts 10 months down the lane. If you recall curious cat vs king cobra.

His leg has pretty much returned to straight forwards and about a month ago he was able to extend the foreleg deliberately instead of the automaton thing. Still limps a bit and some radial myopathy still present along with about 1/3rd of the muscle lost to atrophy. But he romps, and is if anything more friendly and demented than ever. He also added a little bonus to his repertoire from all the attention I've been giving him and gets up on his hind legs a lot. To lean on things or on me for some head scratching. He also follows me about the house like a dog, insists on supervising any and all human activities, and loves to glomp leap on Gnarly the neurotic which she loathes with a passion.

So if you are out and planning to get a one fang tag from a ~6 foot Hannah into a muscle bundle, this might give you some idea of what you are in for.

 

[Brachyfan]

Been following this thread for a while. Glad to hear Snit is doing better! That's one kitty warrior ya got there

 

[The Snark]

15 months later. Pretty much a final report. Placement and function of the entire leg and shoulder has returned to normal with a slight limp. Inward twist has corrected itself. No other symptoms noted. This seems to be a normal response to the O. Hannah cobra venom that was restricted locally to a muscle bundle without indications it had gone systemic. No heart, lungs or other neurological symptoms were ever noted. Conclusion; it's a neurotoxin that scrambles, disrupts, and possibly destroys nerve cells.but is not especially powerful. Krait venom in a similar dosage would very probably have caused death within minutes as even trace amounts entering the blood stream causes cardiac and or respiratory arrest. As a wild guess, I suspect other cobra venoms may be significantly more virulent. Hannah is a powerful predator that doesn't need to rely solely on a venom for prey capture.

He is spending an inordinate amount of time staring vapidly into space instead of his usual explore and destroy mode.

Found out why this AM. Very visually oriented cat. Was watching a man across the road, 50 feet away. Even moved a few feet to get a better view. Interesting.

 

[The Snark]

An update. Three years on. Snit has been favoring that leg more and more the past three months. And today he's off the leg completely. He still has near full range of motion and can extend the foreleg but that appears to be autonomic. I suspect he is loosing sensory input.

This is aggravating and frustrating. The commonest cause of deaths by snake bites is Opheophagus Hannah in India. Yet I have contacted experts the world over about long term prognosis and have come up with basically zilch. It's a neurotoxin, comparatively speaking relatively mild, yet nada on down the road effects. Just the generic guesswork of nerves that are non reversibly damaged by it apparently become progressive, possibly with associated nerves slowly shutting down without any biological mechanisms to explain the phenomenon.

Mechanism of injury, one fang apparently injected venom in or around the radial nerve, posterior and or dorsal interosseous nerve just distal of the elbow.


But aside from all that, he remains an insufferable nuisance. Demanding he get to watch me as I do things around the house following me about like a shadow and repetitively meowing several hundred times a day when he isn't the center of my attention. And if ignored long enough he plants himself where he expects you to be walking. Tripping over him is apparently a suitable form of attention. More along the lines of a mentally defective puppy.

 

[mickiem]

An update. Three years on. Snit has been favoring that leg more and more the past three months. And today he's off the leg completely. He still has near full range of motion and can extend the foreleg but that appears to be autonomic. I suspect he is loosing sensory input.

This is aggravating and frustrating. The commonest cause of deaths by snake bites is Opheophagus Hannah in India. Yet I have contacted experts the world over about long term prognosis and have come up with basically zilch. It's a neurotoxin, comparatively speaking relatively mild, yet nada on down the road effects. Just the generic guesswork of nerves that are non reversibly damaged by it apparently become progressive, possibly with associated nerves slowly shutting down without any biological mechanisms to explain the phenomenon.

Mechanism of injury, one fang apparently injected venom in or around the radial nerve, posterior and or dorsal interosseous nerve just distal of the elbow.


But aside from all that, he remains an insufferable nuisance. Demanding he get to watch me as I do things around the house following me about like a shadow and repetitively meowing several hundred times a day when he isn't the center of my attention. And if ignored long enough he plants himself where he expects you to be walking. Tripping over him is apparently a suitable form of attention. More along the lines of a mentally defective puppy.

I'm glad to see an update and sorry for the frustration in learning more. But as long as Snit is an insufferable nuisance, he's doing his job and all is well!

 

[The Snark]

But as long as Snit is an insufferable nuisance, he's doing his job and all is well!

Teaching me tolerance. Come home and he has dashed to the porch roof to welcome me home. Let him outside has a little dirt patch and an old tree stump where he spends his day. Get's on top of my truck to say goodbye when I leave. Insists on watching me at work around the house, fascinated. Gets on the motorcycle behind me but doesn't like the sound of the engine and gets off when I start it. Definitely has an agenda all his own and if he aggravates me, I need to learn to be more tolerant and understanding. And his limp bothers me more than it does him. And if I'm grumpy or pissed off or frustrated or whatever, I just go out my office door and he's right there ready for a hug.