Josie gave us an absolutely terrifying fright last night. Mr Moo and I were lying on the bed with the kitties watching TV. Josie got down and went into the hallway to get a drink from the large water dish we keep right outside the bedroom door. As she was drinking, she cried out, half fell into the water dish and started backing away like something was terribly wrong with her legs. Mr Moo jumped up and immediately followed her into the bonus room (I was on the far side of the bed so it took me a bit longer to get there). He said she was not using all of her legs, listing and kind of walking around in a circle like you do when you're really dizzy. We both immediately thought "stroke".

We laid her down in the hallway and I got a towel to dry her off a bit. We waited a few minutes then tried to stand her up again. She wouldn't. I started bawling at this point and Mr Moo went off to get the phone number for the 24 hour emergency vet clinic in Portland. I scooped her up and brought her to lie on the bed with me again. I figured, if these were going to be her last minutes ever in our house (in my mind, I was already certain we were taking her to the vet and would end up putting her to sleep before the night was over), I wanted her to be in her most favorite place: on the bed being held by momma.

As I was holding her, I noticed she was starting to press on my arm with both of her feet. With a microscopic ray of hope, I set her down again. She didn't stand right away, but she did sit with weight on all four feet. I hollered for Mr Moo to hold off on the phone call for a bit and come see. I went to the far side of the room and tried to get her to walk to me. She wouldn't. Thinking she just needed a bit more incentive, I got the container of treats I keep upstairs. That was all she needed. She stood up and came right to me. She was limping a little, but she was definitely walking using all four legs. It wasn't too much longer after that before she was walking completely normally again. We really knew she was fine when she jumped up on her box then onto the window seat without any hesistation, started cleaning herself and rolling around looking for some belly rubs.

We ended up calling the emergency vet clinic to be safe. They immediately suggested stroke, too, but agreed it wasn't very likely once we told them it completely resolved within about 20 minutes. There are a few medical conditions it could still be, but we all agreed that it was most likely just a really bad muscle cramp. We will still keep a very close eye on her for a few days. If anything even remotely similar happens again, we will take her in immediately. I will also be calling our regular vet on Tuesday (tomorrow is a holiday here in the US and they're closed) to see if I should bring her in for an exam or tests. In the meantime, we're watching her like a hawk and the princess is enjoying all the extra attention.