911 Our 18 year old boy has had controlled diabetes for 2 years...

Our 18 year old indoor boy has recently lost use/strength in his back legs. He has had controlled diabetes with insulin for two years, his walk changed about a year ago and he has trouble with his right foot and walks on his whole back foot..Yesterday we arrived home and he was unable to stand and walk anywhere. After a night at the vet..blood work..xrays and a full examine by his internist; they sent us home with him. His appetite is still there, he is very alert but seems to be in some pain and discomfort. What has been a little odd to me is that he seems to stretch his back legs out every now and then and seems to try and be readjusting his body?????. We are giving him a pain med and 5 mg of prednisone a day to hopefully help him to walk again...our next step is to have an mri and consult with another internal medicine vet. I am hoping someone out there has some positive advice for us :/
thank you cindy

 

Have you tried zobaline? Or the b-12 methylcobalimum( sp?) Snick had diabetic neuropathy but that did come around before insulin. I don't know what it would be now but that is an idea to try.

 

Just what do you mean by "controlled"?
Do yo have a recent BG curve after the pred was started?

 

Hi Cindy and sorry about you boy. Hopefully the back legs will improve. Did the vet mention that the prednisone could raise his blood glucose? And are you testing him at home by any chance?

 

I mean we have him on 2 units of insulin twice a day and I am keeping a close eye on his sugar levels still; because I know the usually raises them

 

What are the BGs now?

 

Hi Yes Thank you for you kind words... Yes I DO test him at home and have it down to a science at this point AND he is the most well dispositioned cat we have ever had. He allows me to prick his ear for blood versus his pad like the vets had suggested a couple of years back when he was diagnosed. The pad hurts and its quite thick to poke for blood

 

They are in the 190's..but I would like to see them drop a bit more :/

 

Hi Cindy, your boy is lovely, looks a lot like my 16 year-old who also has a wonderful disposition. Have you talked to your vet about diabetic neuropathy? That would be the first thing I'd suspect, at any rate. Here are a couple of links to web sites with information about the progression and treatment of diabetic neuropathy:

http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Neuropathy

http://veterinaryteam.dvm360.com/managing-complications-diabetic-cats?rel=canonical

There is also a very good video on You Tube called "Tootsie's neuropathy" that might help you.

 

Here's the video that shows diabetic neuropathy really well...and how far back they can come with the right B-12 and getting their blood glucose under control


This is the Zobaline For Cats that a lot of people use..it's tasteless and usually you can just crush it and add to food.

What pain med are you using?

 

Thank you Chris & China & Squalliesmom I will DEFINITELY be on talking with them in regards to this come Monday!! xx

 

BTW - I just ordered a bottle!! ..I watched that video and was amazed at the similarities!!! Im hopeful!!.. Why don't the internal specialist know this stuff!!..We have spent THOUSANDS on our boy over the years :/

 

Yeah, it's frustrating when the people we think should know don't seem to know anything, but that's what's so special about this message board...the people here have already tried pretty much everything, so they know what works and what doesn't....there's just no getting around the real life experience the people here have!

To give vets a little credit, it would be impossible for them to keep up to date on the latest treatments for every disease in every type of animal they see...they'd never have time to actually see any patients!!...Here, everyone is concentrating on one disease....and the complications that tend to come with it!

 

Well said! .. Thanks soo much for EVERYONE'S input...It has helped my heart and head for the day and I am looking forward to having our old boy try this to get him up and moving around again; because he is VERY frustrated with his lack of mobility

 

When are they 190's?
Before shot?
At the lowest point?
is the "curve" relatively flat?

 

Good morning, Cindy! How is your boy this morning? BTW, what's his name? Glad you're giving the Zobaline a try, fingers and paws crossed that you see improvement soon, please keep us posted!

 

Good Morning Lucy, His name is Reggie ...and I wish I could get the Zobaline "yesterday" instead of waiting for it to come; because he is such a tropper with all this and purring up a storm, but back legs are hurting too much to try and do much but readjust himself on the blanket :/.. I have been sleeping next to him on a futon bed so he doesn't feel so alone at night and also to assist with the potty box when he feels like he would rather get up and stumble a couple of steps to it instead of using the potty pad. Thank you so very much for supporting and caring about our boy too.. He is such a good boy and dresses up for Halloween EVERY year and this year he is waiting to be Superman and we would REALLY like to see him show off his costume!

xx Cindy

 

If you think he's actually in pain, I would wonder about both diabetic neuropathy (which, to my knowledge, is more like weakness than pain) and arthritis, which is more likely to account for actual pain. I would consider using Cosequin in addition to the Zobaline, just in case of arthritis compounding the neuropathy.

 

Thank you SOO much!! I will add it to the list of meds that I am getting!!

 

Frankie has neuropathy and is not in pain, he just has extreme weakness in the back legs. I massage them every night, which he loves, which if he was in pain, he would hate.

 

Hi Cindy! What a great cat Mom you are, your devotion to Reggie is obvious! I hope the Zobaline comes soon and that it helps him a lot. Can't wait to see him in his Superman costume, you absolutely must post pictures, lol!

Reggie really does sound so much like my Squallie, such similar personalities! We once had a cat named Reggie, but she was a female; she was actually Squallie's aunt!

 

Hi all!...So the update on our Reggie is that he will now use his potty box and can stand and stagger a couple of steps without too much pain. I spoke with my internal medicine specialist and she prescribed liquid vial of vitamin B12. She wasn't on board with the Zobaline; but I ordered regardless. He receives a shot a week of the liquid B12 and is taking the Zobaline daily too. He is also on prednisone and his daily insulin as well as the pain meds. I think we will hopefully (fingers crossed and big prayers) be able to wean him off of the pain medicine after a couple more days of this very slow process but I am cautiously optimistic that he can regain enough strength to make his quality of life good. I greatly appreciate all of your support and advice and REALLY praying that we have at least a few more good months for Reggie and us.. Reggie hanging with his younger brother on my futon yesterday

 

Fingers and paws crossed for Reggie! So happy he seems to be making progress already, that seems like an encouraging sign!

 

This is basically what we did too, and it did seem to help after a couple weeks. Good luck and let us know how your sweetie does!

 

Oh Thank you SOO much for your input!!!! And I WILL...Hopefully I will be posting a picture of him in his superman costume for Halloween xx

 

Merlin had pretty severe diabetic neuropathy too. It was so bad it was effecting his front legs as well. He could only walk 2-3 steps before needing to sit down. Our house has saltillo tile, so he was slipping all over the place. We had to put area rugs down so he could get his footing. We used just Zobaline for about six months. It actually took a long time before he completely recovered (about six months). Today you can't even tell that he could hardly walk. Merlin is 19 years old and is currently running and jumping like the younger ones. It really helped getting his numbers under control and fortunately, you already have good numbers so hopefully, it will take much less time to recover.

 

Thank you ALL for your input!!..It is GREATLY appreciated and helpful!!

 

Reggie update.....It has been 12 days since our old guy's back legs seemed to have given out on him. We STILL are not sure if it was an injury or diabetic neuropathy...my gut instinct is that it was mainly diabetic neuropathy...He is up and walking again and using his potty box again instead of potty pads and actually went past me yesterday without a limp... I am SOOOOO grateful for his gradual progress and feel that I have this board mainly to thank!!...I ordered the Zobaline after watching a couple of video feeds that were presented to me and he is also still getting a weekly injection of vitamin B12 (which he will be on for the next 6 weeks)..He is no longer on any pain meds and they are going to back down on his prednisolone this upcoming week at our Internal medicine vet. I AM BEYOND words at watching our 18 + year old boy get back on his feet again!.....He means MUCH more to me and my immediate family than most of our extended family members!! sadly lol...So I will DEFINITELY be posting him in his "Superman" Halloween costume in another week; as he has been dressing up for YEARS!!! again. THANK YOU ALL!!!..Here was last years photo though!!! LOL

 

This photo is adorable and what a great update! I am so happy that you are getting your boy back! This forum is so awesome and has been so helpful to us all! Continued good health to Reggie!

 

How CUTE!! I think it's wonderful that he gets a costume...just like any other member of the family!! (if they'll put up with it anyway...wouldn't want to try it with some cats who wouldn't like it one little bit)

It's great to hear of Reggie's progress too! I really do think it sounds like diabetic neuropathy and the fact that he's getting better slowly but surely just adds to it. As I've said before, the Zobaline takes time but we've seen it work some pretty significant miracles!

Keep going Reggie!! We're all looking forward to seeing you in your new Superman outfit!

 

Glad he's doing better.

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So happy to hear he is doing better!!! Love the pic from last year, lol, can't wait to see this year's!

 

I am glad to hear he is doing better.

 

I filled in the appropriate spaces. I hope that works for you

 

Love his costume from last year. Glad to hear he is up on his feet again.

 

What a precious sweetie!

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!!!....Here is SUPERKITTY!!!

 

Woohoo!

 

That's AWESOME!!!....and adorable too!!!

Go Superkitty!!!! (AKA Reggie)

 

Well "Superman" or "SuperKitty" LOVED his costume and wore is ALL day on Halloween; so amongst all his health struggles he is still ready to celebrate a holiday!! LOVE our old boy!!..Tuckered out Tigger