Our kitty, John Denver, was diagnosed with diabetes in September of 2017. Thanks to all of the help and support of the kind folks here, we were able to get him into remission by November of that year. We recently noticed that he was no longer jumping up onto the bed and seemed to have a bit of weakness in his hind legs. His appetite and litter habits have not changed, but I tested him again (it had admittedly been awhile!) and his BG was up to 339! So, we're back to frequent BG testing and Prozinc injections. Our vet (who was not much help the first time around) suggested 1u of insulin twice a day. I plan on doing a glucose curve so we get some good data on how it affects him. I appreciate all of your kind advice and assistance. And here's hoping he responds like he did back in 2017. We could not have done it without the support of this group, and I am glad that we know we're not alone this time around!
I am so very sorry your post seems to have been lost in space for over a week. The board has been very busy lately and I assure you this was simply an oversight. I'm sorry to hear John Denver has fallen out of remission but you caught it and have him back on insulin so I'm sure he'll be feeling better very soon. The back leg weakness sounds like diabetic neuropathy. There is a supplement called Zobaline many folks use that seems to help although the main thing is to get the BG under control and regulated. Please let us know if there is anything we can help you with.
If JD is exhibiting neuropathy, then his sugars have probably been higher for a while, but have you had bloodwork (maybe urinalysis) done just to see if anything looks odd that might have knocked him out of remission? You _probably_ would have seen other signs if he had an infection, but I'd recommend a vet visit since he'd been in remission for so long before now. Our first diabetic came out of remission the first time because of a UTI. I hope you get him back into remission, it's absolutely possible. Our first diabetic went in and out of remission 4-5 times before his death (unrelated to diabetes). Best of luck to you, Sandi.
We have not had any tests done, but any rear leg weakness he had seems to have abated. It wasn't pronounced--in fact, my wife noticed it and I did not. It was just a little hitch in his step and some trouble jumping up on our bed. I woke up this morning and he was sleeping next to me. His numbers seem okay to me (I'm still a bit of a neophyte), but he's not responding quite like he did the first time. Then again, we're giving him 1u twice a day and a couple of years ago started with 2u twice a day. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I think our vet tries, but he doesn't seem to be well-versed in treating diabetic cats. We did two curves, and I will try to do another on Sunday. Thank you for the replies!
The leg part is good news, because neuropathy can take a loooong time to resolve. Sounds instead like maybe he just landed wrong, or tweaked it and it worked itself out. Getting old sucks whether human or feline! No your numbers aren't terrible. Yes, just keep at it and hopefully they'll come down a little at a time. I haven't used ProZinc/PZI since our first diabetic passed in 2014, so while I will help anyone in a low blood sugar emergency, I'll normally defer dosing recommendations to those who are current on it. I usually don't hang out in the Prozinc forum, but your title caught my eye since we'd been in and out of remission with our first diabetic, and I wanted to assure you that it IS possible to get there again. Good job getting what I assume was a "before bed" test at PMPS+4 or +5 a couple of nights ago. Getting more of those, and getting some mid-cycle tests in the AM cycle whenever you can will certainly be helpful. Even if you work long hours, getting a test right when you walk in the door is good, or on days when you aren't working try to get them around AMPS+5 or +6 if you are around. But certainly I'd start by getting a test in the PM cycle every night whenever you go to bed (or if you have to get up to pee in the middle of the night, grab a test then -- I swear I can do it when I am half-asleep and Whispy is fully asleep now!). I'll try to remember to peek at his curve on Sunday, and hang in there
