Neuropathy

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AbyResq

AbyResq

Member Since 2016
I picked up a new foster cat, Oliver, last Saturday. He was diagnosed with diabetes on 4/25. The original owner's crazy vet put him on a starting Prozinc dose of 3 units 2x/day, no home testing. First night here I tested and at +4 he went down to 26! I restarted him on 1 unit and am gradually increasing him with help from the Prozinc forum.

He's walking on his hocks. I wrote to his owner and asked how long he'd been walking like this and the guy said 2 months, ugh. I already ordered Zobaline which should be here Thursday. I sent his records and my observations to my vet who wants to see him on Saturday. I don't know if my vet is familiar with Zobaline.

Two questions:

1 - If my vet recommends injected B12 over Zobaline are there benefits or drawbacks to that?
2 - Is there hope for any reversal of neuropathy if he's been walking like this for at least 2 months?

Kristen
 
Thank goodness oliver is with you!

I dont have much info for you. I can tell you my cat has absorption issues so was b12 deficient. He is getting shots as well as zobaline (recently).

I've seen a video here that showed amazing recovery of neuropathy reversal., i,m sure another member will know where to find it!
 
Sarah Smith said:
It did the same for me :) I've also read about some folks using the vitacost version of the supplement, it appears to be the same, but a little stronger dose (it is water soluable so the excess is excreted in urine), more capsules for a little less then the Zobaline. I was thinking about ordering this when the Zobaline gets low

http://www.amazon.com/Vitacost-Vitamin-B-12-Methylcobalamin-500/dp/B0046IET7C/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1463534731&sr=8-1&keywords=vitacost b-12
Click to expand...
Isn't rice flour essentially sugar? It's one of the ingredients.
 
I dont know, maybe I linked the wrong one? Hoping someone who uses it will reply and tell us which one and if it works ok. I did a forum search for vitacost and it has been recommended quite a few times.... now I'm worried I may have given you the wrong one :nailbiting:
 
AbyResq said:
I picked up a new foster cat, Oliver, last Saturday. He was diagnosed with diabetes on 4/25. The original owner's crazy vet put him on a starting Prozinc dose of 3 units 2x/day, no home testing. First night here I tested and at +4 he went down to 26! I restarted him on 1 unit and am gradually increasing him with help from the Prozinc forum.

He's walking on his hocks. I wrote to his owner and asked how long he'd been walking like this and the guy said 2 months, ugh. I already ordered Zobaline which should be here Thursday. I sent his records and my observations to my vet who wants to see him on Saturday. I don't know if my vet is familiar with Zobaline.

Two questions:

1 - If my vet recommends injected B12 over Zobaline are there benefits or drawbacks to that?
2 - Is there hope for any reversal of neuropathy if he's been walking like this for at least 2 months?

Kristen
Click to expand...

I believe the injected B-12 at the vet is usually in the form of cyanocobalamin, as opposed to methylcobalamin, which is what's in Zobaline. The methylcobalamin is what I've seen recommended to help with neuropathy, so Zobaline (or an equivalent) would be what you're looking for.

My Squeak had neuropathy and while she wasn't walking on her hocks, she was getting close - she could only walk about five steps before she had to sit down and every step she took, you could see her hocks dropping lower and lower. The worst of it went on for about a month, maybe a little more - she was started on insulin about two weeks into that time period. Prior to that though, she'd been slowly declining for a few months - we thought it was arthritis/aging as she had no other visible symptoms of diabetes. Once we got her blood sugar under control, she slowly started to improve. We're now four months out from starting insulin and aside from some slowdown on the stairs, you'd never know she'd had an issue - she's even back to walking on her toes. This is just our experience of course, but I'd hope that once you start getting Oliver's blood glucose under control and giving the methyl-B12, you'll slowly start to see improvement. I should also note, we did not supplement methyl-B12 with Squeak - her progress is just from getting her regulated/into remission.

AbyResq said:
Isn't rice flour essentially sugar? It's one of the ingredients.
Click to expand...

Sarah Smith said:
I dont know, maybe I linked the wrong one? Hoping someone who uses it will reply and tell us which one and if it works ok. I did a forum search for vitacost and it has been recommended quite a few times.... now I'm worried I may have given you the wrong one :nailbiting:
Click to expand...

It looks like there are a few different methyl-B12 dosages available from Vitacost and they each have different ingredients. I haven't used it myself, but here's a post where another member talks about the methyl-B12 and folic acid they purchased instead of Zobaline.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/where-to-buy-zobaline-in-canada.142504/#post-1474795

Hope that helps! Best of luck with Oliver.
 
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There is definitely hope. Before we started Zobaline, Jenks' neuropathy was so bad that he couldn't walk more than a few steps without having to lie down to rest. He couldn't hold himself up in the litterbox, and going to the bathroom was so exhausting that many times he had to lie down in the box before he could muster the energy just to get out. And he mostly lived on the floor because he could no longer jump up to any of his favorite places.

For Jenks, it took about 6 months of supplementation to reverse the neuropathy. Fast forward to today, and he's a completely renewed cat. The muscle tone in his rear legs returned. He walks on his tip toes. He runs. He scales stairs. He is able to jump pretty much anywhere. He's like his old self again.

After witnessing the transformation first hand, I'm an advocate for starting methyl-B12 as soon as possible. An important caveat is if Oliver has kidney issues, which would necessitate a reduced dose and very careful monitoring (representative post discussing the issue).
 
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