Butterscotch's Pawrents
Member Since 2019
Now that Butterscotch's BG numbers have been trending into mostly yellows and blues over the last couple of weeks I guess I expected her to start acting more normal. She initially improved in that she is no longer hiding under the bed and on most days seems to be drinking and peeing a little bit less (but still a lot), and she started grooming herself again. I have several general questions if anyone has any information that could help me set reasonable expectations for her or to identify and problems/solutions that I may have missed.
She lays on the floor almost exclusively (previously liked to be up on the back of the sofa or seat of the chair etc). She still jumps into our bed early in the morning to make sure we are waking up to get her food and jumps into a window perch (however I put a box below each to create a sort of stair so she can do it in two jumps instead of one). I can't tell if she is just weak and thus prefers the floor but she almost seems depressed. She used to be a lap cat and now when I put her on my lap or on the sofa she jumps down after a few minutes. When she walks she looks weak in her back legs, she takes the stairs more slowly and unsteady. She often stumbles or wobbles while walking more than a couple steps (not related to low BG, I have checked many times.) She appears to walk short distances and then lays down as if to take a break before continuing to walk. Her front feet slip when she sits on the hardwood floor. She used to like to be in the same room as me and would follow me everywhere. Now she almost exclusively hangs out in the dining room away from us. Still enjoys belly rubs and all petting.
She doesn't really play anymore. The only thing I can get her to paw at is a peacock feather. She will only paw at this while laying down. She hasn't played with anything while sitting or standing and won't move around to play with anything for at least a couple of months. Sometimes she won't even hardly look at the feather moving, or when she does play with it she only does for a few minutes.
She has clearly lost a lot of muscles in her hind legs as I used to feel her hearty muscles before and now they are all soft.
She barely notices birds outside or won't look at toys we move around in front of her.
Is this just weakness, or neuropathy, or is she sad/depressed? Is it normal for her to be this sleepy/weak/uninterested in things with diabetes even though her numbers have been better for a couple weeks? Should I expect this to improve?
Several months before her diagnosis I noticed her belly was very hard and bloated. She has never been overweight. I can't tell if the bloating has gotten a little better or if her belly just feels smaller because she lost a couple pounds and is now underweight. Her belly dose still feel tight/firm and often makes a lot of loud gurgley noises. Upon diagnosis they did an xray that did show an ileus but vet didn't explain anything about it and basically won't comment on it at all when asked and says if we want to know any more then we have to pay for an expensive ultrasound which we can't really afford. She also has been scooting on the carpet after bowel movements for a couple years. We used to take her in to have her anal glands expressed but that never seemed to decrease the amount of scooting. A year ago or so we tried to see if pumpkin would help but it also didn't seem to decrease the scooting. She doesn't seem to strain to poo and stool looks formed. She poos usually once per day.
Thoughts on the bloating, ileus and scooting? Are these related to the diabetes? Can I do anything to help with these things?
Several times in the last month when she is laying on her back I can feel her bladder. It feels very full/distended. When I notice her bladder full and I pick her up and put her in her litter box she will usually pee a large amount. She doesn't appear to have trouble peeing. Why would she be holding her bladder like that? Or maybe this is normal and I just never noticed it before.
She still drinks a ton of water and lays in her dish while drinking even though her BG numbers have improved. Is this typical or should I be considering something else that might be making her want to drink so much?
About a year ago maybe, she started making snoring sounds once in a while. Over the last few months it has become increasingly worse. The sounds occur during inspiration and sound like grunty/snorty/snoring/stuffy labored breathing. It sounds like it is mostly coming from her nose/throat area but if I have my hand on her back I can feel the vibration of air in her ribcage like she's working really hard to move air through her lungs. I think maybe it is stridor? It happens only while she is laying down and can be while awake or asleep. It never happens when she is walking or sitting. Sometimes if I pet her she will change her position and the sounds subside or decrease. The sounds have gotten worse to the point that they scare me sometimes and I get her to move around so that a new position might make them stop, which sometimes does work. She never makes the noises at the vet and when they listen to her lungs they always say she is fine. On xray at her diabetes diagnosis the vet said her upper airways looked constricted like that of a much older cat. Could this be related to the diabetes too, or something else?
I think I'm mostly concerned about her weakness and lack of energy or interest in anything. It makes me questions if we are doing the right thing by keeping going with the insulin. Is she depressed, in pain, suffering? She literally just lays on her side sleeping or staring into space all day and that just doesn't seem like quality of life.
Sorry for all the rambling. Hoping someone has had experience with these problems/observations and can shed some light on what might be going on or reassure me that its all typical diabetes stuff that really does take forever to improve.
She lays on the floor almost exclusively (previously liked to be up on the back of the sofa or seat of the chair etc). She still jumps into our bed early in the morning to make sure we are waking up to get her food and jumps into a window perch (however I put a box below each to create a sort of stair so she can do it in two jumps instead of one). I can't tell if she is just weak and thus prefers the floor but she almost seems depressed. She used to be a lap cat and now when I put her on my lap or on the sofa she jumps down after a few minutes. When she walks she looks weak in her back legs, she takes the stairs more slowly and unsteady. She often stumbles or wobbles while walking more than a couple steps (not related to low BG, I have checked many times.) She appears to walk short distances and then lays down as if to take a break before continuing to walk. Her front feet slip when she sits on the hardwood floor. She used to like to be in the same room as me and would follow me everywhere. Now she almost exclusively hangs out in the dining room away from us. Still enjoys belly rubs and all petting.
She doesn't really play anymore. The only thing I can get her to paw at is a peacock feather. She will only paw at this while laying down. She hasn't played with anything while sitting or standing and won't move around to play with anything for at least a couple of months. Sometimes she won't even hardly look at the feather moving, or when she does play with it she only does for a few minutes.
She has clearly lost a lot of muscles in her hind legs as I used to feel her hearty muscles before and now they are all soft.
She barely notices birds outside or won't look at toys we move around in front of her.
Is this just weakness, or neuropathy, or is she sad/depressed? Is it normal for her to be this sleepy/weak/uninterested in things with diabetes even though her numbers have been better for a couple weeks? Should I expect this to improve?
Several months before her diagnosis I noticed her belly was very hard and bloated. She has never been overweight. I can't tell if the bloating has gotten a little better or if her belly just feels smaller because she lost a couple pounds and is now underweight. Her belly dose still feel tight/firm and often makes a lot of loud gurgley noises. Upon diagnosis they did an xray that did show an ileus but vet didn't explain anything about it and basically won't comment on it at all when asked and says if we want to know any more then we have to pay for an expensive ultrasound which we can't really afford. She also has been scooting on the carpet after bowel movements for a couple years. We used to take her in to have her anal glands expressed but that never seemed to decrease the amount of scooting. A year ago or so we tried to see if pumpkin would help but it also didn't seem to decrease the scooting. She doesn't seem to strain to poo and stool looks formed. She poos usually once per day.
Thoughts on the bloating, ileus and scooting? Are these related to the diabetes? Can I do anything to help with these things?
Several times in the last month when she is laying on her back I can feel her bladder. It feels very full/distended. When I notice her bladder full and I pick her up and put her in her litter box she will usually pee a large amount. She doesn't appear to have trouble peeing. Why would she be holding her bladder like that? Or maybe this is normal and I just never noticed it before.
She still drinks a ton of water and lays in her dish while drinking even though her BG numbers have improved. Is this typical or should I be considering something else that might be making her want to drink so much?
About a year ago maybe, she started making snoring sounds once in a while. Over the last few months it has become increasingly worse. The sounds occur during inspiration and sound like grunty/snorty/snoring/stuffy labored breathing. It sounds like it is mostly coming from her nose/throat area but if I have my hand on her back I can feel the vibration of air in her ribcage like she's working really hard to move air through her lungs. I think maybe it is stridor? It happens only while she is laying down and can be while awake or asleep. It never happens when she is walking or sitting. Sometimes if I pet her she will change her position and the sounds subside or decrease. The sounds have gotten worse to the point that they scare me sometimes and I get her to move around so that a new position might make them stop, which sometimes does work. She never makes the noises at the vet and when they listen to her lungs they always say she is fine. On xray at her diabetes diagnosis the vet said her upper airways looked constricted like that of a much older cat. Could this be related to the diabetes too, or something else?
I think I'm mostly concerned about her weakness and lack of energy or interest in anything. It makes me questions if we are doing the right thing by keeping going with the insulin. Is she depressed, in pain, suffering? She literally just lays on her side sleeping or staring into space all day and that just doesn't seem like quality of life.
Sorry for all the rambling. Hoping someone has had experience with these problems/observations and can shed some light on what might be going on or reassure me that its all typical diabetes stuff that really does take forever to improve.
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