? Missy 7/31/2023: AMPS 89 / 83@ +3 / 87@ +6.25 SUDDEN BACK LEGS WEAKNESS, IS THIS AN EMERGENCY?

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

Yesterday:: amps 105 / 100@ +3 / 114@ +6 / 124@ +9 / PMPS 121 / 84@ +3 / 86@ +6

Missy seems to experiencing a fast decline in the last couple of days, her back legs suddenly are giving up. I know she has arthritis and I have been giving Gabapentin every day lately (among other supplements) but in the last 2 days she just lays down 24/7 and only get up to go to the litter box. For the very first time, last night she managed too poop on the bed while laying down (maybe she didn't make it to the box in time) and this morning I cought her peeing on the litter box while sitting on it like she can't stand up....
Keeping a close eye on her so hopefully I can catch some urine and test for ketones, although what are chances with fairly low/ok numbers?!
She still eat "ok" (sometimes by herself and some through the syring-as normal) but this sudden weakness on her back legs is not right.
P.S.: have been giving her B12 Methylcobalamin lately.
Going to call contact the IM and hopefully get to talk to the doctor soon.
What could possibly be the cause of this? What shoud I do? NEED SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE!
@Wendy&Neko , @Suzanne & Darcy , @Bron and Sheba (GA) , @tiffmaxee

 

[Wendy&Neko]

You are doing what you need to, which is to contact the vet and get her in. If you can't get her into an IM vet right away, get her into the regular vet. I can think of many causes, but the vet should be able to diagnose it.

If you can, try to get a video of her "walking" before you see the vet. Cats don't always perform at the vet.

 

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

You are doing what you need to, which is to contact the vet and get her in. If you can't get her into an IM vet right away, get her into the regular vet. I can think of many causes, but the vet should be able to diagnose it.

If you can, try to get a video of her "walking" before you see the vet. Cats don't always perform at the vet.

tnx getting ready to go to er . my regular im is not there today but another im doctor will see Missy

 

[Wendy&Neko]

That's good news. Hope it's something simple. Keep us posted.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Like @Wendy&Neko mentioned – there are many things it could be. I suggest blood work. Rover showed similar signs when he was anemic.

 

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

Like @Wendy&Neko mentioned – there are many things it could be. I suggest blood work. Rover showed similar signs when he was anemic.

just quickly talked to the er Dr and said Missy’s not anemic. Looks more like her arthritis may have gotten to a point where she just cannot walk comfortably anymore. I asked for an injection of Buprenorphine for her pain and to see if that’s really the cause of her issues.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Did they do blood work? Low potassium can also cause leg wobbles. What else does she normally get for arthritis?

 

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

Did they do blood work? Low potassium can also cause leg wobbles. What else does she normally get for arthritis?

just quickly talk to the Dr and little blood work they run no anemia but Crea is up to 1.9 from 1.5 back in July 7. I request a shot of Buprenorphine for now to help her with pain. Over here vets don’t give /prescribe Buprenorphine at all, it’s hard to get and you have to bag them…not sure if is a state restriction.
Anyway, will talk to my regular IM hopefully soon. My question for you: we’ll be at least 1 hour late for insulin injection tonight by the time I get home and feed: can I still give her the shot? How much? @Wendy&Neko

 

[Wendy&Neko]

You can still give the shot if 1 hour late. Same dose. A delay acts a bit like a reduction. Tomorrow you can move the preshot time back towards your normal shot time by 1/2 hour once per day, or 15 minutes a cycle. You'll be back on schedule in a couple days.

 

[JL and Chip]

fast decline in the last couple of days, her back legs suddenly are giving up. I know she has arthritis and I have been giving Gabapentin every day lately

Did you start giving the gabapentin daily only recently? Was it before or after her legs started to fail? What’s the dosage?

Gabapentin can have a sedating effect. It’s also metabolized by the kidneys so in cats with kidney impairment, it’s my understanding that there’s a possibility of it “building up” in their system and causing adverse side effects (weakness, incoordination, diarrhea, etc).

Ditto Wendy’s comment about checking potassium levels.

 

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

You can still give the shot if 1 hour late. Same dose. A delay acts a bit like a reduction. Tomorrow you can move the preshot time back towards your normal shot time by 1/2 hour once per day, or 15 minutes a cycle. You'll be back on schedule in a couple days.

Tnx...I did give her the shot about 40 minutes later then normal and will go back to normal time in a day or so.

I'm attaching the results from the Chem8 Blood Gas (that's how they called it); Creatinine increased to 1.9 and so the BUN/UREA to 73...
Although Missy's BGs did increased a bit on the last few days but still not to explain the crazy thirst she has, I'm very concern about her kidneys now.
This ER Dr. didn't "impress" me much, I had to ask and suggest for possible solutions and how to give Missy some relief by giving her some pain meds a bit better then Gaba....twice she started talking about "quality of life" and possible "end of life" as a solution in the near future plus she ended up adding that as well on the discharge papers... I found that pretty unecessarly insensitive and useless. Missy will let me know when it's time, 'till then I will not stop trying to make her feel confortable as much as I can.
Our IM will be back nid week and will try to have a talk to her . What could I possibly ask/discuss with her besides pain management for Missy?
How bad are those numbers?

Did you start giving the gabapentin daily only recently? Was it before or after her legs started to fail? What’s the dosage?

Gabapentin can have a sedating effect. It’s also metabolized by the kidneys so in cats with kidney impairment, it’s my understanding that there’s a possibility of it “building up” in their system and causing adverse side effects (weakness, incoordination, diarrhea, etc).

Ditto Wendy’s comment about checking potassium levels.

I started giving Gaba only for vet's visits, then IM doctor told me it's good for pain management and I began to give her about 25-30 Mg every other day a few weeks ago and, since she started looking more in pain with her legs I gave to her every day (for the last 4-5 days).
I asked the ER doctor about the safety of Gaba for kidney and diabetes but she said it's ok with both...
Thanks for letting me know, I'll do some research too. For once I wanted to trust and go with what the doctors said ...maybe I was wrong, again.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Kidney numbers can be high if she's dehydrated. If she's drinking a lot, I would wonder why. The numbers that I could see (hard to do), seemed OK. That is, assuming the lowest value and highest value are the normal ranges. Labs can vary for their normal range, so it's good to know what we are comparing against.

 

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

Did you start giving the gabapentin daily only recently? Was it before or after her legs started to fail? What’s the dosage?

Gabapentin can have a sedating effect. It’s also metabolized by the kidneys so in cats with kidney impairment, it’s my understanding that there’s a possibility of it “building up” in their system and causing adverse side effects (weakness, incoordination, diarrhea, etc).

Ditto Wendy’s comment about checking potassium levels.

UPDATE!
Finally, after almost a week, Missy slowly came back to almost normal....really thought she was giving up and I was going to loose her.
The Buprenorphine shot stayed in her system quite a bit longer but seemed to helped her with whatever she went through, I wonder if she had a panc flare up or just bad arthritis? Or both? She wasn't vomiting but she looked in lot pain.
Anyway, I talked to the IM doctor that has been taking care of Missy for awhyle and she said Gabapentin is very safe and is not processed through the liver?! Well, I do not trust that and don't think I want to give Gaba to Missy for pain management; instead I double the CBD oil intake (about 7 drops twice at day) and for now she seems to be doing better.
Although I was only giving her around 30Mg gaba per day, is it possible it may have cause some toxicity on her system?

 

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

Kidney numbers can be high if she's dehydrated. If she's drinking a lot, I would wonder why. The numbers that I could see (hard to do), seemed OK. That is, assuming the lowest value and highest value are the normal ranges. Labs can vary for their normal range, so it's good to know what we are comparing against.

I just add an update on Missy, it has been a worrisome week but she seems a lot better now.
She was drinking a lot in those days, now she's back to her normal but still not sure what happened that made her feel so bad.

 

[JL and Chip]

I talked to the IM doctor that has been taking care of Missy for awhyle and she said Gabapentin is very safe and is not processed through the liver?!

I believe gabapentin is metabolized through the kidneys (not liver) … however being processed by the kidneys is exactly why it’s important to be mindful when using it in cats with kidney insufficiency/disease. Kidneys that aren’t functioning normally can potentially have a harder time clearing the drug, causing it to build up to unhealthy levels in the system.

Gaba seems to be popular with vets these days and it seems most cats tolerate it well, given appropriate dosing. It was just something that crossed my mind when you were describing the symptoms and the seemingly rapid onset after increasing the gaba frequency. I’m glad things are improving; hope the positive trend continues.

 

[MISSY + Simone&MICIO (GA)]

I believe gabapentin is metabolized through the kidneys (not liver) … however being processed by the kidneys is exactly why it’s important to be mindful when using it in cats with kidney insufficiency/disease. Kidneys that aren’t functioning normally can potentially have a harder time clearing the drug, causing it to build up to unhealthy levels in the system.

Gaba seems to be popular with vets these days and it seems most cats tolerate it well, given appropriate dosing. It was just something that crossed my mind when you were describing the symptoms and the seemingly rapid onset after increasing the gaba frequency. I’m glad things are improving; hope the positive trend continues.

Sorry, I meant to say kidneys… I also read liver on CKD’s groups and there’s also a lot of controversy as well, still thank you for bringing that to my attention. I don’t know if it is because of the state I’m in (Indiana) or what but vets don’t or maybe cannot prescribe Buprenorphine. My IM said that even Gaba may soon become controlled as well