Corey & Kitty
Member Since 2022
So it's often difficult for me to pick up on certain symptoms because I see her every day, but the other day my mom was in my house and commented that Kitty seems to have a funny looking gait, almost like she sways a little bit when she walks.
I don't think she walks completely flat-footed, but it does seem like there is something going on with her back legs. I often see her when she plops over on her side on the carpet she does this really big/exaggerated stretching out of her back legs/paws/toes spread out. On March 7th when she was diagnosed with FD, the vet let her walk around on the floor in the office and made a comment that he didn't like how she was walking low on her back legs, but I kind of attributed that to her being scared in the office because she was crouching low to the ground and keeping her head down as she was checking out the new environment. For about the past year, I've noticed sometimes when she walks I can hear a clicking sound (which I noticed became less frequent after we started insulin treatment, but it does still occur), I don't know exactly where it's coming from but if I had to guess it would be her hips. I know cats tend to hide any discomfort, but she doesn't really seem bothered by anything. She still jumps onto the couches, she does go up and down stairs but not as frequently as she used to, and she has difficulty jumping onto higher surfaces like the bed, but she can do it if she really tries. She is nowhere near as agile as her brother who is only 1 year younger than her. She no longer gets on window sills, the back of the couch, or any other narrow areas that she could potentially fall off of.
So, I know muscle wasting occurs with FD, so I'm wondering how long does it take for those things to heal after being regulated? She was diagnosed with FD over 3 months ago, and she started becoming pretty well regulated around the beginning of May, so about a month and a half ago. Like I stated previously, it has improved since she started being treated with insulin. Do you think this is something that will continue to improve with more time? Are there treatments that I can try that are safe for diabetic cats? Or is this something that I should let the vet look into? I don't know if the vet does x-rays in this case or what they do but I'd like to avoid a big vet bill if all they are going to do is tell me it's her joints and try to sell me an overpriced medication if I can handle it on my own without them.
I don't think she walks completely flat-footed, but it does seem like there is something going on with her back legs. I often see her when she plops over on her side on the carpet she does this really big/exaggerated stretching out of her back legs/paws/toes spread out. On March 7th when she was diagnosed with FD, the vet let her walk around on the floor in the office and made a comment that he didn't like how she was walking low on her back legs, but I kind of attributed that to her being scared in the office because she was crouching low to the ground and keeping her head down as she was checking out the new environment. For about the past year, I've noticed sometimes when she walks I can hear a clicking sound (which I noticed became less frequent after we started insulin treatment, but it does still occur), I don't know exactly where it's coming from but if I had to guess it would be her hips. I know cats tend to hide any discomfort, but she doesn't really seem bothered by anything. She still jumps onto the couches, she does go up and down stairs but not as frequently as she used to, and she has difficulty jumping onto higher surfaces like the bed, but she can do it if she really tries. She is nowhere near as agile as her brother who is only 1 year younger than her. She no longer gets on window sills, the back of the couch, or any other narrow areas that she could potentially fall off of.
So, I know muscle wasting occurs with FD, so I'm wondering how long does it take for those things to heal after being regulated? She was diagnosed with FD over 3 months ago, and she started becoming pretty well regulated around the beginning of May, so about a month and a half ago. Like I stated previously, it has improved since she started being treated with insulin. Do you think this is something that will continue to improve with more time? Are there treatments that I can try that are safe for diabetic cats? Or is this something that I should let the vet look into? I don't know if the vet does x-rays in this case or what they do but I'd like to avoid a big vet bill if all they are going to do is tell me it's her joints and try to sell me an overpriced medication if I can handle it on my own without them.
