Could this be neuropathy?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jane & Boo (GA)

Jane & Boo (GA)

Member Since 2009
I took Boo in as a rescue on New Year's Eve. At the time it wasn't known that she had diabetes. The diabetes diagnosis came about when I took her to vet right after taking possession of her. At the time she was extremely under weight, in need of a dental, and was almost completely hairless on her back end (legs, tail, spine, flanks) from over grooming. I have no way of knowing how long she had been suffering from the diabetes.

She has had her dental (though I think the vet missed a bad tooth), started PZI back in early January, and has been eating a species appropriate raw diet since moving in with me. She is putting on weight, but her diabetes is still not well regulated, and she is still over grooming... though not as bad as it was. My question about neuropathy stems from the fact that when she stands for any length of time, her hind legs tremble. She jumps fairly well, but occasionally there is a failure to launch. She doesn't walk on her hocks... it's only trembling, but it's consistent.

Could this be a mild case of neuropathy? If so, might it explain why she is so obsessed with grooming her hind end? Fleas induced dermatitis has been ruled out. Does neuropathy have a sensation that would make her want to lick it to make it feel better?
 
Jane, I don't know if over grooming is related to neuropathy. Is it possible the Boo might be reacting to the insulin?
 
She was over grooming prior to the diabetes diagnosis and start of insulin, so I'm sure this isn't insulin related. As for potassium, I'm thinking that's not likely. She's very alert, eats extremely well, has no dehydration, doesn't pee buckets like she did before the start of insulin, and her blood work indicated that her kidney values are picture perfect.

I've heard that zobaline is good for neuropathy. I'll give it a try and see if it has any effect on her.
 
Stress and food allergies may both be causes of overgrooming. Did Boo stop overgrooming after a diet change?

I think it's possible to have subclinical neuropathy problems. Saoirse didn't display any obvious signs of neuropathy but just after she started feeling a bit better following commencement of insulin treatment she tried to jump up onto a relatively low windowsill and she didn't make it. (Felt like a fist squeezing my heart to see that. :( ) She also had a pancreatitis flare and had a course of B12 supplementation around that time. Shortly after she started hopping up onto the high arms of my sofa for the first time in goodness knows how long. I think she may have had a slight touch of neuropathy which led to hindquarter weakness.

Here's a video about Tootsie - he was successfully treated for neuropathy with B12 methylcobalamin.





Mogs
.
 
In my experience over grooming /excessive is usually a form of anxiety.... I have seen cats literally lick til they have holes in their skin and you can see the inners of them.
I have also seen it be from pain/arthritis as grooming stimulates receptors that seem to give a feeling of comfort to them. This can also lead to a habit.
In either case I would try to find a cat vet with some experience in this- (I have only seen this in rescues that have went form a "loving " home to the noise and stress of a shelter.
Sometimes a anti anxiety drug may help....sometimes just feeling safe in a home helps. I have seen cats come around when essential oils are diffused in the home (specific oils for calming) and / or flower essences (Blacking farms is awesome)
Sometimes certain music will help as well...it can change the frequency and vibration.
 
jayla-n-Drevon said:
In my experience over grooming /excessive is usually a form of anxiety ...
Click to expand...
That can be the case, Jayla, but food allergies and IBD issues also need to be considered. For example, Saoirse had been overgrooming her tummy for years and the vets she was registered with at the time repeatedly dismissed my concerns about this and put it down to boredom-related stress and then to her age. They were categorically wrong: it was diet-related. As soon as I switched Saoirse to a species-appropriate wet food diet her fur started growing back immediately and she has not had further overgrooming problems - in spite of going through an awful lot of anxiety-provoking situations since. I've also had allergy blood tests run since and there are a number of ingredients in the dry food she was prescribed (long before her diabetes/pancreatitis Dx) which were in the list of food allergens for which she tested positive.


Mogs
.
 
My cat had a lot of weakness and trembling in his back legs: sometimes he would stumble and fall over while walking, and he definitely wasn't up to jumping up onto anything. I was afraid he had diabetic neuropathy, but the vet said his potassium level, while okay, was at the low end of normal. He prescribed a potassium supplement, and I saw an almost immediate improvement in my kitty.

Could the over-grooming possibly be from hyperesthesia? Here is an excerpt from Healhty Pets/Dr. Karen Becker:

"In severe cases of feline hyperesthesia, cats will self-mutilate by biting, licking, chewing and pulling out hair. These poor kitties suffer not only hair loss, but often severe skin lesions from trying too aggressively to seek relief from the uncomfortable sensations they experience."

Here is a link to another site that may have some useful information for you, also:

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/skin/c_ct_feline_hyperesthesia_syndrome

It may well be that none of this applies to your kitty, but I figure knowledge and information are always useful, even if only to rule out certain things! :)
 
Squalliesmom said:
It may well be that none of this applies to your kitty, but I figure knowledge and information are always useful, even if only to rule out certain things! :)
Click to expand...
That's the magic of sites like FDMB where everyone pools their experience. You actually get pointers to potential causes of a problem and treatment avenues to explore instead of the stock answers from the brick walls that some vets can be at times.


Mogs
.
 
Thanks for all of the feedback! During Boo's first 2 weeks with me I changed her diet to home-made raw, started her on insulin, and put a pheromone collar on her to see if it would help the over grooming. 3 weeks later the over grooming had diminished a lot, but wasn't completely resolved. I didn't know if this was because of the diet, the insulin, or the collar. The collar is only good for 30-days, so I let that lapse to see if she would go back to the over grooming again. And she has.... but she has also started this hind leg tremble that didn't exist before. That's why I started wondering if the tremble might be a mild case of neuropathy and if it is, would the sensation of the damaged nerves cause her to want to lick. I'm getting the sense from the feedback I'm getting here that cats with neuropathy don't generally try to manage the condition themselves by way of licking the effected area. So, I have a fresh pheromone collar on her now and will wait to see if she lightens up on the grooming again. If she does, then ding-ding-ding, we have a winner. If she doesn't, then maybe I'll try prozac. I had great success with prozac once before with another kitty who had developed some irrational phobias. I don't think the hyperesthesia fits Boo since none of the symptoms of that disorder are evident outside of the over grooming; and even that doesn't occur in frantic fits.

As for the leg trembles... I'm going to try zobaline and see if that has any effect. For the time being, it's just mild trembling and the occasional failure to launch when jumping up on to the kitchen counter top. If it progresses to something worse (a.k.a. staggering, falling over, walking on hocks, failure to launch to short distances) I'll see what the vet thinks is the issue and the fix. Thanks again!!
 
Hello Critter Mom,
I see that you had good results with Tootsie.. I have a question about our boy Joe. He is 10 when he was diagnosed with diabetes last August. He has neuropathy starting in late last year. We started him on the Zobaline as you did in December. He was doing good but is having a little tougher time lately. When you started Tootsie on Zobaline did you see your cat get a little worse than start to get better. I was just trying to get a time frame on how long it take to see results. I see that at 6 months Tootsie was doing great. I thank you for any help or advice you could offer.
 
@myboyJoey -

Tootsie's not actually my kitty! :) I found the video on YouTube a while back and now when members ask about neuropathy treatment I post the link because I think it's so encouraging to actually see what's possible with the B12 methylcobalamin treatment.

In addition to the answers you get here perhaps you could click through to the YouTube page for the video and ask Tootsie's human for pointers. She has answered a question for another YouTube commenter. Also maybe try doing a forum search for posts containing the words 'neuropathy' and/or 'methylcobalamin' and you should be able to find good contributions from FDMB members who've used the B12 supplement.

I hope your boy feels much better very soon. :bighug:



Mogs
.
 
Last edited:
I have Sparkle on Zobaline for hock walking and it has gotten much better, but he has weakness in his back legs still and my vet also had me start potassium supplements, but his condition got worse, not better and he was laying down all of the time. I then started sub-q lactated ringers to try to balance out the electrolytes better and in 2 days I have seen a huge improvement in his ability and desire to walk. In fact, he was just throwing litter all over the floor (instead of falling over or sitting in it) and when I went to check on him he actually RAN away to the next room. I'm impressed. I have stopped the extra potassium for now since he will get blood tests on Wed. so we can see where we stand.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top