tam with Keith and Kass
Member Since 2015
I adopted an approximately 11-year-old cat last Monday because of diabetes and severe neuropathy. With kitten season coming and no rescues that would take her, I could not just let her die. She is walking on her hocks. She apparently has had diabetes for some time, but for a long time was not on insulin. Her owner went into a nursing home and her son was keeping Daisy locked in the pantry. The clinic did a urinalysis, on 4/23/16, that revealed >= 1000 mg/dl of glucose in her urine and she had a UTI. Interestingly, when I brought her home and tested her BG that first night, she was 67, so I did not give her the 1 unit of insulin. They did two curves there where she was on 1 unit.. One on 5/8/16 with a high of 258 and low of 68. The second curve was on 5/15/16 with a high of 200 and low of 83. They are using the same meter that I have and actually gave it to me. I checked it on my three diabetic cats in remission and it was accurate. I've been checking her two to three times a day and the highest she has been was 108 and lowest 42. She has not required any insulin at all. They were giving her .1cc of B12 in an injection form.
I took her to my vet and had a comprehensive panel done on her. Everything came back normal. No glucose in her urine. All electrolytes and CBC levels normal, kidneys normal. The vet also did a folate/cobalamin test which came back high end of normal. She does not believe the cat needs any B12 at all. I had ordered Zobaline to give to her because of the methylcobalamin.
Her teeth are horrendous and she will need many, if not all extracted. She is still walking on her hocks, cannot jump at all and honestly sometimes seems in pain. I have been trying to massage her legs and work with her slowly. The strange thing is when we put her on the bed, her tail moves really quickly back and forth. In most cats I have worked with, that is a sign of aggression, but she does not even seem aware of it. My vet said she is not in any pain and some function should come back. She had not seen a vet since 2007. I have no idea how long she has had the neuropathy, as she was locked in a pantry by herself with a filthy litterbox. Not much human contact. We are working on getting her to trust us.
My question is would you give her the Zobaline even though the levels of cobalamin are at the upper levels. A friend suggested taking her and getting a full body x-ray to see if something else neurologically could be contributing.
I would really appreciate your thoughts on this mater because I have read about diabetic neuropathy, but have put three cats in remission, but never had a change this fast. My vet recommended not trying to get her more active by having her walk around more. She can't jump. Would you get the x-ray?
I took her to my vet and had a comprehensive panel done on her. Everything came back normal. No glucose in her urine. All electrolytes and CBC levels normal, kidneys normal. The vet also did a folate/cobalamin test which came back high end of normal. She does not believe the cat needs any B12 at all. I had ordered Zobaline to give to her because of the methylcobalamin.
Her teeth are horrendous and she will need many, if not all extracted. She is still walking on her hocks, cannot jump at all and honestly sometimes seems in pain. I have been trying to massage her legs and work with her slowly. The strange thing is when we put her on the bed, her tail moves really quickly back and forth. In most cats I have worked with, that is a sign of aggression, but she does not even seem aware of it. My vet said she is not in any pain and some function should come back. She had not seen a vet since 2007. I have no idea how long she has had the neuropathy, as she was locked in a pantry by herself with a filthy litterbox. Not much human contact. We are working on getting her to trust us.
My question is would you give her the Zobaline even though the levels of cobalamin are at the upper levels. A friend suggested taking her and getting a full body x-ray to see if something else neurologically could be contributing.
I would really appreciate your thoughts on this mater because I have read about diabetic neuropathy, but have put three cats in remission, but never had a change this fast. My vet recommended not trying to get her more active by having her walk around more. She can't jump. Would you get the x-ray?
