Rascal, diabetic neuropathy

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

Rascal

Member Since 2015
Hi, I am new to this message board. My cat Rascal is in remission from liver cancer & diabetes! He is still on prednisolone & Glargine. He has neuropathy in his hind end really bad! Almost can't walk. His BG levels are good so we can't figure out why his gate is so weak? He doesn't walk on his hocks either. I came across some info. that suggests prednisolone can sometimes cause neuropathy in a cats gate. Has anyone had this experience?
 
Prednisolone can cause diabetes and long periods of time with a high blood sugar cause but poor regulation of the diabetes can cause neuropathy.
What blood sugar reading do y have?
Most of us here test or cats blood glucose at home using a human meter. We test before each shot and periodically between shots. We record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/
What are you feeding? A low-carb canned is best. No reason for a prescription food. Here is a list of commercial low-carb cannedhttp://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/shortcut-shopping-list-all-8-or-less-updated.117688/

Here is a link to home testing blood sugarshttp://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
 
I've not heard of prednisolone causing neuropathy, but it can cause the diabetes as well as make it harder to control.

A lot of us here have used Zobaline for Cats with great success for it though. It's not a miracle cure, and can take weeks to months, but it's brought a lot of cats back from pretty severe cases but the best thing you can do is get the diabetes under control! Without getting the blood glucose under control, the damage is going to continue

Here's a good video that shows how bad diabetic neuropathy can get and how far back they can come though!
 
Thank you for all of your responses! I test his BG at home & it is 84. I've read where it should be between 60 & 100. Rascal is on a prescription diabetic dry food. I do want to get him on wet low carb diet. I'm going to order the Zobaline. What my vet doesn't understand is Rascal is not walking on his hocks!
 
I don't understand what you mean by this:
Rascal said:
Thank you for all of your responses! I test his BG at home & it is 84. I've read where it should be between 60 & 100. Rascal is on a prescription diabetic dry food. I do want to get him on wet low carb diet. I'm going to order the Zobaline. What my vet doesn't understand is Rascal is not walking on his hocks!
Click to expand...
Rascal said:
Thank you for all of your responses! I test his BG at home & it is 84. I've read where it should be between 60 & 100. Rascal is on a prescription diabetic dry food. I do want to get him on wet low carb diet. I'm going to order the Zobaline. What my vet doesn't understand is Rascal is not walking on his hocks!
Click to expand...
 
Sorry! I meant to highlight .. " vet doesn't understand Rascal is not walking on his hocks.."
What is he walking on? I mean to say that when the neuropathy is present in the hinds, the cat usually has dropped hocks. So are you saying Rascal just has weakness in the hinds? It's neuropathy either way, of course.
I am treating with the ZOBALINE also. 1 OTJ kitty was quite severe and the vet said the condition was "irreversible". I KICK MYSELF for listening to him! This kitty is RUNNING in the garden AND taking stairs up and down happily after 1 month on Zoba. She is still dropped in the hocks, but getting much stronger and confident!!
Of course, this is the same " educated professional" who pooh poohs consistent blood glucose data in a SPREADSHEET. Go figure.
Good luck!
 
One more thing here.
84 is ONE nice low number. Please remember that transitioning to low carb wet can and does cause very significant drops in blood sugar!
You must be testing and hyper aware when giving insulin dose at this time. That 84, should it be the norm let's say, could drop into hypo territory overnight merely by changing to low carb wet.

Be vigilant! It happens quickly.
 
Rascal said:
Thank you for all of your responses! I test his BG at home & it is 84. I've read where it should be between 60 & 100. Rascal is on a prescription diabetic dry food. I do want to get him on wet low carb diet. I'm going to order the Zobaline. What my vet doesn't understand is Rascal is not walking on his hocks!
Click to expand...

I just wanted to second what Tucker&Me said...changing the food from dry to wet low carb can drop BG levels significantly--you want to make sure you're home testing several times a day as you're making the transition. What is his dose of glargine now? And what is his dose and frequency of Prednisolone? It can be a bit of a challege to tightly control BG on prednisolone. Is there a plan to wean him off the prednisolone or does your vet want him on it long term?

I found that Bandit needed around 1.25u-1.5u of insulin when he was on a full dose or prednisolone (10mg 1x day), and his insulin dose needed to be reduced each time we reduced his prednisolone dose, so that's another thing to watch out for in regards to dose reductions, along with the food.
 
Annecdotal reports on FDMB have stated drops of glucose from 100-200 mg/dL, even 300 mg/dL, and reductions in insulin of 1-2 units less when changing to lower carb food.
 
Can a kitty in remission get neuropathy. Max is in
Remission and starting to walk that way. Had him retested and everything is good. Waiting on the rest of blood test.
 
Possibly, along with good glucose control.
Also have the potassium level checked, if it hasn't been. Low potassium may cause difficulty standing and walking, too.
There are other conditions which may cause difficulty standing and walking, including metastases from the liver cancer (spread of cells which escaped being killed by treatment).
 
Ahhh bad news on his test the start of kidney disease. I am so scared and worried. Very beginning stages. They said to keep the diabetes in control. No more ff food. Changed to wellness and evo wet.
Max has no problem walking just standing he stands more on his hocks. He runs around up and down stairs. Just wanted to no if zobline would help.
I just in a state of being so scared I love my boy dearly.
 
Tucker&Me said:
I don't understand what you mean by this:
Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion. What I meant was that Eascal doesn't walk on his hocks like most diabetic neuropathic cats. He walks like what Jeanne said about how Max is walking. With his legs bowed out! Since my last post Rascals back left leg is now dragging behind him & the muscle is next to nothing! It's happening so fast. Rascal is still on chemo (Chlorambucil). I searched the web for chemically induced neuropathy in cats & Neurotoxicity is considered a side effect of Chloeambucil in veterinary patients! I'm going to talk with my vet about this.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top