Repost from Intro-Young cat -? Neuropathy with BG156

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

I am reposting this thread from the Intro board for Suzallp.

"My one-year-old kitten Avalanche has been diagnosed pre-diabetic yesterday. His glucose level was 156. He's walking on his hocks which was very alarming to me and last night his legs were actually Crossing when he walked. The vet said that we can keep his diabetes under control with diet and she okay what I feed him which is Organix dry and organix wet... She changed the amounts to 1/4 cup dry 1/4 can wet twice a day. She said she thinks we can get this under control and he won't have any problem with it but he has to be isolated from the other cat until he can walk better. She gave him a prednisone shot. He doesn't seem to be any pain. He has to lose about 2 or 3 lb. I have him isolated in a very large dog kennel with his water,his litter pan, food a nice comfy blanket. But I'm worried sick about it. Has anyone else seen this in a pre diabetic cat? I actually doubted her diagnosis until I looked it up and read about the walking on the hocks which is a very alarming thing to see in your cat. He used to be a jumper in the leaper and I thought it was a neurological problem maybe he had fallen got hurt. But doesn't seem to be and from what I've read walking on the hocks as a sure sign but is that true about pre-diabetes?"

 

[Suzallp]

Thank you for reposting for me. I really appreciate it.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

There are previous responses to Suzallp's questions on this thread.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...sed-confused-overwhelmed.181467/#post-2012447

If you have copies of the lab work done at the vet, you can post them here as we have some folks who are very good at interpreting the results. Hopefully she checked Avalanche's potassium as low potassium can cause muscle weakness and a fructosamine test to see if Avalanche's BG has been running in the upper range of normal for the past 2 or 3 weeks.

As I said in the other post, I seriously doubt the diagnosis based on one BG reading taken in the vet's office and wonder if there isn't something else causing Avalanche's ambulation problems. If by chance the diagnosis is correct, then the food you are feeding Avalanche is not appropriate. The carbs in the Organix dry food is approximately 30% which is far too high for a diabetic cat. I didn't check the canned food so it may or may not be appropriate. Diabetic cats should be on a diet of less than 10% carbs so if I were you I would immediately ditch the dry food and if you need other food options, we have a FOOD LIST from which you can choose any varieties with carbs of 10% or less.

I really have to question your vet's knowledge of feline diabetes based on her approval of the Organix dry food and giving Avalanche a shot of prednisone if she suspects he is in danger of developing diabetes is very questionable behaviour since prednisone is known to be a causative factor for feline diabetes. What was the prednisone supposed to be treating?

I would VERY strongly recommend you get a second opinion because not only do I question the diagnosis but if the diagnosis is correct, then you need a vet who has some knowledge about how to treat it and your vet's knowledge seems to be severely lacking.

Last but not least, I can understand isolating Avalanche perhaps when you are not home to monitor the two cats interacting but Avalanche needs exercise to prevent any further deterioration of his muscles so I hope he is not being isolated all the time.

 

[Suzallp]

Thank you so much for your reply. We had a repeat visit to the vet today because Avalanche seem to be worse last night and was actually Crossing his legs when he was trying to walk so we went in to see her today. We talked a lot about Ataxia which is the loss of muscle function in the back legs and she said it's attributed to three different things.1 is sensory 2 is vestibular 3 is cerebellar.
We talked at length about it being sensory... She said that he has deep pain feeling in his back legs she checked the spinal column with forceps and his paws with forceps he doesn't appear to be in any pain at all and and she thinks that it's an injury to his spine that has occurred from probably playing with our other kitten because they do rough-and-tumble all the time. She doesn't feel that it's vestibular or cerebellar.
She said she treated him with prednisone to relieve the inflammation in his spinal column and that he needs time to heal so he needs to be isolated for two or three weeks from the other kitten to be protected and to rest. She told me that she thinks his pre diabetes is secondary to his injury to his spine or his back. She checked him for fractures broken limbs everything else and she said short of x-rays she would not know for sure but she didn't want to do x-rays right now because it was costly and possibly a waste of money.
She said I need to watch his weight control his diet and keep him quiet and within 2 to 3 weeks we should see some improvement from the prednisone. So what it really worked out to be and I didn't understand this at the time is that she was treating him for injury not for the diabetes.
If we don't see Improvement in 2 or 3 weeks at the most then we have to look other options but for right now she thinks watching his diet and keeping him quiet is enough. So I feel very reassured and I think I may have jumped the gun because all I heard was pre diabetes.
I appreciate everyone's care and concern and I have to say this is an awesome community and I'm so glad that I came across it. We'll see what happens with his diabetes if indeed he has it.
As far as Organics goes, the dry food that I have for him is low in carbs but she did say that I probably should take him off the dry food and feed him only wet not only because of the pure protein but because of the water in the wet food.
I took my daughter with me today to the appointment and we recorded the conversation that we had and I kind of think it was my fault I misinterpreted what she was saying to me yesterday although I did leave with a lot of questions yesterday but I feel like she cleared them all up today so we'll see.
I've been absolutely sick over this... This is a cat that We rescued from Near Death that we just brought back to life he had a very small chance of surviving when we found him and he's been pampered and petted since and to think that now at a year old he could die from something like diabetes or anything at all! It's just heartbreaking for me. So I've been very distraught. I'm really glad I reached out to you guys... You've been great and I'll keep you informed what's going on. I appreciate all of your feedback I really really do and I hope that all of your pets continue to be blessed with the wonderful loving pet parents that you are.

 

[Suzallp]

Our vet also said to massage his spinal column to massage his muscles his hips his legs, to stretch his legs out and move them in and out a lot and that we could do hot cold therapy on him. His potassium and electrolyte levels were totally normal. The only thing was he was a little dehydrated and his glucose was high at 1:56. And she agreed that when cats go to the vet they can sometimes get stressed and their points on their glucose can go way up and she acknowledged that. I wouldn't have known anything about those things had I not been here at this website so thank you.

 

[JanetNJ]

Our vet also said to massage his spinal column to massage his muscles his hips his legs, to stretch his legs out and move them in and out a lot and that we could do hot cold therapy on him. His potassium and electrolyte levels were totally normal. The only thing was he was a little dehydrated and his glucose was high at 1:56. And she agreed that when cats go to the vet they can sometimes get stressed and their points on their glucose can go way up and she acknowledged that. I wouldn't have known anything about those things had I not been here at this website so thank you.

Add vitamin b 12 methylcobalamin supplements to the food. This will help his legs. No more dry, and add a tablespoon or so of extra water to the food.

Zobaline™ (for Diabetic Cats) 3 mg x 60 tabs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008G3LI2M/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20

 

[Marvin's Mom - Nat]

And she agreed that when cats go to the vet they can sometimes get stressed and their points on their glucose can go way up and she acknowledged that. I wouldn't have known anything about those things had I not been here at this website so thank you.

Pain will also cause stress and higher numbers, one thing you could do if you want is to test his BG at home yourself, if you are in the US the walmart relion blood glucose meter is the most economical. It's just a suggestion. Mind you like most folks have mentioned, I think the higher than expected BG of was stress, if it is pre-diabetes, changing his food to low carb maybe all you need as 156 is still in the normal range just on the high end.

My cat has severe neuropathy, it takes a while to develop, so don't think that is the issue. B12 methylcobalamin should help whether it is neuropathy or even with the possible injury, as it helps heal nerves.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

I am glad we could help you out and if nothing else, give you some questions to ask the vet to clarify. It's so stressful when our furkids are not well that it's sometimes hard to take in what the vet is saying. This board is mainly for diabetes but we eat, live breathe all things cat and we adopt all the fur babies and their pet parents that visit so please do let us know how Avalanche is doing. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Avalanche's full recovery and hope you only visit in the future because you want to rather than because you have need of the diabetic knowledge here.