Nancy and Pasha
Member
Pasha (who may be 9-10 yrs old, we don't know) was diagnosed at the end of May and we have not yet been able to get his sugar under control. Now at 4 units of Lantus 2x per day. His last curve, a week ago, ranged from 422 before his morning shot to 300 before his evening shot. He has never been under 300 and mostly in the 400s.
We (and the vet) noticed significant muscle wasting in his back legs 2 years ago, shortly after we adopted him, but he was only limping a little and he could climb stairs well, etc. The wasting never seemed to improve, but his limping did improve.
In the last few weeks his back-leg strength declined dramatically, and just in the past week his haunches have begun falling--his back-leg strength is declining dramatically. The neurologist we saw yesterday says the longtime wasting and recent weakness are not due to a spinal problem--probably some underlying muscle problem (perhaps related to his FIV), but the diabetic neuropathy is now clearly causing the weakness and falling haunches.
What worries me is how FAST this is progressing. It seems like every day is worse.
Our vet is scared to increase his insulin, so yesterday she advised me to switch him to wet kitten food (he's been on Purina DM dry), do another curve in a week, and if his numbers don't improve she wants to switch to a different insulin.
I don't think we will get him to eat more than tiny amounts of wet food (though we'll try), and I'm really worried that he's going to totally lose the ability to walk if we wait another week to see what happens ... and that if we have to start on another insulin, won't we have to start at 1 unit again and wait many more precious weeks before we can hope to get his sugar under control??
So I guess my (desperate) question is, can diabetic cats become totally unable to walk in a matter of weeks? Do we need to do something drastic next week? I know the risks of hypoglycemia, but what about the risk of totally losing the ability to walk??
We (and the vet) noticed significant muscle wasting in his back legs 2 years ago, shortly after we adopted him, but he was only limping a little and he could climb stairs well, etc. The wasting never seemed to improve, but his limping did improve.
In the last few weeks his back-leg strength declined dramatically, and just in the past week his haunches have begun falling--his back-leg strength is declining dramatically. The neurologist we saw yesterday says the longtime wasting and recent weakness are not due to a spinal problem--probably some underlying muscle problem (perhaps related to his FIV), but the diabetic neuropathy is now clearly causing the weakness and falling haunches.
What worries me is how FAST this is progressing. It seems like every day is worse.
Our vet is scared to increase his insulin, so yesterday she advised me to switch him to wet kitten food (he's been on Purina DM dry), do another curve in a week, and if his numbers don't improve she wants to switch to a different insulin.
I don't think we will get him to eat more than tiny amounts of wet food (though we'll try), and I'm really worried that he's going to totally lose the ability to walk if we wait another week to see what happens ... and that if we have to start on another insulin, won't we have to start at 1 unit again and wait many more precious weeks before we can hope to get his sugar under control??
So I guess my (desperate) question is, can diabetic cats become totally unable to walk in a matter of weeks? Do we need to do something drastic next week? I know the risks of hypoglycemia, but what about the risk of totally losing the ability to walk??