Cat Illness - Diabetic Feline Neuropathy

This condition although rare is a complication of feline diabetes and is the result of nerve damage caused by prolonged high blood glucose levels. This results in a chronic degeneration in nerve tissue in the hindquarters, leading to weakness, wastage of muscle tissue and a distinctive gait, and its diagnosis is confirmed by nerve biopsy, and routine blood and urine tests.

One of the problems is of course that although humans can report signs and symptoms of neuropathy, cats are reliant upon humans for detection and treatment of their ailments, and the first you will know that a cat has developed neuropathy is that he will not be as agile as he usually is. He can't let you know that he has tingling or numbness, or even pain, but you will notice that he isn't so inclined to jump up on the chair or the garden fence.

You'll also notice the curious gait particular to feline diabetic neuropathy, in that rather than walking on tiptoe as all cats do he will be using the whole of the length of the lower two joints of the back legs in a crouching or a half-sitting position. When he does try and walk any distance you may notice that his back legs slide away from him and he won't be able to walk for any distance.

In more advanced cases the neuropathy can extend to include the front legs, and treatment may take longer to have any effect or may only result in a partial recovery.

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The condition usually resolves with the introduction or adjustment of insulin therapy, as recovery is reliant upon insulin therapy being prescribed to treat the underlying diabetes, and it is thought by some that a form of vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) is useful in the repair and treatment of nerve damage.

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