Continued Diary of Mr. Mew's Diabetic Neuropathy

On Aug. 18th, Mew crawled to the litter box by himself and attempted to get in. He managed to get his front legs in, but not his hind, and "went" on the floor. But, at least he tried. This was actually great progress, since at this point in time his front legs were worse than his back.

By Aug. 22nd, Mew was very mobile (relatively speaking). He was easily crawling to the water by himself, moving around a lot on the bed, turning over and around by himself and was fighting against his meds. Things were looking very up!

On Aug. 26th we brought him to my vet to get an opinion on his eye. The inner eyelid was still half way over his eye most of the time and no medications were proving useful. Katy felt the problem was due in part to his neuropathy, that somehow it was affecting the nerves in the eye, as there were no other signs of anything wrong and it was not feasible at this point (nor affordable to us) to do a CT scan. Despite all his movements he still needed occasional enemas as he didn't always deficate on his own. However, he was doing better in this respect and the eneams were few and far between. The more he moved around, the more his bowels moved on their own. I kept him on the medications for bowel motion (and by now I had switched him from Lactulose syrup to Mialax for a laxative. The Miralax worked MUCH better).

His BG numbers throughout August were generally quite good. Most of the time they would be in the 200s in the AM and at night I often did not have to give him another shot. It seemed his body was starting to get back to normal. By the very end of the month, he was going to the bathroom on his own (no enemas in awhile) and often near the litter box (I had made a makeshift box for him out of a big cardboard box, with one side cut down so he could crawl in). He eventually learned to "back" to the edge of the litter box and go as close as he could to the litter and newspapers I had there. On September 1st, he was at his very best! He lifted himself on his hind legs and lifted his tail to pee. He crawled from one side of the room to the next and then made it to my bedroom and I found him by my bedside wanting to come up to bed! It seemed he was well on his way to recovery and I was ecstatically happy.

However, only about 4 days later, something happened. In his moving around as he slept, he fell off the bed. Fortunately, I had had the foresight to stack pillows on the floor for just such a possibility. I found him lying on the floor next to the pillows, meowing to come out (the door to the back room was open and is right next to my bed so he could not get past it). That same day I did notice a slight reduction in movement in his left hind leg. I don't recall if the fall came before or after the movement issue, but I seriously doubt he could have gotten too seriously injured falling on pillows. Besides, he kept on crawling and, by the 9th of Sept, he was showing the first signs of lifting his front end a bit as he crawled, instead of staying on his elbows. Hope grew!

Sometime in the first weeks of September, he fell off the bed twice more. ONce was on the pillows again. The second time, however, was as I slept. He attempted to crawl over me; I barely remember feeling him and thought it was my cat Sammy as he tends to like to sleep on or new my legs. It wasn't until I heard a THUD that I realized what had happened. At the same time, I felt wrm moisture on my PJ bottoms and the bed. I turned on the light and Mew was on the floor beside my side of the bed; no pillows there, just a carpet. He had apparently had to pee really bad and started to climb over me to get to the litter box or in hopes I would wake him and take him myself. Why he didn't meow and wake me I do not know (he usually meows loud enough to wake someone in a coma when he needs to pee). He didn't make it, peed on me as he crawled over me, and then rolled over me and onto the floor. He seemed to be fine.

However, on September 16th I noticed he was having a lot of pain near the base of his spine. I had to give him an enema that day, but he seemed much better afterwards. He wasn't crawling as much, but his movement didn't seem too bad. I wasn't sure if the pain was due to the fall several nights before, or if he was regressing somehow. I read about peripheral neuropathy, which can cause pain and bad sensations, even to light touch. I assumed the neuropathy was getting worse.

On the 18th I ordered a new kind of B supplement I read about. I plan to mix this with his B12 (Katy says this is good, as B vitamins are completely safe). We don't know why this has happened or what is causing the regression. On the 19th I made an appointment to have acupuncture done on him (the appt is the 25th, this Thursday). Hot towels and heating pads helped alleviate the pain. By the 20th he was not in pain any longer, but his hind legs and tail can now no longer move. His front end is fine, actually getting slowly better. Though he still cannot lift himself up on only his front end, especially now that his back end stopped working again. Someone mentioned spondylosis of the spine, and so I plan to ask about that on Thursday, though I have my doubts since it seems that would have started showing much earlier than this, and in a different way. It seems to me this would be either an injury from the fall or a regression in the neuropathy.

Today, the 21st, his BG numbers are still good. I gave him a small enema to help him pass a bit of stool he's been having trouble with and it passed with no problems. He is perky, but not purring like he was when he was able to move better. I am starting to fear what will happen. What if the acupuncture doesn't work? What if the paralysis is permanent? Could I have done something to prevent this? He was doing so very well! Why now? Why this?