Mr. Mew and Diabetic Neuropathy

It all started the beginning of June, 2008. My mother's cat, Sebastian (or Mr. Mew as we have always called him), started to show signs of weakness in his hind end. He was walking on his hocks rather than his toes, as is proper for a cat. We brought him to the vet and discovered he was diabetic. He had apparently been diabetic for a long time with hardly any symptoms until he became weak in the back end, which prompted the visit.

Mr. Mew stayed at the vet hospital for several days to get on insulin and regulate his sugar levels (Blood Glucose, or BG). His levels were well over 500. Normal levels should be around the 80-100 mark. For a diabetic cat, BG levels under 250 are reasonable, though the closer to 100 you can keep them the better.

Several days later, we picked Mr. Mew up and brought him home. It wasn't until I took him out of the carrier and put him in the area I had set up for him that I noticed something odd... He couldn't walk at all! I called the vet (not my usual vet as she was on vacation during this time) and was told that I should give him B-12 shots. She set up several injections of cyanocobolamin (one form of B12) for me to give him once a week.

I started doing internet research on Feline Diabetic Neuropathy and discovered that Methylcobolamin (another form of B12) is much better at treating Neuropathy. I could only find it online and the vet had never heard of it. So, basically I was on my own. Being the professional writer of 4 cat care books, researching cat facts came easy... Or should have. Yes, I was able to find quite a bit of information on Methylcobolamin (or Methyl B12 as it's known), but only to a certain extent and to this day, I have yet to find a case of neuropathy as severe as Mr. Mew's.

I ordered the B12 and Mr. Mew started his regime. In the meantime, on July 2, 2008 I got a home BG meter and started testing Mr. Mew's BG levels at home. I was unable to get a good blood drop from his ear, as per instructions so at the time I was using his paw pad. Eventually I learned how to do the test on his ear, but I use his insulin needles to get the blood drop rather than the usual lancets that others use, because the insulin needles are very thin and cause no pain.

On July 4th I did my first "curve." This is where I test him every few hours to get an idea of how well the insulin is working. He was very down, so the vet thought maybe it was due to his numbers going too low instead of high, so she had me do this curve. Here are the numbers as I got them that day:
8:00 AM 455 (very high)
3 units of insulin at 8:30 AM
9:00 AM 515
11:00 AM 402
1:30 PM 393
5:00 PM 207
9:00 PM Over 600 (it is normal in the beginning for numbers to jump around)
12:30 AM 282

I started him on the Methyl B12 July 7th. His BG tested at 176 (very good) at 1:10 AM. A new problem arose however; since he was basically paralyzed, he was not passing stool on his own. I had him on Lactulose Syrup and Cisapride, plus subcutaneous fluids to help his system keep working properly. Yet, still he was not passing stool. I started Mew on 6 mg of Methyl B12 July 8th hoping the higher doses would help him. B vitamins are very soluable by the body and so it's highly unlikely (or impossible) to overdose on B vitamins. His PM BG was 153.

On July 9th, he spent the day in the hospital because he was so uncomfortable from not having passed any stool for so long. He had to have a day of enemas. He came home at 8 PM. His BG numbers were:
9:00 PM 250
10:30 PM 220
12:30 AM 87
2:00 AM 77 (a bit low)
3:00 AM 102

At this time he was on 3 units of Vetsulin. At the time I was feeding him Friskies canned, which I found out later is not the best, but ok.... It took a lot of time and experience and research to learn all the right moves in Mew's case. I had never done any of this before. I tried him on the special diabetic foods the vet prescribed, but he tired of it fast. I eventually discovered that just because a cat food syays it is for dabetic cats does not mean it is good for them. I will continue this blog, discussing each aspect of diabeties and more on Mew's progress each day.

Thank you for reading and keep your markers on this page, as there is a LOT more to come.