Cat Losing Use Of Back Legs

Hello guys.

My 16 year old girl Stitch developed a sudden weakness in her back legs about a week ago. This seems to be progressively getting worse as the week has gone on, though that said, sometimes she seems absolutely fine. We just let her in the front door, she couldn’t even climb up the small step into the house, but then went out back and jumped up a 6 foot fence with no trouble at all!

There’s been no trauma we’re aware of. She’s been to the vets and had a good thorough check over, they can’t find anything wrong. She’s had some bloods done, and other than a slightly elevated WBC (she has a tooth infection so that accounts for that) her bloods are fine. The vet even said they were remarkably good for a cat her age! Even the vet herself is stumped!!

She’s been displaying some odd behaviour over the last few months, all of which we’ve shared with the vet. Licking rust off our fire pit (as I say, bloods are fine!), pawing food out of her bowl, getting scared of it and running away, then going back and pushing it to the other side of the room before eating it, and then going back and doing the same thing again and again until it’s all gone.... She’s stopped doing this now and has been eating normally.

Other than these behaviours up until this current issue there have been no other issues. No appetite loss, no weight loss, nothing.

Is it possible this is just old age? My thought is potentially just some dementia or something, but in my (human) experience, this wouldn’t account for the sudden decline in her mobility. I considered a stroke, but again it doesn’t fit? Surely the weakness would be one sided?

We’re just stumped! Wondering if anyone out there has experienced anything similar with their fur baby?

Thanks!

Vicky

Im glad you had her a vet check. Just wish they could tell you what the issue is. Getting old sucks sometimes, for cats as well as humans. The body just doesn't work like it did when young.

I would keep a good watch on her, and if the problems continue take her back in.

Have you tried adding some new foods to her diet? It would be a long shot, but maybe the food she is eating is short on some nutrients she needs, or has too much of something? Maybe pick up a few cans of some different brands and see if you can find some other foods to add to her diet?

Thanks for your response. We have tried varying her foods before but she is a fussy eater so somewhat limited... We had just switched to ‘Senior’ food (after the problems/symptoms started) so we’ll see if that helps, she seems to be enjoying it.

We’ve been back to the Vet this morning. Now we know her renal function is fine, he’s started her on a course of steroids. We’ve got to go back in 10 days to discuss a plan. If the pills are working then we’re going to look at longer term dosing. If not, then we might have to consider if it’s kinder to her to let her go.

Either way, at least we’re trying something.

What exactly are the steroids being administered for?

The back leg weakness could be related to some kind of issue with her spine - have you had x-rays done? If not, you might want to do so, just to see if anything shows up that would shed some light on the problem.

The rest of the behavior could be related to dementia - or somehow tied to whatever is going on with her back legs.