I am currently fostering an 8 year old female cat with diabetes. I am following the vet's instructions to give her 1u of insulin only when her blood glucose is not within normal range... we are working towards getting her into remission and so far she is averaging about 1 shot of insulin every two days.
I've had her almost 3 weeks now and she pretty much sleeps all day long in her safe room. She will wander out during the day for an hour or so and is often quite restless, walking around and sometimes letting out yowls. She has a good appetite and is on a special dietary canned food to control her BG. Her litterbox duties appear normal, mildly constipated but I have been seeing improvement in that area. She has very weak legs, both front and hind. They are shaky when she walks and she often cannot land her jumps very gracefully. She also has no desire to play, I can get her to bat a bit while she's laying down but she loses interest very fast.
Now for my main concern... tonight, she was sleeping on my lap and when I noticed she was ready to jump off, I picked her up and placed her down. Once she had all four legs on the ground, she fell right over onto her side. She tried to get back up and toppled over again and began thrashing and rolling around on the floor for a good few second. When she was finally able to get up on her legs, she wobbled over to her safe room, stumbling against the wall along the way. She then laid back down on her bed.
I tested her blood immediately, it was within normal range so I could right away rule out hypoglycemia. Checked her heart rate, also normal. Mucous membranes were moist and pink. She fell right back asleep purring while I petted her.
I know now that this has happened before. Last week I heard her thrashing about in the bathroom, hitting against the cupboard. When I ran in to check on her, she was laying down normally. I had thought that maybe she tried to jump on the counter, missed and fell. But now I'm sure she had a similar episode.
I emailed the vet who is out of town for the weekend, she is perfectly normal now so I'm not too compelled to take her to an emergency hospital. I guess I am just looking for some insight if anyone has had a similar incident happen to them. What could it be? Is it diabetes related? I don't think it was a seizure because she was not hypoglycemic. I'm concerned and looking for some input until I can take her to the vet next week.
Thanks in advance....
I've had her almost 3 weeks now and she pretty much sleeps all day long in her safe room. She will wander out during the day for an hour or so and is often quite restless, walking around and sometimes letting out yowls. She has a good appetite and is on a special dietary canned food to control her BG. Her litterbox duties appear normal, mildly constipated but I have been seeing improvement in that area. She has very weak legs, both front and hind. They are shaky when she walks and she often cannot land her jumps very gracefully. She also has no desire to play, I can get her to bat a bit while she's laying down but she loses interest very fast.
Now for my main concern... tonight, she was sleeping on my lap and when I noticed she was ready to jump off, I picked her up and placed her down. Once she had all four legs on the ground, she fell right over onto her side. She tried to get back up and toppled over again and began thrashing and rolling around on the floor for a good few second. When she was finally able to get up on her legs, she wobbled over to her safe room, stumbling against the wall along the way. She then laid back down on her bed.
I tested her blood immediately, it was within normal range so I could right away rule out hypoglycemia. Checked her heart rate, also normal. Mucous membranes were moist and pink. She fell right back asleep purring while I petted her.
I know now that this has happened before. Last week I heard her thrashing about in the bathroom, hitting against the cupboard. When I ran in to check on her, she was laying down normally. I had thought that maybe she tried to jump on the counter, missed and fell. But now I'm sure she had a similar episode.
I emailed the vet who is out of town for the weekend, she is perfectly normal now so I'm not too compelled to take her to an emergency hospital. I guess I am just looking for some insight if anyone has had a similar incident happen to them. What could it be? Is it diabetes related? I don't think it was a seizure because she was not hypoglycemic. I'm concerned and looking for some input until I can take her to the vet next week.
Thanks in advance....