Help! Cat suddenly has weak hind legs - X-Rays not showing Anything wrong

[Melissalc]

I have a 4 year old Bengal who is also experiencing weak hindquarters . We had noticed that he was kind of clumbsy for a while, but we didn't think much of it and chalked it up to his long slender body. Suddenly one day his back legs became very stiff and he began walking rather like an iguana. This has gotten increasing worse. If you even touch his hindquarters he falls over and has to drag himself up by his front legs when he attempts to jump. We took him to our regular vet who x-rayed him and found some hip displasia which he said shouldn't cause the weakness he was exhibiting. Next it was on to our local veterinary school , UC Davis, where they sent him to the neurological department where he spent the night and had a battery of tests including a complete head to toe MRI, a spinal tap, a blood panel and and exploratory surgery to his inner ear. Basically we make a large donation to UC Davis because they came up with nothing. My vet tried him on a course of steroids and latter pain meds for the hips. Benny is the sweetest best natured cat I have ever seen and this is killing me. It has been about 4 months now and there has been no improvement. I have been reading some of the other symptoms that you have described and have noticed that he did start marking a lot. He has been strictly on a raw diet of chicken and rabbit since he was a kitten and the vet tried some vitamin injections to see if that was lacking. I have not noticed him licking anything but he has developed a voracious appetite in the last week or so and will lay by his bowl and scream for more after I feed him. Since he was a kitten he has always had a thing for chewing leather an has destroyed a few shoes in his time. I don't know if whatever they cure the leather with could have something to do with it. I'm desperate to figure this out and hope someone here has an answer. Thanks for listening.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by Melissalc

He has been strictly on a raw diet of chicken and rabbit since he was a kitten

What's in the raw diet? Is it whole prey model? Ground? With or without supplements? Where do you source your meat from?

Originally Posted by Melissalc

he has developed a voracious appetite in the last week or so and will lay by his bowl and scream for more after I feed him.

I'm imagine he's been tested for diabetes. Has he lost any weight? How are his energy levels?

[Medea]

I have been searching the internet for answers as my FurBee has alot of these same symptoms. We have done all the blood tests etc and come up normal. Two months ago this was a healthy, vital young cat, now he has lost alot of muscle tone, no appetite, just lays around. The vet is stumped.
I've tried everything I can think of. He's been on canned food with small amounts of dry food, now even raw food doesn't interest him. The vet put him on a course of prednisone but so far ( 2 days) there is no change. Things are looking grim for him and I am at my wits end. This is a cat who had a voracious appetite for food and life and to see him weak and lethargic is heartbreaking. I thank you for this forum as a place that I can spout off and get my concerns out in the open, I will keep you informed as to our outcome.

[NWMoomin]

I found this forum after hours of Googling the same symptoms others have discussed. My then-7 mo. old rescue cat, Ponchik, developed weak hindquarters -- first just sort of clumsy, then losing all muscle tone. He'd jump down from a sofa and his hind end would just collapse. He began sleeping more, lost his appetite, and instead of raising his rump when pet, he would seem to "melt" under the slightest touch. He'd had a severe ear mite case leading to infection, so we originally thought it might be neurological damage. (Switched vets during the course of the issue, and turned out he was also allergic to that antibiotic ... new vet was *far* better & cat specialist.) Nothing helped him improve -- not antibiotics, not prednisolone, not anti-inflammatories, nothing. He continued to grow weaker. His hind legs just weren't working.

Our vet ran tests after tests. Nothing showed up. Then I found this thread, read the posts by Ryebread, and I looked more closely at my cat. After some research into traits and characteristics, and looking at pictures, I realized Ponchik was obviously part-Burmese. I went back to my vet with some of this information, but he said that my cat didn't look Burmese (except for his coat), that his potassium and CK serum levels were normal, and that he had no cervical ventroflexion (dropping his head/neck, which is supposedly the classic symptom of hypokalemia). So I kept researching, while my cat kept declining -- and by now, he had a major eye inflammation that wasn't responding to treatment, & it was getting redder and more closed. He also started peeing outside the litter box around the house because he'd wake from sleep & be too weak to get himself to the box in time.

I found another link to an article on vet site that discussed how hypokalemia could occur with or *without* the cervical ventroflexion (http://www.thecatclinic.com.au/category/info-for-vets/). At the end of my rope, I took that to my vet, who said we could try a low dose of potassium as a last ditch effort. (My cat was now 10 mo. old, and she thought he was declining too rapidly and we might have to discuss "other options," i.e., euthanasia.)

It's now been less than two weeks, and like Ryebread's posts, my cat is improving drastically. He gets 1/2 tablet of potassium 2x/day. His back legs are gaining strength fast, and while he's still a touch clumsy, he climbed up into my child's top bunk yesterday, and he's been playing again (chasing a string down the hall). His appetite is back & he's gaining weight. He'd stopped talking, and now won't shut up -- and his voice is stronger (talkiness is also a main Burmese trait). He follows us everywhere and simply seems SO much happier. Our other two cats, who had started ignoring him, are now interacting with him again. His recovery is absolutely amazing. Ryebread talked about the major improvement of her Burmese kitten in 3 and 6 weeks. I feel as though if mine has improved this much in less than 2 weeks, I have real hope that he's going to be "normal" again.

I am so thankful that I pursued this course of treatment, and that I found these resources through Google and kept searching. If not, my cat would probably be dead by now. I don't know if this will help anyone else. But if you suspect your cat is even part Burmese, and he/she shows any weakening, weight loss, etc. (do a search on Ryebread's posts for a great description of symptoms), talk to your vet about potassium supplements -- EVEN if your cat isn't dropping its head/neck, and EVEN if the potassium level, white blood count, CK level are all normal. The bottom line is that a low dose won't hurt, and it's meant the difference between life and death for my kitty. We are so, so happy!

[willow007]

A blood clot traveled and blocked a major artery that affected his hind legs. It's not that uncommon. Happened in a few weeks. It'd painful. Please ask your vet about such blood clots. So sorry but my kitty didn't survive it.

[ggirard]

tell you vet to check for heart disease, it's very hard to diagnose heart disease, I found out the hard way. The only way would be with an ultra sound, my kitty's heard sounded fine when they checked it, even on the x ray it looked fine. Cats can hide heart disease very well. My kitty had the same problem two years ago with her legs. Then last month she got really sick - I posted the story on the forum. We didn't know what it was, they finally put her on meds but she lasted a month. Still grieving as I'm writing this I loved her so much. Then the vet told me that looking back that would've been a sign, but at the time they also had no idea what it was. If you catch it early a cat can live a long live with heart disease, so please get her heart checked out. My kitty was only six and I wish they could've saved her, but they tried everything. Please keep us updated.

[Lycan709]

My cat Lycan (I have a thread posted on here somewhere) has develeoped rear leg weakness and muscle spasms. He's constantly stretching out his back legs like they are bothering him, and the muscle spasms include almost his whole body. Other than that, he seems fine. He is eating and drinking, and playing. He just seems more tired now, and has to take breaks for his legs. The vet did a bunch of tests, including a Neurological exam, and nothing has shown up to be wrong. The Neurologist says that it's probably FIP. But he has nothing to back up that information - it's just a guess based on the fact that he doesn't have anything else wrong with him. He told me the next step would be to do a Spinal Tap which is very dangerous, and life-threatening. I do not want to do this to my cat and risk his life - what if he doesn't have this fatal disease?! I've been looking everywhere online for information, and there are so many possibilities. I'm at a loss. He also likes to lick and eat things that are not edible. I'm going to try and change his food to wet, and maybe change his litter to pine. Does anyone have any further suggestions? Here is a link to the spasms he is having:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr6fJ...eature=g-all-s

[CatWalking]

I was researching online and came across this string over the last few days of doing my own online research... My cat has a lot of the same or similar issues as stated here. He first wasn't walking with his tail upright, then he wanted to be next to me, and was shaking. Rapidly, he stopped walking and didn't want to use his hind legs. He was in obvious pain and let me know. Took him to vet, then emergency vet, etc. X-Rays, blood work, antibiotics, prednisone, pain meds, enema, etc... was performed. I added in more supplements, he eats a fabulous diet...Nobody could find anything wrong. He was in pain constantly, crying whenever he had to move. I had to bring him food and water, he would eat. He would drag himself to the litterbox which I set his petbed next to, when I couldn't lift him to it when I wasn't home.

Then, my primary vet wanted to use a laser. I would try anything at this point, it was awful to hear him cry with pain, and see him like that. As long as he didn't walk on his hind legs, he was okay laying on his side. So, he had a few minutes of laser across his mid to lower spine area. I packed him up and brought him home to his petbed. They were suspecting some kind of trauma or injury to spine area which affected legs... I will try anything!

When I opened the crate, he walked out, walked around (kind of fumbling a little) and seemed bright, happy, meowing with joy and chatty with me. He sat down, then got up went to his litterbox to use it, then walked around me for a few, then went to his bed to lay down. I am blown away! Who knew? I wanted to make sure I got the word out, as I was stumped at what was wrong with him and nothing helped him. He is still uncomfortable, and I have several more appointments for laser. It's obvious he now has some kind of injury which could take weeks and weeks to heal up. The laser I believe from what I saw today will help and assist with moving along his healing.

I want to be sure that I registered so I could post to this forum, to bring awareness that this is one more thing to possibly ask your vet or try! I have HOPE and I am happy!!! We'll see over the coming weeks!

[Bayham12]

Originally Posted by NWMoomin

I found this forum after hours of Googling the same symptoms others have discussed. My then-7 mo. old rescue cat, Ponchik, developed weak hindquarters -- first just sort of clumsy, then losing all muscle tone. He'd jump down from a sofa and his hind end would just collapse. He began sleeping more, lost his appetite, and instead of raising his rump when pet, he would seem to "melt" under the slightest touch. He'd had a severe ear mite case leading to infection, so we originally thought it might be neurological damage. (Switched vets during the course of the issue, and turned out he was also allergic to that antibiotic ... new vet was *far* better & cat specialist.) Nothing helped him improve -- not antibiotics, not prednisolone, not anti-inflammatories, nothing. He continued to grow weaker. His hind legs just weren't working.

Our vet ran tests after tests. Nothing showed up. Then I found this thread, read the posts by Ryebread, and I looked more closely at my cat. After some research into traits and characteristics, and looking at pictures, I realized Ponchik was obviously part-Burmese. I went back to my vet with some of this information, but he said that my cat didn't look Burmese (except for his coat), that his potassium and CK serum levels were normal, and that he had no cervical ventroflexion (dropping his head/neck, which is supposedly the classic symptom of hypokalemia). So I kept researching, while my cat kept declining -- and by now, he had a major eye inflammation that wasn't responding to treatment, & it was getting redder and more closed. He also started peeing outside the litter box around the house because he'd wake from sleep & be too weak to get himself to the box in time.

I found another link to an article on vet site that discussed how hypokalemia could occur with or *without* the cervical ventroflexion (http://www.thecatclinic.com.au/category/info-for-vets/). At the end of my rope, I took that to my vet, who said we could try a low dose of potassium as a last ditch effort. (My cat was now 10 mo. old, and she thought he was declining too rapidly and we might have to discuss "other options," i.e., euthanasia.)

It's now been less than two weeks, and like Ryebread's posts, my cat is improving drastically. He gets 1/2 tablet of potassium 2x/day. His back legs are gaining strength fast, and while he's still a touch clumsy, he climbed up into my child's top bunk yesterday, and he's been playing again (chasing a string down the hall). His appetite is back & he's gaining weight. He'd stopped talking, and now won't shut up -- and his voice is stronger (talkiness is also a main Burmese trait). He follows us everywhere and simply seems SO much happier. Our other two cats, who had started ignoring him, are now interacting with him again. His recovery is absolutely amazing. Ryebread talked about the major improvement of her Burmese kitten in 3 and 6 weeks. I feel as though if mine has improved this much in less than 2 weeks, I have real hope that he's going to be "normal" again.

I am so thankful that I pursued this course of treatment, and that I found these resources through Google and kept searching. If not, my cat would probably be dead by now. I don't know if this will help anyone else. But if you suspect your cat is even part Burmese, and he/she shows any weakening, weight loss, etc. (do a search on Ryebread's posts for a great description of symptoms), talk to your vet about potassium supplements -- EVEN if your cat isn't dropping its head/neck, and EVEN if the potassium level, white blood count, CK level are all normal. The bottom line is that a low dose won't hurt, and it's meant the difference between life and death for my kitty. We are so, so happy!

Having same problem with my cat. He adopted us about 5 mo ago .we do know him for about 2+ years .a very sweet neighborhood kitty. Took him in he needed a home. He looks like Burmese cat and has all the characteristics of one . Well a week ago i noticed a limp in one back leg the next day the other leg and now he is very weak in the back legs. He eats great and does use his box and wants to play but not like he normally does he has to be laying down on his side .he is at the vet now. Has to be sedated cause he will not let anybody touch his back side. I did ok all the normal tests to be done but i think i know what the answer will be. I hope i am wrong. I was up most of the night reading you postcard learned a lot. Printed out the article that rybread shared and i am taking it to the vet wjem i pick up midnight today.because she said she will not give him potassium she said it will kill the cat .she will do the test but if not lol she will not give it to him. It worked for you guys. Now did you get your vet to just agree to it.help i love this little guy and want him healthy and back to normal. By the way this all started after i gave him his 3rd mo treatment of revolution. Never again