Diabetic cat falling over and dizzy

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....

Peripheral neuropathy? How long was she diabetic before being diagnosed?

Thanks for your response. I've been looking up information on diabetic neuropathy, I don't doubt that she has nerve damage in her legs, some of the symptoms are right on. But can neuropathy affect them in episodes like what I saw last night?

She was diagnosed with diabetes in Sept 2013. I am not certain how long she was sick for before her diagnosis, she was surrendered to the rescue org for being sick around that same time, I believe. I would guess she's been diabetic for less than a year now.

Thanks again, Cocheezie!

I'd get her to the vet first thing Monday.  Diabetic neuropathy can spread to the front legs if the diabetes wasn't treated for a long time, but there may be other serious neurological problems going on.

Diabetic neuropathy is seen first  with weakness in the hind legs. An untreated cat will eventually be walking on its hocks. We started putting treats for our diabetic cat in places where he has to use his hind legs to get at them to help maintain and strengthen the muscles. He now makes the jump; and zips up the first 2/3's of the staircase, but slows and pulls himself up the rest of the way. His food is in the kitchen, but all three litter boxes in the house are on the second floor. We haven't put a litter box on the first floor but we want to him to use the stairs for exercise.

So the effects of neuropathy are reversible? That's hopeful! I certainly do see weakness in her legs, they often shake when she is standing and will buckle beneath her...poor little girl. However, what baffles me is that she doesn't appear to be walking on her hocks... 

Would a cat suffering from neuropathy experience poor circulation to its legs? I'm just trying to understand the episode better, maybe her legs had temporarily fallen asleep and couldn't function as a result. Has your boy had a similar incident?

Either way, she has been just fine since the incident last night, she's going in to see the vet asap so we can get this thing sorted. I hope there's a simple explanation for it... I'd hate for this girl to have one more problem to add to her list.

Thanks again

I believe cobalamin (vitamin B-12) is one of the treatments for peripheral neuropathy.  Might be worth talking to the vet about.

There are different kinds of B-12. See: http://www.felinecrf.org/vitamin_b.htm#methylcobalamin