are there many causes for cats walking on their hocks?

Long story short my 15 year old siamese started doing this out of nowhere like 4 months ago so we took them to a vet that turned out to be crappy.  During the month with them a few times the cat would get a bit lethargic and not eat as much and walk around on his hocks, missing jumps, etc.

Took him to another vet and he ended up getting his spleen taken out due to mast cell and he had a bit of fluid/discoloration/piece on his liver.  They did tests and also explored and they have been treating him for ibd since surgery just over 2 months ago with pred.

He went from 6.5 pounds after taking spleen out to 8 3/4 pounds as of today on 2.5mg low does of pred/day.

He has only barfed up one hairball and a portion of a feeding since coming home from surgery so amazing difference.  Also he came home the day of surgery and has been bouncing around better than before surgery until yesterday when we noticed him acting a little bit goofy with the eating and walking funny on the back legs although he wasn't on his hocks!  So seems like a mini crash.

Of course word is in for our vet and hope to talk early in the am.

He did the hocks thing a few times in the 6 or so weeks before surgery.  It came with being lethargic and not eating/drinking as much, and this was before any steroids.

I tried searching and didn't find much and was trying to get ammo.  I would have assumed with the multiple blood tests the multiple people seeing my cat would have picked up on diabetes or something, or is it not that simple?

I was hoping I could narrow the causes down and do some research.

Another thing is even though they were treating him for ibd, we never put the cat on a regime for the sub fluids and b12 shots i am seeing people mention.

And they did mention being anemic during initial contact after the first crash but things were looking good near surgery with the last blood test, so i assume it went away if thats even possible?

thanks for any info!

GoogleYahoo tells me the most common cause for a cat to walk on their hocks is diabetes...  linky

Diabetic neuropathy comes to my mind. Has the cat ever been tested for diabetes? The vet can do a fructosamine test. It's kind of like the AC1 test for Human diabetics. A quick in office blood glucose test won't tell much other than what the blood glucose level is at that very moment. Here is info on diabetic neuropathy: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Neuropathy Talk to your vet about this possibility.

If the vet runs more tests and your cat is not diabetic and doesn't have neuropathy, you should consider getting a second opinion. Maybe your cat has some other muscle weakness in the back legs.

Unfortunately, Mr. Google/Yahoo/the like won't sort replies by the level of their veterinary expertise and reliability.

Starting with a trustworthy site and searching within it (i.e for "hocks") is a much safer way to go......

Here's one example (where you may find some far more relevant possibilities): https://s1-eu1.startpage.com/do/search?cmd=process_search&pid=dd6c42aa3d9b1f67b01b56f6bdb062dd   (ignore the paid advertisement links - the first few there - the bullet point links are the 'real deals')

(if that doesn't work for you, start your own search here: http://felinecrf.org/#search)

By now, you should have noticed that the accurate medical terminology for what you're seeing is "plantigrade posture"....

Meantime, you shouldn't have to search for "ammo".............perhaps a better "search' for you would be for a competent feline veterinarian.

This might be a starting point for you: http://www.catvets.com/cat-owners/find-vets-and-practices   DON'T check the "cat friendly" box.....and, understand that a Vet's membership in that organization doesn't guarantee competency - it might narrow the field for you, though.

I agree that the fructosamine test is the best way to definitively check for diabetes (it's not an expensive test and it gives you an idea of the overall glucose levels for the last month or so), but it wouldn't cost anything to have the vet's office give you a list of the glucose levels from all the blood tests in the last year. Just go into the office and ask for copies of the blood work from the file. Just tell them that you are trying to get your mind around everything and staring at groups of numbers and results helps you. Most vet offices are happy to oblige.

Potassiums levels and hypothyroidism are also possibilities. Again, more tests. Researching is good, but will only get you so far. You cannot treat on your own without knowing exactly what it is you are treating, especially with an already compromised cat. Researching means you are an informed cat owner and will be able to ask the vet appropriate questions and get better answers. What you really need is a good diagnostic vet.

thanks for the info, people were nice enough to post about finding the right vet in my last thread and we did that.  i think the current team is good and they did the surgery and have all previous records.  to be clear he has done amazing for the 2 months post op and never crashed.  they did say we are the eyes and ears for them and to call up and bring him in if something comes up and he is going in today.  this is one of those cat vets and they worked with a licensed guy to do the imaging and also works with an oncologist which i was surprised to see there aren't many of.

my mom has the cat and im away at the moment and was just chomping at the bit wondering what could be up.

i just talked to her again and she is saying  he was not on his hocks like i saw before surgery a few times, but trying to walk and fumbling around with both hind legs and he will just collapse his rear end and lay down.  he has managed to make it to the litter box oddly and go without making a mess.

he is being social and eating/drinking and going to the bathroom normally.  no cries of pain.

she was taking him in last i talked to her i will talk to her later tonight to see what happened.

based on what she is saying i have never seen him act that way.  since the day he came home from surgery he hasn't had any issue running around when it is time for food or jumping full size counters.

they said he didn't have diabetes before but i guess anything is possible.