Temporary loss of back legs

[PrincessCardia]

Hello everyone! On Wednesday morning I went through a very scary ordeal with my little old man, Jonas. I got up for work and he wasn’t in his usual chair spot. I found him in a cardboard Halloween play house, which he’s never gotten in before. I reached in to touch him and he crawled out, and his back legs were not working. They would splay out on either side of him. I had an absolute panic and spent the morning in tears until I called his vet when they opened.

His regular vet wasn’t in, but another vet saw him quickly. She was at first worried about a saddle thrombus, but his paw pads didn’t feel cold. She did radiographs on his legs which showed arthritis (he’s 18) but no fractures. She sent him home with a high dose of liquid Gabapentin to be taken 3x daily

Wednesday and Thursday, he did not improve much. He couldn’t jump into his chair well, his back legs were incredibly weak and it seemed like he didn’t have much feeling. A few times I found him with his toes turned under his paw.

Miraculously, yesterday (Friday) he has made a 180. He started off slow but began walking around with weight in his back legs. He’s been cleaning himself again, can jump again, and is just about back to normal. Now I am left wondering what happened, and what I could do to prevent it again in the future. I was hoping someone here may have some additional insight. Some extra info:

• Jonas is around 18, diabetic of many years and has chronic pancreatitis. He takes a 1/4 tab of Cerenia daily, upped to 1/2 during flares. He is on Prozinc insulin
• He had his latest pancreatitis flareup 2 weeks ago and received some rounds of fluids and a course of Veraflox as his blood work showed highly elevated WBC. He finished the antibiotic last Friday and developed diarrhea, which he still has (started slippery elm syrup yesterday to try and combat this)
• He had had some high glucose numbers not long before this incident happened
• I discontinued the Gabapentin as I read it could make them disoriented, which didn’t seem helpful. I had noticed that he seemed to do a bit better when it was between doses, so I stopped giving it as of Friday morning.

I am trying to put the pieces together as to what could have caused this scary episode. My first thought was diabetic neuropathy since he had some high numbers recently, but to my knowledge that’s normally characterized by walking on the hocks. I also don’t understand how arthritis could go from perfectly manageable one day to this overnight (he was absolutely fine before I went to bed Tuesday night). I’m not a vet, just a very worried and overprotective mama, but one theory I have is that he jumped off of something strangely that night and possibly tweaked a nerve in his hind end.

If anyone has any insight as to how I can best help Joe and keep this from happening again, it would be deeply appreciated. He is my whole world and he really gave me a scare with this episode. I appreciate it so much!

Blessings,
Whitney and Jonas

 

[di and bob]

He may have had a transient blood clot that caused what happened and then resolved. It could have been a temporary saddle thrombosis, or even a stroke caused by this clot. Thank goodness it resolved and he is getting better. At 18 he definitely would be prone to clots, maybe they could do a blood test the next time he is in and see if his clotting factors are high. If they are, they could put him on a blood thinner just like people. He definitely could have pinched a nerve though also. As long as he is doing better, just love that sweet boy all you can. I'll say a prayer for him, bless you for loving him so much......

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

My old girl had this same issue and we rushed her to the ER Vet since it occurred on a Sunday. They told us she had an issue with her spinal cord even though she had been able to jump on the kitchen counters the day prior. Like with people, back issues often resolve on their own with rest, although sometimes they don't.

I would say perhaps at his age you might want to consider giving him some "steps" to help him get on the bed, etc. We used boxes weighted down with books and covered with towels and wrapped in fabric to make them comfy and look nice. Very inexpensive.

 

[fionasmom]

One of my diabetic cats did continue onto neuropathy which was characterized by walking on his hocks; the other hobbled, but never actually walked on the hocks. There can be degrees of difference with these conditions.

I agree with your supposition that arthritis would not appear overnight in such an extreme form, although we are not vets and arthritis is not the only condition to affect mobility.

Even if this is deemed to be unnecessary to add to his medication, I would pursue the use of a blood thinner with the vet. You may not need it, but I would be worried about random clots which could reappear. Let them rule out that he does not need one, rather than just hoping that he does not.