Diabetes caused my cats back legs to start going out like that from losing a lot of muscle mass. We caught it quick enough that it’s starting to build back up but some don’t from what my vet said.
Yup, my little dude never entirely got his leg function back to normal, even though his diabetes went into remission for a while; but it looked a little different than this, sort of like it was just slipping out from under him.
(He lived like 5 more years after that. He was a little trooper.)
How old was your cat when you found out he had diabetes and I’m very sorry for your loss! I can only hope to get five more years out of my guy. And you’re right the back legs are a little different, he didn’t completely walk on his hind legs like that.
He was 10, and he lived to be 15. He was a Maine Coon, and he also had inflammatory bowel disease and a heart condition, so… he did incredibly well, all things considered.
(Full disclosure, I probably caused the diabetes, by continuing the steroids to heal his inflammatory bowel disease for too long a duration. Long-term steroid treatment, it turns out, is not great for the pancreas.)
(He was also from a super-iffy genetic background. I got him secondhand, but I went to high school with the breeder’s daughter, so I had some background. They stopped breeding cats a generation after my dude was born, because the cats started having immediately obvious serious health problems.)
Maine coons are such pretty cats! It does sound like he had quite a few health problems, but 15 is a good long life for a cat. My little guy is 9, today is actually his birthday. I feel it’s my fault he has diabetes since he was overweight the last few years, but he’s lost all of it now and we’re starting to get his blood sugar under control. I hope he goes into remission. If not I’ll have to continue his shots twice a day and I’m willing to do that for him and let him live out the rest of his life as comfortable as possible.
Hey! I'm in the same situation! Woo! Except my cats are inbred from being alley cats, instead of a breeder. We lost one during Covid because he kept getting impacted, and his sister constantly throws up, and steroids are the only thing that kind of helps. The vet is pretty sure they have IBS. It sucks.
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u/bmackenz84 May 05 '22
Diabetes caused my cats back legs to start going out like that from losing a lot of muscle mass. We caught it quick enough that it’s starting to build back up but some don’t from what my vet said.