Hi All!

This is my first time posting here.....been a browser for a long time though while we were looking for our Bengal. I don't know where else to ask my questions!

We have a 7 month old male (Loki). He was neutered about 4 weeks ago at 6 months. About 2 weeks ago, we noticed he wasn't jumping on the counters like usual. Then he wasn't jumping on the couch, or on to anything that required a vertical jump. He would still jump horizontally......from one couch to the other, just not up. Over the last few days, he doesn't jump at all and he can't (or won't) walk up or down the stairs, and he can only take about 4-5 steps before his back legs both splay out to the sides. When he jumps off of a chair or something, both his back legs splay out to the sides as well.

He doesn't appear to be in any pain.....we can touch, move, manipulate his legs/hips and it doesn't seem to bother him.

We took him to our vet today. She didn't find any neurological issues, checked his spine, legs, knees, feet, full blood work, etc. He had hip x-rays to rule out dysplasia as well. They can't find anything wrong with him. They are stumped as well as us. They sent us home with anti-inflammatory meds to see if they will help. They are also going to send his x-rays to a specialist with his symptoms to see if they can get any answers.

Does anyone have any insight? The poor guy is getting depressed that he can't play and run and jump. :(

I dont have any advice for you other thsn it could be neuropathy which is common in bengals, I hope someone with most experience will chime in so I am posting to bump. I hope you get the help you need and Loki is back to normal soon!

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Thanks for your reply. I am starting to think neuropathy as well. I am going to try and post a video link of him from last night. It's just heart breaking.

I'm not sure what to do about the litter box situation. He can't even support himself long enough to use it properly. Lots of baths the last few days. I don't know how long we can keep this up. Any suggestions for alternative litter box options?

Has your vet suggested anything? I know with bengal polyneuropathy the sooner steroids are administered the better the chance of full recovery! The treatment can start to work within days! I know there are ways you can expell his bladder but I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that without a vet/professional showing you how! With bowel movements there is really nothing you can do other than support and clean him. Does he have another vet appointment scheduled?

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Our vet didn't have any idea. Didn't mention neuropathy. But she was going to try and consult with other vets. However, I called an left her a message to look into it.

I guess now we just wait.

Bless him! He doesnt appear to be in pain but for bengal being emmoblized is probably torture in itself! I would try to call around to other vets and see if you can get any more information or advice! To me it looks like neuropathy but I am not an expert! If you can I would call your vet also and see if they can look into neuropathy and also let them know you have the video and can email it to them if they feel it will help the specialist determine what it could be. Please keep us updated that video breaks my heart! He is such a beautiful boy!

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That video upset me :( so god knows how you must be feeling. Heart wrenching.

I so hope you get answers soon and all paws crossed here for a full recovery soon.

Lisa
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So, our vet has gotten back to us with 3 possibilities....one being neuropathy. We are going to see a Neurologist on thursday. I'm scared....but happy that we may get answers soon.

Anyone know how much the biopsy for neuropathy runs?

Maybe your vet could put your cat on steroids (prednisone) in the mean time, it won't hurt and if it is neuropathy then the sooner the treatment starts the better.

I have dug up some old threads for you to wade through on the topic. Good luck.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14812&hilit=neuropathy

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2607&hilit=neuropathy

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16477&hilit=neuropathy

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14075&hilit=neuropathy

My cat with Bengal neuropathy was a lot worse than that, and steroids made a huge improvement, but all in all it took about 9 months to a year to get completely better, it took a while to wean off the steroids without her always going backwards slightly, but she never went back to how bad she was at the start, and she has now been perfect for years.

Thanks everyone for your help! I went back and talked to our vet before going to the the neurologist. I wanted to try a round of steroids first before we went to the neurologist. She VERY reluctantly agreed. She really wasn't happy to do it, and she doesn't think it will work. From all my research and doing lots of reading on here, I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will help. She only gave my a 14 day course of steroids, I hope I see at least some improvement in that time, or I think I'll have a really hard time convincing her to continue them.

He has gotten a bit worse since the video. I don't know if its the neuropathy that is getting worse, or if he's just getting tired from dragging his back end around.

All in all, he's happy right now, and we are keeping him comfortable. Luckily being such an intelligent breed, the litter box situation has been easy to handle.

We can't start the steroids until tomorrow (Saturday), because the medication they put him on at the beginning of the week has to be out of his system first. And he is also on antibiotics, because that is the only way the vet would agree to give me steroids. She said if its something bacterial, the steroids can make his condition worse, so she wants him to take them just in case, since she hasn't tested for anything like that yet.

I'll let everyone know how we are making out. Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and suggestions!

Oh no!

We are keeping fingers and paws crossed here that there is some improvement soon with the steroids.

Hugs to you

Lisa
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Ask your vet to contact Prof Danielle Gunn-Moore at the Edinburgh vet school to discuss Bengal polyneuropathy (distal neuropathy), if she is unhappy about the diagnosis and the steroids.
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments ... gunn-moore
I would advise against nerve biopsies, as probably unnecessary and supposedly very painful and upsetting for the cat.

Just to clarify, we do not have a diagnosis. The vet wants to send us to a neurologist for that. It's suspected neuropathy right now. We are in Canada, the closest neurologist is in the US, though only about an hour away. I don't want to put him through a nerve biopsy either :(