Hi Colin,

Sorry to hear of the problems, how did this all start? Is it a sudden thing or has Ziggy been like this for a while?

Hi junglerose,
it started last weekend. It was as if Ziggs was lame on his four legs. It is hard to describe how he was walking. It happened really fast. He has no power to his back legs. He cannot climb onto a chair(bless him). He is still happy purring away etc. he is getting lotso f extra loving from us. We are really worried about him. Hopefully the boffins at Ediburgh Uni will find out what is causing this and get him back to near his old self.

Had a case of this a few years ago. Two kittens, litter siblings, at around 5.6 months of age suddenly went off their rear legs. They were sent to Bristol and tested for every imagineable illness, scanned, x-rayed etc. and could not find anything. To all purposes, they were very healthy kittens. Bristol took biopsies and sent them off to the neurological department at La Jolla, California. The results came back as denervation of the distal nerves. Several causes were given. All had been tested for (as above). The only other cause they came up with was inflammation, cause unknown. Said they had seen over 100 cases in the past year. Kittens quite often regenerate by themselves. Older cats not so. A fellow breeder/vet recommended putting the kittens only prednisone (as she had had a similar case previously). This was done and the kittens were back on their feet within days. I will email you the report from La Jolla for your vets info as I do know how to attach here

Regards

Sorry, could not find your email and have managed to work out how to copy and paste so here is the report.

COMPARATIVE NEUROMUSCULAR LABORATORY
Basic Science Bldg, Rm 2095
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0709
858 534-1537

http://medicine.ucsd.edu/vet_neuromuscular

-----------------------------------------------------------
BIOPSY REPORT

Re: Complete muscle and peripheral nerve profiles on case #89577-05

STAINS EMPLOYED: H & E, modified trichrome, PAS, ATPases at pH 9.8 and 4.3,esterase, NADH-TR acid pase, alkaline pase, oil red O, SPA-HRPO

Fresh and fixed biopsies were submitted from the quadriceps and biceps femoris muscles for evaluation. Similar changes were present within both muscles. There was mild, generalized myofibers and contained myelin ovoids. Superperineurial edema and moderate mononuclear cell infiltrates were present within the nerve branches. No other abnormalities were identified with any of the above staining methods of enzyme reactions. Fresh and fixed biopsies were also submitted from the peroneal nerve. The fixed biopsy was plastic embedded and evaluated in sections. In the fixed biopsy, a portion of a nerve fascicle was present that contained cracks due to the previous freezing. Other than this artifactual change, no specific abnormalities were identified in fixed or frozen sections.

CONCLUSION: Neuropathy/denervation with a markedly distal distribution. The peripheral nerve biopsy was normal. Distal dennervation in this case may be post infectious disease, inflammatory, or associated with toxicity such as occurs with organophosphates.




G Diane Sheldon D V M Ph D
Diplomate, ACVIM (Internal Medicine)

Hi all,
Sorry for not getting back to your replies sooner, I was at work.
Thanks to Junglerose and manic cats for the information that you have posted. I have printed them off and will take them through to Edinburgh with me.
Just to let you know that Ziggs is walking better today. still no real power to the rear legs. He is trying to do things that were once normal to him, like jump down from the sofa, he ends up with a face full of carpet.... bless him.
lets hope that he will make a full recovery.
Once again , thank you all for finding the information and for your loving support.

Our little boy, 6 months old has the same symtoms. He has been sick in two weeks now. I will print this information I find here and give to our vet.

interesting...

quite a while ago Linden got stung by a bee, and one of her first reactions was like some kind of semi-paralysis of her back legs, and hypersensitive to touch. It seemed like EVERYTHING hurt her, was very distressing.

They gave her an antihistamine shot, called it an allergic reaction, and she was mostly ok the next day and back to normal within about 3 days.

Am wondering now if the reaction is the same type of thing... Sounds very similar to how her back legs were. In this case, we had her at the vet within 10 mins of her losing leg action.

Just to give you an update on Ziggy.
We picked him up from the hospital in Edinburgh on Saturday.
They have done a barriage of tests, from heart scans, bloods and a muscle and nerve biopsy.
The biopsy has been sent to America to be test by the person who is the leading expert on this subject.
We are no further forward. We have to wait on th results of the test, which may take a few weeks..................
Ziggy has lost heaps of muscle mast. He is a shadow of himself. He had to get a feeding tube inserted as he is not eating. We are feeding him every few hours.
Fingers and toes crossed for him.

fingers crossed for you & ziggy xxx