Can my incontinent cat, who walks, become paralized?

[rubyraquelita]

Hi, I am in such distress. My Mimi, 3 years old. Same accident as most cats here. Car accident, amputated tail, incontinent, but thank God she has always been able to walk, jump, like a regular cat. Her constipation problems are becoming worse and worse. We have to stick up on her bump almost weekly some glycerine. Two days ago, she had a very strong episode. But she was apparently also with lots of pain, because was becoming agressive with us putting the glycerine up her bump. Constipation was released. However, I have noticed that she has almost fell 3 times when jumping up the sofa and to her kitty condo. Also, she sits and lets the right leg pointing out. And when she is lying on the side, she raises that leg. Can she become all of a sudden paralized due to degenerative problems or something in time? I am freaking out. I am pregnant now and don´t want to worry. But she is my baby and I adore her, can´t imagine her not being able to walk ;( Please help me! Thanks in advance

[CarolC]

I'm not sure exactly what the problem might be, but to me it does not sound like paralysis...? It sounds more like a sore hip or knee or something like that. I think it would be good to have her examined by a vet. It is possible this is something completely unrelated to her original accident. I hope you will post what you find out, I would like to know.

[rubyraquelita]

Thank you so much for your answer! Yes, I will observe her until Friday and if no improvement, I will take her to the vet and of course I will let you know! I hope it is just a sore hip or knee that she got maybe jumping or playing with my other cats.

[critters]

My neuro (spinal cord injury) boys have always had a wonkier leg, depending on the injury, and the "neuro sit" (with legs out) doesn't necessarily have to be both legs. With the more severe boys it's both; milder ones can be just one. Weak jumping isn't unusual either. The main thing that has made my boys regress in almost every way is a urinary tract infection, which SCI humans and critters are prone to. Any illness can do it, but that's the most common here.

How about lactulose, a sweet, yummy liquid poop softener that they eat? We've always had good luck with that.

[rubyraquelita]

Hi, thanks for your reply! She is getting better on the legs issue. We are thinking she jumped from too high on her kitty condo or something like that, because she is not walking funny anymore and I don´t see her to be scared of anything before jumping. Will continue checking until this weekend.
She takes lactulose, but sometimes that makes her poop being like a paste inside of her intestines and then it is more difficult to come out. What we do most of the time is the glycerine, but this is not preventive, this is when she is already constipated. I am starting to think that she has megacolon. I read it is very common with cats with this spinal issue. But I am so scared to do the surgery. I am not sure how much she will improve but I bet the recovery will be traumatic for her. It makes me so sad to think she will suffer big time with pain.
About the UTI, she has not had one in over 2 years! Before we had 4 horrible episodes. Our solution was antibiotic for 15 days, when she was completely fine. I did this as a prevention per doctor´s suggestion. I had to take her to the vet for a daily shot. That, plus carefully expressing her every day, 3-4 times a day, was my solution to the issue. Because although sometimes she was not peeing blood or with a clear infection, I started feeling this funky, fishy smell on her pee, that was the prior step to the infection. Maybe you can try this!
Now, our horrible problem is always constipation.