Birman's question about Polyneuropathy

Question

Our 6 month old Birman Kitten had a sudden change that presented itself as trouble walking (hind legs) and lack of appetite.  We took her to the vets and they gave a cortisone shot and prednisolone pill.  She rapidly improved (about a day after and was back to her normal self.  We stopped the prednisolone thinking it was some inflammation after 7 days and eight days later she had a relapse.  We took her to the vets again and repeated process and recovery again occurred in about a day or so, we took her to an animal hospital where a neurologist diagnosed her with polyneuropathy.   We were hearbroken and brought her home thinking it is only a matter of time.  We contacted the breeder and she indicated that about 5 years ago she had a report of a similar condition, 5-6 months old and same symptoms.  The cat was determined to have acquired of unknown origin and is about 5 years old now.  Upon looking at your article we noticed that there is a difference between inherited and acquired that wasn't discussed with us at the hospital.  We are looking for actions to take to keep our Mazie happy and alive.  Right now she is moving about the house with no apparent issues and appetite has returned.  We plan on keeping her on the prednisolone but we are looking for any other treatments.

Accepted Answer

Birman cats are susceptible to distal polyneuropathy which is a slow progressive disease which is suspected to be be an inherited condition; the normal age of onset is measured in weeks, not months. Further investigation is required, I do not think I could add more value than your Neurologist; please check the two links below. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVM
www.vetstream.com/treat/felis/diseases/birman-cat-distal-polyneuropathy
https://books.google.com/books?id=evMCYYOdVCkC&pg=PA430 (see point 4 on page 430 - the link should open on the page)

Polyneuropathy in Cats