metacam, and arthritis

Greetings! My large, grumpy, 14 year old cat has bad arthritis and bone spurs. Cosequin worked for many years, but it's effectiveness seems to have fizzled. Vet gave us tramadol, which is so so difficult for me to get in her... I foster cats and have pilled many cats in my life, and this cat is the worst, bar none. I resorted to crushing the pills, dissolving them in water, and syringing them in her mouth. She then drools most of it out.

Back to the vet, she gave us metacam. I realize metacam can be dangerous, but I'm willing to take some risk. She's in a lot of pain, and I'm aiming for quality of life over quantity. She's in pretty bad shape, she hates being touches, doesn't groom herself, and is generally a wreck. I gave her the first dose an hour ago (17 drops... she's 17 pounds), and she immediately ran over to the corner and threw up. Lots. Any thoughts? I imagine it upset her stomach and wasn't a reaction, it wasn't in her stomach more than a minute.

Vet also mentioned adequan. Anyone had any success with that? Any other suggestions for giving some more quality time to a very old, sore cat? Thank you!

for your hard decision to try Metacam knowing the risks associated with it. I had a similar quality versus quantity discussion with my vet last week about using Metacam for my cat with cancer.

I used Cetyl M for a long time with a dog of mine with hip dysplasia. It is sold for dogs and horses, but when you google it, there does appear to be some use with cats. I've not tried it with a cat, but it might be something you want to research and/or talk to your vet about.

Did you feed your girl before you gave her the Metacam? I have cats that will throw up most medications if I give them to them on an empty stomach.

Adequan injection therapy is a very effective treatment for cats with arthritis pain, I would definitely recommend looking into that.

There is also a new laser therapy, that I can only come up with in my mind vaguely, and can't remember where I heard of it, I'll search around a bit.

But I do recommend you talk with your vet about the adequan treatment for your cat.

Here's some info on the laser therapy

http://www.thecatdr.com/services/cla...ertherapy.html