degenerative joint disease in 3 yr old??

It's early yet, but I'm very concerned for Jersey. She'll be 4 in September. Last week I came home to find her hobbling around, barely using her back left leg. Mom took her in the next morning for x-rays, vet wasn't sure what he was seeing and referred the pics to the kitty chiropractor. He gave her an anti-inflammatory injection and some oral pain meds to administer as needed, and said wait to hear from the chirpractor.

Chiro calls and says (and mind you, this is all second-hand info from my mother, prob something lost in the translation) he is seeing some calcification around the knee joint, as well as an odd calcified mass. He said we could be looking at some sort of degenerative bone or joint disorder/disease. He wanted to know if perhaps we'd guesstimated her age incorrectly and could she be older than we think? No, she's actually the only feline we have whose exact birthdate we're actually sure of. She'll be 4 in September.

For now, we're to keep an eye on her. We were given kitty treats that pack a dose of chondroitin and glucosamine in the hopes that will help her heal up. Her limp is mostly gone, but she's not jumping onto coutertops like she used to, and I still see the limp. She's not fat by any means, but a bit round; vet said helping her lose a pound or two would be beneficial.

I'm just very confused and worried, when he started talking about degenerative diseases. She's only 3 years old. We've had more kitties and more health issues over the last 20+ years, but I've never heard anything about "calcified masses" or degenerative problems in young cats. Any clues as to what could be going on with my Jersey?

I don't know if it's helpful to note this, but she has very short legs. Her mama resembled a butterball with feet; I'm not sure she even has legs tbh (she does.) Jersey's legs are very disproportionately short (imo) to her body, and even at 1 lb overweight, I wonder how much impact that would put on her legs.

She has also had issues before; when she was a few months old, she severed a growth plate in her hip. Since she was still a growing girl, it healed nicely on it's own.

Very worried for my sweet little girl; she's too young to have these sorts of problems.

Probably just poor genetics. In people, some find themselves getting arthritis before or barely into their teens because of that.
See if anyone can tell you whether her shorter stature is contributing- I too have a cat with rather short legs (but not within munchkin sizes) and would be interested to find if this is a possible risk for some kitties.

In humans fish oil is a great natural anti-inflammatory. It might be worth seeing if it would help her, at the very least it's great for her skin and coat, too.

Ask your vet about whether other supplements may be needed, and good luck getting her weight down.

Hi, I too have a young cat with joint problems - dislocating kneecaps in her case, but the future is going to be arthritis for her. I'm heartbroken too - my plan is to prevent her from jumping as much as possible, keep her weight down, and just make her life as good as it can be.
I'd love to know what the fish oil treats are - could you pm me the brand name, maybe I can order them. The only thing we have here is a special diet of dry food which is so expensive I can't keep buying it.... especially since the other cat is eating it too
good luck with Jersey!

planetx - I can't remember the name of the treats, but if you do a google search on "glucosamine chondroitin cat treats" there's a number of things that come up that I've never seen before, but look like they could be beneficial.

With 6 cats of varying ages (3 - 20) it's difficult to keep weight off the younguns and keep it on the oldies, especially when they all seem to be so darned picky. Jersey is very antisocial, but last night I allowed her to "sneak" upstairs - cat free zone - and watch t.v. with me. Downstairs with the others she's withdrawn and shy with us, but alone upstairs she becomes a very happy loving ball of fluff. We think she remembers her kitten days being quarantined there with her busted hip. Last night I kind of realized that, despite her current issues, she is still a very happy, loving little girl. I am still concerned for problems that may arise in the future, but I think as long as we keep a close watch on her, do what the vets say, she can still live a happy life. I am only 23 and suffer from a number of joint problems in my knees and ankles; I am a courier/copy technician, and spend my days on my feet. Despite the pain, I manage to lead a happy, comfortable life. I think we will be able to help Jersey do the same.

strange_wings - I would not be surprised if Jersey and her brother are products on inbreeding. Their mother and her siblings used to live with a rather irresponsible person, and the mom got knocked up when she was still a kitten herself. Her son, Pasha, is a simple minded creature; if he were human, I am sure he would have been diagnosed with some mild form of mental retardation. But he is a sweetheart, regardless of how smart he is (or isn't.) The whole family - mom and the two kittens we have - are just very odd all together, even for cats (who can be strange enough as it is sometimes.)

If I thought we could get her to take some fish oil, I'd give it a try. She's a finnicky eater who is not easily tricked. She seems much more upbeat these past couple of days, despite the mild limp. We're trying to keep her from jumping and running around too much, but she is now itching to play with her feather-on-a-string toy. I am just glad to see her being active and wanting to play again.

Thanks you both for the kind words and thought; we've had many a cat over the past 22 years, but Jersey is rather special to me. Naturally, I want her to have a perfectly perfect life, and will worry myself to death everytime some little thing goes wrong.

Both of you are too young to have to worry about that.

Fish oil depends. You can get it from the vet, you can use a high quality human fish oil supplement (read the ingredients carefully as there's one ingredient that is bad for pets and people and in some cheap supplements -propylene glycol iirc and spelled that correctly). Others have mentioned Wildside salmon oil.

If you get a good high quality fish oil and she refuses it, it's still good for the other cats if you don't want it to go to waste.

Do mention it to you vet. At the very least it good for skin and coat, too.

Interesting about then being possibly inbred. That alone doesn't mean offspring will have something wrong with them, but it increases the chances if the bad genes are there. Having a kitten mother isn't good either.

I sure hope she feels better soon! You're right...way too young to have to deal with this! Best wishes for better health.

Keith