Time to euthanize?

Hi Everyone..

We are here again with Smokie. Recently, when we were away on a weekend trip, I had my cousin & her daughter (My 7 year old second cousin, Kaylie) babysit. Turns out, Smokie bit Kaylie- and he is now crying more. If you even touch his hips or back leg area, he cries- I know he has bad arthritis, we have him on meloxicam which seems to help a bit, but I worry about the biting. It's one thing if he bites me or DH, biting a child- unacceptable.

How do I know when it is time to just let him go?

PS He is 9- But vet says he may be older like 13 or 14 because his previous owners often got him and his brother mixed up.

Meloxicam isn't a good painkiller for cats. Try buprenex.

I don't think itt's time to put him down unless his pain absolutely can't be managed. Don't let kids touch him.

Have you asked your vet about using Omega 3 or tumeric? Have you tried hyaluronic acid? ALL of these can significantly reduce the pain of arthritis. Hyaluronic acid can do so quickly.

Flowerbelle was recently diagnosed with arthritis, but she has high blood pressure, so I'm really having to put some work into research for her treatment. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244249/managing-arthritis-in-a-cat-with-high-blood-pressure

But both Omega 3 and turmeric look very promising. You might want to have your vet help you figure out appropriate dosages before giving up on your boy.

And have you discussed Adequan injections? You can see they are discussed in my thread on arthritis. If Smokey doesn't have heart disease or high blood pressure, that might be an option.

BTW, you should be able to use these in conjunction with his pain medication. Again, I'd talk to the vet. Better yet, see if there's a holistic vet in your area: http://www.ahvma.org

These are all good solutions. However, being on a very small fixed income (SSDI) I don;'t have unlimited funds. The Adq injections are really expensive- one reason we were using meloxicam iis the price $25.00 for 6 months supply...

but I will keep researching options. Thanks

Personally if I couldn't get him adequate pain relief then yes, I hope I'd be brave enough to say goodbye.  A cat in pain isn't a happy cat, and they are very good at hiding pain.

I would be asking myself what the most effective pain killer for his condition is, regardless of if it has potentially nasty side effects as really good pain relief is what he needs and without it he certainly won't have much of a life. 

Metacam has a bad name here because it is associated with a higher risk of side effects than other pain killers, but in your situation what I'd want is efficiency over long-term safety.

In the UK NSAIDs are widely used in human osteoartritis, moving on to an NSAID/COX2 drug if the basic NSAIDS don't provide adequate relief, and I believe that's the sort of drug that Metacam is.  We would only get presribed opioids if both of the other treatments are not adequate.

Acupuncture might help, so might some of the other treatments mentioned above, but I feel you need to go back to your vet and discuss the various treatment options with him/her. 

I think you are right to worry, though more about having a cat that's in so much pain it is a biter. 

Nebula said:

These are all good solutions. However, being on a very small fixed income (SSDI) I don;'t have unlimited funds. The Adq injections are really expensive- one reason we were using meloxicam iis the price $25.00 for 6 months supply...

but I will keep researching options. Thanks

Click to expand...

Turmeric and/or Omega 3s should be a very inexpensive option worthy of a try.

If you want to try Omega 3s, it's important to know cats cannot utilize ALA (found in plant-based sources), so it's important to use a fish oil or salmon oil for the DHA and EPA, the only omega 3s cats can metabolize properly. Cod Liver oil is not recommended, because it also has Vitamin A. Cats can have too much vitamin A, and it's supplemented in their food.

I think its kind of clear now. He is currently laying in my arms, crying & his eyes are almost saying just let me go. Sigh..........

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400838/Turmeric-for-Arthritis.html

http://viim.org/dogs-arthritis.php

If you scroll down the page in the second link (Veterinary Institute of Integrative Medicine) they have a table of products and dosages.

The Curcumin (turmeric) product for cats is CurcuVet-SA50. http://veterinary.thorne.com/Products/VetOcularSupport/prd~V931.jsp

According to the VIIM, the dose for cats is 1/2 capsule daily. According to the manufacturer site: http://veterinary.thorne.com/Products/VetOcularSupport/prd~V931.jsp

the dose is 1/2 to 1 capsule daily (I assume it depends on the size of the animal). But customer support phone number is right there.


I don't know how much shipping is if you order it from the site, but the cost of the bottle is the same as at Amazon, only Amazon has a $5.99 delivery charge, so it'd be $16.09 (it's $10.10 for a bottle of 90 pills) if purchased through Amazon. If Smokie weighs 8 - 12 pounds, I expect he'd only need a1/2 a capsule, which means 90 pills would be a 180-day supply.

Again, I'd want to check with the vet to see if it can be used in conjunction with the pain med, though I'm pretty sure it can.

It sounds like he's miserable, and he may be telling you that.  If a solution doesn't look likely, you may have to release him.  Only you and he can assess the situation and make the right decision.
 

But tonight he was playing & jumping. I just don't know. I am going to call his vet tomorrow...

I would have called today but they were closed for memorial day.

......

The strain the pain puts on their body is horrible and will lead to other issues. When the medication we were using to control Bogey's pain was put out of production, his pain levels skyrocketed and within a weeks time, we were throwing everything we had at trying to get it under control. We even went back to the Buprenephrine even though we all hated it and it barely controlled any pain. Finally, one morning, he had a horrible seizure and we let him go. We have no idea what caused the seizure but a part of me believes it was in part due to the pain.

If you can't control the pain, release him from it. It is simply the most humane thing you can do. Running through treatments is expensive and time consuming and at a certain point, there is just nothing more to be done except let them go.

I talked to the vet today. We have 2 other options to try.

Thoughts welcome

# 1 - Steroid Shot (Depo Medrol)

He says it may push him into diabetes.

and

# 2- Some Gluco-Chondrontin powder for his food. The only problem with this one is bandit would probably get into it.

The meloxicam actually seems to help, and I can get it compounded at my pharmacy for like $4 vs the $30 they charge at the vet.

I think the steroid shot is well worth trying.  Unless his pain is relieved he won't have much of a life, so personally I wouldn't worry about possible diabetes.

Is it a problem if the other cat gets some of the Gluco-Chondrontin?

I don't think it would be a problem, other than it is kind of pricy...... and would go through it quicker.

The vet thinks the benefits of the meloxicam outweigh the risks, at Smokie's age, the possible kidney failure in a few years, he probably won't be alive that long anyway.

Euthanazia is a last resort. But I can't indefinately spend tons of money on this.

The bupronex is a narcotic, and he says they only give it to terminal cats who are probably dying within a week or so.

We will just see what happens. I'm going by there Friday to pick up the meloxicam refill and the powder stuff for the food.

I have an 18 year old cat who I'm going through this with. I may have missed it, but have you tried inhaled steroids? My cat went through kidney failure as a result of Meticam (please, please stay away from this drug with an older cat) and we have to be very gentle about his medications. Inhaled steroids are much safer than the injections. If you're still looking at using Buprinex, watch for constipation. My vet things my cat's constipation may have been triggered by this medication (in addition to just being older and having those issues). You can easily get some Lactulose to loosen them up.

Also, I don't mean to sound harsh or uncaring but I don't know that a bitten 7 year old is any way to judge the situation. Yes, it's bad that your cat bit her, especially if it's uncharacteristic, but children are sometimes not gentle with kitties. Any cat with arthritis is going to lash out if a child handles them roughly. Children sometimes forget or don't understand the issues with senior kitties. I know my cat cries out and can even snip at you if you hold him wrong because arthritis is painful, but he's also the most loving kitty and still has a lot of life left in him. Just a thought.

Got some tramadol suuspension from vet... Smokie is pain free, and drowsy.. But he is showing zero pain

Good news!  You could try gradually reducing the dose to see how much he actually needs to be pain-free.

What strikes me as so difficult about your cat's condition is that he has good and bad times - it's not a simple progression.