Arthritis

bugmankeith

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How can you tell if a cat has arthritis? Do they always show symptoms or can some cats hide pain? Also, do the arthritis treatment you pour in water really work?
 

ritz

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Limping, soreness; only if bad.  Cats hide pain very very well.  They may not want to play nearly as much.  Why do you ask?

My story/experience:  Around Thanksgiving I removed and temporarily fostered  "Twiddledee, a cat from the colony I take care of, because he was limping and not putting much weight on his front left paw.  Before I had time to take him to the vet, he quit limping and walked normally.  A few days later I did take him to the vet, and the vet couldn't find anything wrong.  Tdee showed no reaction whatsoever to a fair amount of manipulation of the legs and shoulders.  Maybe a pulled muscle/tendon that would heal on its own was the diagnosis.  He suggested I bring Tdee in next time he started to limp.  I did so, and Tdee showed some discomfort when pulling his leg far out.  Xrays were taken and showed a fair amount of white spots  around the front left paw.  Diagnosis:  arthritis.  Surprising because Tdee is only around two years old.  The weird thing is Tdee would limp several days and then very suddenly quit limping.  It didn't slow him down any, though because of his weird gait, he freaked out my resident cat.

The vet recommended Dasuquin, although Glucosamine and Cosequin are acceptable substitutes (and cheaper).  He also recommended fish oil--I believe the Omega 3/6 have anti-flammatory properties.

I returned Tdee to the colony and see him occasionally, rarely limping.  His weight is fine, so what ever is going on with his paw, it doesn't impede his hunting abilities!

I am unfamiliar with the liquid you're talking about--what is it called?
 

ldg

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I don't know what treatment you're talking about. But our Flowerbelle has arthritis, and we didn't know it. She ran around playing... but I guess she wasn't jumping around as much as she used to. Perhaps it just gradually changed over time, and we just chalked it up to her being 9 years old. :dk:

She was having x-rays for something else, and it was quite visible - the ball joints of her hips are almost all gone. :eek: The vet then did the manipulation, and found that she did react with pain when her back legs were being stretched. :(

I put all the cats on an omega 3 supplement, salmon oil (500mg a day). This made no apparent difference in her mobility. So I switched her to 500mg a day of krill oil, and the difference was VERY apparent inside of 3 days. Now she's jumping around like she used to when she was younger!

I can't put her on glucosamine and chrondroitin because she has high blood pressure, and those are contraindicated. But I do feed her gizzards (high in both) and chicken feet (which also have hyaluronic acid in addition to glucosamine and chrondroitin). She's doing really well! :clap:

If you're talking about hyaluronic acid, many have very good experience with it. I think it works better when used in conjunction with glucosamine and chrondroitin though.
 

peaches08

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I tried several feedthrus but saw the best results with Adequan. It's an injection you can get from the vet.
 
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bugmankeith

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My 12 year old cat has slowed down quite a bit. She still plays, but she walks slower and going up the stairs is much slower, when she jumps off something she pauses before she walks, when younger she would jump and walk right away so I thought mabye this indicates some joint pain?

This is something like what I was mentioning. http://www.1800petmeds.com/HomeoPet+Joint+Stress+-prod2146.html
 
 

just mike

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I don't know for sure if Hoot has arthritis but she has had some bad hip and joint damage as a kitten. I have her on glucosamine and chondroitin supplements daily. It helps with the inflamation in her joints and helps with her mobility. She's good at masking pain but the last time she was at the vet he did some stretches etc. with her and she seemed fine. So far, so good with Hoot.
 

jazzbary

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If you are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis then you should start with slow and easy exercise. It is suggested that always take help from any physical therapist or doctor before starting any exercise.
 
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