Cat has heart worm and bad athritis

My sister's cat has been diagnosed with heart worm as well as severe arthritis in her back.  She is an indoor only cat and is treated most months with Revolution.  We can't understand how this could have happened.   We both never gave heart worm much thought and are devastated that she is sick from this. I would now suggest to everybody that they treat their cat with some form of prevention.  She yelps in pain quite a lot but the vet says that is from her bad back.  She will probably be put to sleep this week as she is so uncomfortable even with the treatment of steroids.  We are giving her some more time to see if she does a turn around but things do not look too promising.
Please send prayers and good wishes for little Trouble.
 

I'm so sorry about your sister's cat. I don't know much about heartworm treatment, but I do know about arthritis and there are medicines that can help relieve the pain.

There's a narcotic pain medicine called Buprenex which is a gel that's given orally about twice a day. It's a little on the expensive side though. A better solution is to use a product like Adequan. It's an injectible liquid that you start out giving subcutaneously (under the skin) twice a week for 4 weeks, then once a week for 4 weeks (I think), then once a month. It's really easy to do at home and a tech can show you how to do it.

There's also other types of pain medication that can be used with Adequan, like Gabapentin. If you use this, it will have to be compounded. Roadrunner Pharmacy can do a really great job of this. Their pills are pretty small.

Additionally, there are OTC products that supposedly work pretty well.

Check out this website for more detailed information - http://cheyennewest.com/medical-management-of-arthritis-in-cats

Prayers for Trouble. Poor sweetie.