Arthritic cat-looking for advice

My 13 year old cat had a limp a few months ago. The vet manipulated his leg and foot and could find no obvious problem. She determined that it was most likely arthritis. A few days later he quit limping, and then he started limping again.

I have placed footstools near his favorite pieces of furniture so that it's easier for him to jump up and down, and less stress on his leg.

How old is your car, could it be arthritis? Also, they could x-ray the leg.

I am trying to find out what I can give my cat for the arthritic leg, when it appears to be causing him a problem. Does anyone know? Thanks.

Your vet will be able to best tell you what he/she thinks. My girl dosen't have arthritis, she has hip dysplasia since an early eage. We put a step like kitty tree by one of the windows so she can see out the upstairs, other places are OK for now. If she worsens, well get her steps for other things too. Our vet gave her a shot for the inital pain, and then we started giving her Cosequin for cats - she started out with a pill every 12 hours, and then we cut her back to one a day. If she gets bad, we start giving her the two a day again for a bit of time. She still has her bad days, but it seems to have helped!

i use glucoamine and chondrotin with my 17 yr old cat and my 7.5 yr old dog ...

I second the glucosamine (either Cosequin or Glyco-Flex). I used to give it to my kitten who had luxating patellas (another joint condition), and she went from not being able to stand to running and playing like a kitten should! She still stumbled some, but it helped a bunch!

Fred likes to lay on the heating pad. It seems to provide him some relief. I had one of those foam neck support pillows, one of the ones that is kind of firm, and he sleeps comfortably on that. He is 17, and has slight arthritis in his hips.

We've had luck when the vet prescribed Metacam. It was developed for dogs and our cat only needs a drop a day so its is inexpensive. She was very stiff before but now will play more with the younger cat.

they also have cat and dog ramps that makeit easiers for animals to get to the furniture they like. http://www.petclassics.com/RampsIndoor.htm like those.

I have two arthritic cats here so I've been doing a lot of research. Cosequin has helped my persian immensely. She even sprints onto the couch now.

As for my other cat...not as good. I've looked into a lot of products and settled on Syn-flex, a liquid supplement. We just started so I'm not sure how this will turn out.

Metacam is good for occasional pain and/or you have no other choice. Just know that long term use has caused kidney/liver problems in some cats. If I had no other choice and I was thinking about euthanasia, I wouldn't certainly give the metacam a chance.