Hi Cat Friends,
I'm new, and here because of my 12 year old chocolate point siamese, Sassy. AKA, the kitty love of my life. I've read through old threads on arthritis and have found them to be very helpful.
She's been diagnosed as arthritic for about 2 years now. She's been taking GlycoFlex2 since then - adding in Cerenia about a year ago. This summer she was diagnosed with IBD which has added Prednisalone and Metronidazole to the mix. Both of which, I've been told, can be helpful for arthritis as well.
In the last couple of weeks she's had a significant change in her health - her hips and knees are causing her much more discomfort. I've added in Adequan, Gabapentin and acupuncture. I've done all of the other things the interwebs and vets suggest - ramps, warm snuggle spots, easy access water, food and boxes. She also takes pumpkin and miralax - because it seems that IBD kitties can also be very constipated, not just very gross poopy. She's on a diet to lose weight and eating food for IBD.
So, we see two different vets - one for medical care and one for acupuncture. Our beloved long term vet recently retired so neither of these vets know us particularly well, and I'm feeling quite lost.
I feel that she is now on a good regimen of meds, and has a living situation that is optimized for her comfort. I always keep in the back of my mind her quality of life. She's so zonked out on pain meds now, and I hate it. I've been playing with the dose recently to find the best one, and she needs a higher dose. She's not doing much besides snoozing in her favorite warm place, eating and using the box. She is able to get where she wants to go, though more slowly and with a sometimes limp from her back legs. When she tries to pull herself up from laying down, she has to 'try' a couple of times before she can actually do it. It's heartbreaking.
Because her arthritis is in her hips, she sometimes has a hard time holding herself up in the box while peeing, causing her to get messy. She's a little trooper and is very forgiving when I give her a bath - but it's happening multiple times per week now. Sometimes it improves, sometimes it relapses. I'm a neat freak and not inclined to have her track this around the house, so I check her every time she leaves the box. You can imagine how much fun that is for both of us.
My questions are this:
Do you have any experience with an arthritic kitty who can't hold herself up in the box and makes a mess of herself? Have you been able to do anything to improve this? To me this is the biggest indicator of how she feels. She's a very clean cat, and a very good box user. She does not want to be messy like this.
What does your arthritic kitty do that makes you think she's not feeling well? I ask this because I recently read that something she does that I think is kindof sweet is actually her being uncomfortable and compensating for that discomfort.
Have you had an arthritic kitty that you decided no longer had a good quality of life? What were the biggest indicators for you?
Thanks you guys.
Mrow from Sassy.
I'm new, and here because of my 12 year old chocolate point siamese, Sassy. AKA, the kitty love of my life. I've read through old threads on arthritis and have found them to be very helpful.
She's been diagnosed as arthritic for about 2 years now. She's been taking GlycoFlex2 since then - adding in Cerenia about a year ago. This summer she was diagnosed with IBD which has added Prednisalone and Metronidazole to the mix. Both of which, I've been told, can be helpful for arthritis as well.
In the last couple of weeks she's had a significant change in her health - her hips and knees are causing her much more discomfort. I've added in Adequan, Gabapentin and acupuncture. I've done all of the other things the interwebs and vets suggest - ramps, warm snuggle spots, easy access water, food and boxes. She also takes pumpkin and miralax - because it seems that IBD kitties can also be very constipated, not just very gross poopy. She's on a diet to lose weight and eating food for IBD.
So, we see two different vets - one for medical care and one for acupuncture. Our beloved long term vet recently retired so neither of these vets know us particularly well, and I'm feeling quite lost.
I feel that she is now on a good regimen of meds, and has a living situation that is optimized for her comfort. I always keep in the back of my mind her quality of life. She's so zonked out on pain meds now, and I hate it. I've been playing with the dose recently to find the best one, and she needs a higher dose. She's not doing much besides snoozing in her favorite warm place, eating and using the box. She is able to get where she wants to go, though more slowly and with a sometimes limp from her back legs. When she tries to pull herself up from laying down, she has to 'try' a couple of times before she can actually do it. It's heartbreaking.
Because her arthritis is in her hips, she sometimes has a hard time holding herself up in the box while peeing, causing her to get messy. She's a little trooper and is very forgiving when I give her a bath - but it's happening multiple times per week now. Sometimes it improves, sometimes it relapses. I'm a neat freak and not inclined to have her track this around the house, so I check her every time she leaves the box. You can imagine how much fun that is for both of us.
My questions are this:
Do you have any experience with an arthritic kitty who can't hold herself up in the box and makes a mess of herself? Have you been able to do anything to improve this? To me this is the biggest indicator of how she feels. She's a very clean cat, and a very good box user. She does not want to be messy like this.
What does your arthritic kitty do that makes you think she's not feeling well? I ask this because I recently read that something she does that I think is kindof sweet is actually her being uncomfortable and compensating for that discomfort.
Have you had an arthritic kitty that you decided no longer had a good quality of life? What were the biggest indicators for you?
Thanks you guys.
Mrow from Sassy.
sending good thoughts and well wishes, hope a solution is found through meds or other... so Sassy can return to the box again. Lots of support found here.... She's Gorgeous! 
