Help please - problem with cat's leg

[janied]

Hello I'm hoping for any suggestions. Just before Christmas my 14 year old ragdoll started limping and had a swelling in his leg. Vet gave him anti inflammatory which had a positive effect but as soon as we stopped the swelling came back & he was limping again.
Next a needle extraction but the results were inconclusive.
So on to an invasive biopsy which to everyone's surprise came back as negative for any cancer.
Now all the vets at the practise are mystified as to what the problem is.
He's been changed onto prednisilone plus an opiod pain killer but he's not doing well with the steroids. When I take him again in 3 days I'm going to suggest we go back to the anti inflammatory which seemed to be much better.
But any ideas as to what this might be and/or alternative yrwatment (short of amputation which is all I'm hearing from the vet) would be hugely welcome

 

[di and bob]

He might have bad arthritis. You could see about arthritis supplements plus an antiinflammatory and see if that would help.

 

[janied]

He might have bad arthritis. You could see about arthritis supplements plus an antiinflammatory and see if that would help.

Thank you and apologies I should have said the X rays he had show no sign of arthritis or trauma

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Have you talked with the vets about consulting with a vet university? Sometimes, because of the training, they will have seen cases/situations that vets may never actually run across in their practice.

Short of that, I agree with the anti-inflammatory vs a steroid. It would seem that with the anti-inflammatory your cat didn't need an added pain med, which if true, would be even better!!

 

[janied]

Ohh thank you that's a great idea. And no he didn't need the extra pain med with the anti-inflammatory.