Yes we have an organic deli here that makes a blend particularly for animals. It makes it a lot easier. Didn't know they made it frozen also. That's great.
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Osteogenesis Imperfecta
- Thread starter sassyfras
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- #42
So we decided yesterday to xray Nevilles front legs to see if he would be able to support himself if we should have to get him a wheel chair. His back legs aren't healing AT ALL. In fact, they are getting worse. All the bone around the fractures are deteriorating. The bones in his feet and pelvis are decalcifying (spelling?) and we were thinking about possibly amputating his leg that isnt (and can not be) pinned. So like I said we xrayed his front legs to make sure he could handle it. I got the worst news possible. Not only are is front legs just as weak as the back ones but he also has a fracture in his humerus at the elbow joint which we didn't even know. (he never even limped on it!) So poor little Neville has THREE broken legs. I dont know if I am doing the right thing any more. He is so HAPPY it makes it so hard to decide if I am doing the right thing for him. He purrs and walks on all of his legs (sometimes he limps on his left rear but it only lasts for a day or two at a time). He tries his best to play and all he ever wants is for someone to pet him or feed him. He NEVER cries in pain. Am I being blind because of my love for him? He is just so determined that its hard for me to give up on him. His bones are just so weak that they are just crumbling. I just dont know anymore. I dont want him to suffer but I dont want to give up on him when he is SO happy. Has anyone had a case this severe? I just need some guidance....
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- #44
Although I have not had to deal w/ something that severe, I just wanted to tell you to hang in there! Personally, what has always guided me is Redd's moods. She has always had a good quality of life despite the breaks, so we've continued to fight for her. FWIW, Neville may have learned to deal w/ the breaks such that the minor ones don't bother him. I have been told that this sometimes happens w/ OI patients, and that would explain why you didn't realize he had a new break.
Good luck. I am sure you will make the right decision for him.
Good luck. I am sure you will make the right decision for him.
Lucy is having problems again. We had a good stretch but now the bent pin in her leg is causing severe inflammation. Removing the pin is the last resort as it has been in there over a year from the failed surgery and now things are growing around it (though not healing). She's on every supplement possible and did a round of metacam. A lot of the rx drugs available can decrease wound healing which she already has a problem with. Any ideas out there? Thanks
Neville is on Metacam once every third day. I cant take him off of it because of all his issues. He is also on tramadol which is a pain medication (not a antinflamatory) The only antinflamatory , other then steriods like prednisone which reduces the bodys immune response, that can be used in cats is metacam. Neville just recently had one of the pins in his leg move resulting in an abcess. We had to remove that one. He seems to be doing well now. Your only other option for oral medications is more then likely steroids. (which does decrease wound healing) Cats just dont handle antinflamatory medications well. Hope things go well for lucy.
Finally some good news... we re x-rayed Neville yesterday... His back legs are finally healing!!! His front leg still hasn't shown any signs of healing but his back ones are! Its taken since last May but things are finally getting better.
He still pulling his hair out on his legs and tail. I'm not to sure anymore if its pain or just behavioral. He shows no other signs of pain. I think it maybe from him having to be kept in his crate when we're not home to supervise him. His crate is huge (takes up the entire length of a wall in my living room and is about 3 feet wide) but I'm sure its not the same as getting to roam the house. I'm just too afraid he'll jump off something when were not home and brake his back.
He's such a fighter. I wish the people who complain about how hard they have things could see what this little cat has accomplished. He inspires me everyday.
YEAH!!
He still pulling his hair out on his legs and tail. I'm not to sure anymore if its pain or just behavioral. He shows no other signs of pain. I think it maybe from him having to be kept in his crate when we're not home to supervise him. His crate is huge (takes up the entire length of a wall in my living room and is about 3 feet wide) but I'm sure its not the same as getting to roam the house. I'm just too afraid he'll jump off something when were not home and brake his back.
He's such a fighter. I wish the people who complain about how hard they have things could see what this little cat has accomplished. He inspires me everyday.
YEAH!!
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- #48
Hey there! I have not been here in ages, but I wanted to post to see how Lucy & Neville are doing. Redd celebrated her 12th bday in April. She is having some problems that we think are related to an abcessed tooth, but she has not broken in quite some time (knocks wood), has managed to outlive her sister, and is doing pretty well overall, all things considered.
Hope everyone's been well.
Hope everyone's been well.
Since we are talking about cats and Bone Disease i don't think it matters if the posts are older or not.
My daughter has a cat that fractured his back leg and had to get an operation that was $950.00 for surgery and that was on the cheap end.The Vet. also informed us that his other leg could be next. I wasn't aware of this but calcium is one ingredient that is not in most of your foods for animals and vitamins.This is something animals need very much but it is not common knowledge.
The best way to get your animal(most any common animal) the calcium it needs is to bake egg shells and then grind them up in a coffee grinder, then sprinkle on food every few days.I learned this from my own research.I was surprised the Vet. had no knowledge of this.
I recently was watching a show called the lion man and when he was preparing his cats there meat there he was rubbing calcium into the carcass and meat chunks.
I started to think back about all the shows i have watched about animal parks and sanctuaries and i noticed one animal or another always had to go to the Vet. and get an x-ray because of a bone problem.In the wild animals would get most of there calcium from actually eating the bone and the marrow.
Our domesticated pets are probably not getting enough of it.I hope this helps or if you know more about this subject matter i would appreciate a reply
~Marie
My daughter has a cat that fractured his back leg and had to get an operation that was $950.00 for surgery and that was on the cheap end.The Vet. also informed us that his other leg could be next. I wasn't aware of this but calcium is one ingredient that is not in most of your foods for animals and vitamins.This is something animals need very much but it is not common knowledge.
The best way to get your animal(most any common animal) the calcium it needs is to bake egg shells and then grind them up in a coffee grinder, then sprinkle on food every few days.I learned this from my own research.I was surprised the Vet. had no knowledge of this.
I recently was watching a show called the lion man and when he was preparing his cats there meat there he was rubbing calcium into the carcass and meat chunks.
I started to think back about all the shows i have watched about animal parks and sanctuaries and i noticed one animal or another always had to go to the Vet. and get an x-ray because of a bone problem.In the wild animals would get most of there calcium from actually eating the bone and the marrow.
Our domesticated pets are probably not getting enough of it.I hope this helps or if you know more about this subject matter i would appreciate a reply
~Marie
Actually this isn't true. At least not in the US and Europe. All pet foods sold in the US must meet AAFCO recommendations for nutritional adequacy unless they are labelled for supplemental feeding only. In Europe it is the FEDIAF recommendations that must be followed. The recommendations include an amount of calcium required to meet the animals needs. If you look at any pet food product label you will find a calcium source listed.
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Hello, My cat also has OI and she is 13 years old. She is having problems with being impacted, due to the shrinking of her pelvic bones. She's on lactulose medicine every 8 hours, it's helping slowly but surely. She has two divots in her spine that cause some paralysis in her back legs, she drags her legs for a few steps once she gets up from laying down, but once they are aligned she is running all over the place. She does limit herself, and of course the apartment is stair stepped so she doesn't have to jump down. She's a happy little girl ! She'll be in diapers soon due to the impacted intestines and until she can regain more control of her bladder. Praying for Redd. How is your little baby doing these days.
Hi, I am new here. I just found out my 6 month old kitten has OI. This is heartbreaking but there seems to be some hope from what I am reading here. I see this thread goes back pretty far. I'm hoping for a response from anyone with further information. My little Toby had his first injury 2 months ago and it's been a roller coaster of doing better and regressing. A specialist Othopedic vet saw him today- after evaluation and x-rays, he found 6 fractures in various stages. He said the prognosis isn't good at all and most owners euthanize. My regular vet says it's worth trying to help him and is researching the disease. I've have a few homeopathic vets say they don't have enough experience with OI to treat him confidently. He is an indoors only cat. We rescued him from animal control end of June and he was a completely normal kitten for the first month and a half. Growing fast! They do think he was the runt of the litter as he was 1.8 lbs when they got him around 8 weeks. It is unclear if he was abandoned or taken from his mother too early. The OI could be a reason a mother cat would reject him. The ortho vet said he may have even been born with a fracture. He has been in a padded room with a baby gate and has stilled managed to hurt himself. He doesn't jump up on anything. I see a lot of supplements and remedies on here that have helped but I'm wondering about dosage and where to get them. I should be hearing back from my regular vet tomorrow but and curious what others on here can offer. I'm researching the vitamin C, arnica, calc phos, ats patties, rhus tox, and silica all mentioned here.
Hi
S
SaraV
, I'm sorry about your little cat Toby. This sounds like an awful condition, and I'm glad it's so rare. He's lucky that he ended up with a caring owner willing to help him. Because it's so rare I don't know how many members will have had personal experience with the condition, but you never know, and I do hope you get some ideas here.
Thank you for the response. I was happy to find some good information here even if it is years old. I figured it's worth checking here. He is young and strong, so putting him down without trying just doesn't make sense right now. We of course don't want him to be suffering either so we will just do our best by him. Thanks again for the kind words.
Hey! I was wondering how your furbaby was doing?Thank you for the response. I was happy to find some good information here even if it is years old. I figured it's worth checking here. He is young and strong, so putting him down without trying just doesn't make sense right now. We of course don't want him to be suffering either so we will just do our best by him. Thanks again for the kind words.
My little guy is Igor an all black just about 6 month old kitten. We are coming down to the diagnosis of OI. I imagine he'll be on quite a few supplements soon. I'm hopeful with what sounds like he can have a long and happy life by everyone's posts here! Poor little man has broken 3 of his legs and he's only just turning 6 months. He has a pin in each leg and a plate in two of them as well. He's very happy though.
Hi! I’m sorry to hear about Igor, but the good news is that our little Toby will be one year and he has not broken anything since we received the diagnosis. There is hope! Our vet has been wonderful, others say don’t waste the money which makes me sad. He is very fragile but we have set him up well. He was a rescue and very scared in general. When we got him, we were going to slowly acclimate him to our dogs. Well, that’s too risky with OI. We have German Shepherd that could accidentally put a paw down playfully and break Toby so he has his own room and is protected. It is not as simple as just adding calcium, believe me. We tried allendronate (Fosamax) as the owner of Red did here, but had disasterous results! Toby was in the ER clinic for a whole week as it caused his calcium level to plummet and he went into a cardiac episode. This was after 1 dose!! It took a whole week for the one dose to leave his system and he had receive IV calcium until his level stabilized. He lost a lot of weight (and he was only 4 lbs then) plus the risk of handling him could’ve broken more bones. It was terrible and I don’t recommend it. Plus that was VERY expensive. In trying to help him, we almost lost him, but he is a fighter. His calcium levels per blood work were normal before and after. You do need a supportive vet and anywhere you take him needs to understand his fragility so they handle him properly. A vet visit could mean a fracture! He doesn’t seem to have other issues but I’ve been told that they could arise as he grows. It also depends on the severity of OI. I’ve read where bones spontaneously shatter and teeth are pinkish and break off, but that’s not him. His teeth are great. As with humans, the disease usually gets better after puberty which is 1-1 1/2 years for cats. We upped the quality of his canned food so he’s getting moisture and protein. He eats various flavors of kitten Blue Buffalo. I add Caru brand bone broth made for pets. You can also make your own, there are a lot of directions online for this. Do not use made for human broth! Onions and garlic are toxic to cats. And you don’t want added sodium, etc. Bone broth has needed collagen. The natural remedies seem to be working. He takes Vitamin C in liquid form (I will get you the info on the specific one because you don’t want one with added sugar or other ingredients). Vitamin Csupports collagen production to help bones and connective tissues form, we crush organic eggshells into a fine powder and sprinkle a just bit on his food (too much calcium can cause heart problems especially if it can’t bind to other nutrients like magnesium), a multivitamin gel, a gel with glucosamine and chondroitin (we alternate days with the 2 gels). You can read online about how mother birds give their babies crushed eggshells. Plus it’s good for us too. You can also buy eggshell powder online. I boil the shells to remove any bacteria, then dry them out in the oven at a low temp to dry them out. Moisture will allow for bacteria. You just use a pinch so a few shells lasts a long time if stored properly. Toby fractured his pelvis and it’s narrowed, and his left femur has grown curved so he walks a little funny but is otherwise a very happy kitty. We play wil him lots, his dog brothers keep him company just on the other side of his baby gate, and he lives the pampered life. As his hips are healing and through his ups and downs so far, we give him a dose of Buprenex for pain according to proper dosage for his weight. Toby is 6 lbs now. He will stay petite. Because of his hip fracture, his pelvis is narrowed and he has minor constipation every so often. We give him 1/8 tsp Miralax in his food and it rights the situation. I’ve done a ton of research and so far so good. I’m happy to share more if you want it.
Goodness thank you for all the information. I work at a vet, that's how I ended up with him actually haha
My vets are very understanding and helpful with cost, thank God.
Now I know it's kinda normal he's so small he's barely at 4 lbs now.
I have him on l-lysine already but I'll definitely look into changing his diet and add in the egg shells which is a great use of them! We've talked about adding in vitamins and I'm fine with going holistic to help him. He seems very happy. And he's moving into a one floor studio apartment so that should help, since his last break was for falling down the stairs. The dogs are so gentle with him
hopefully the pins should help with reoccurring breaks. Thank you and I'd love updates and any additional information you stumble upon!
My vets are very understanding and helpful with cost, thank God.
Now I know it's kinda normal he's so small he's barely at 4 lbs now.
I have him on l-lysine already but I'll definitely look into changing his diet and add in the egg shells which is a great use of them! We've talked about adding in vitamins and I'm fine with going holistic to help him. He seems very happy. And he's moving into a one floor studio apartment so that should help, since his last break was for falling down the stairs. The dogs are so gentle with him
hopefully the pins should help with reoccurring breaks. Thank you and I'd love updates and any additional information you stumble upon!I'm happy to help, and if a little kitty can be given a chance at a good life, I'm very glad to share what has and hasnt worked for us. That's really great that you work for a vet and that they are supportive. There really isnt much information as this is so rare and most owners dont want to deal with what can be involved. Our mentality is that we want to give him the best life possible. He is mentally fine and very happy, and if we can prevent fractures/pain, then we feel it is worth trying. If he was in constant pain, or constantly hurting himself, then we would have to do the right thing by him and put him down, but that isnt the case. You will have to figure out just how fragile your little guy is. Toby is in a very padded, protected environment (carpeted bedroom with blankets), and he has learned to move slower. He doesnt try to jump up on anything like a normal cat, but we also make an environment where that isnt a temptation. Before we knew about his OI, he would hurt or re-hurt himself by simply moving too fast. He is very skiddish in general, and he would turn his body faster than his legs and hurt himself. We do our best to limit loud noises, and things that could cause him to be startled. We got him a little playset and fun cat toys to stimulate him (and we play with him a lot.) We got the playset on Amazon but removed one of the balls for safety (it was loose but the rest is very secure). It comes up if you search "petty love cat". It looks like a big lady bug with dangling toys attached. The vitamin gels I got online at Chewy.com but I think you can get them at Petsmart or similar. Good luck and let me know if I can help. Plus, I'd also love to know how Igor gets along so please do send updates. It may just help other kitties with OI.
Here is a link to the vitamin C:
Vita-Cat Vitamin C Formula for Cats | Two Crazy Cat Ladies
Here is a link to the vitamin C:
Vita-Cat Vitamin C Formula for Cats | Two Crazy Cat Ladies
