Young Female Cat (3-4 years old) with Arthritis in Hips

[lab mom]

Hi All,

I have a something I am concerned with and would love some feedback.... My female cat is approx. 3-4 years old and today my vet told me she has arthritis in her hips and a little bit in her knee and back. I am so worried and shocked by the news as she is pretty young.
I rescued her as a feral in 2017, when she was pregnant with 5 kittens. We think she is about 3 or 4 years old. She had been outside my parents old house for about 9 months to a year when we finally trapped her while she pregnant. She had another litter earlier that year before we could get her.
She is the very best kitty and you would never know she was feral. She is such a cuddle, and has never bit or scratched anyone or ever acted aggressive. She has really come out of her shell.
But, about 2 weeks ago, I noticed she acted tender when I would touch her lower spine area. I didn't think much about it, until it just didn't go away. So, last Saturday, I took her to my vet and she suggested that maybe she had pulled a muscle, and gave her some pain meds for 5 days. It didn't really seem to help too much, so today I took her for an x-ray that showed deterioration in her hip joints, as well as a bit of deterioration in her back and a little in her knee. She suggested we start on Fish Oil and Glucosamine.
This seems way too young to have this. She is a bit over weight, so I wonder if that could have caused it?I am upset and will do whatever it takes to make her life good and pain free. I worry this will shorten her life and make it painful and miserable.
Does anyone have experience with this? Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[Kieka]

Arthritis starts a lot younger then many people realize. My 2 year old rabbit has arthritis in his hips, which we only know about from a xray for unrelated reasons. My 5 year old cat has advanced arthritis in his leg from a break. I knew a 16 year old human in high school who had arthritis and my 32 year old brother has it in his hip. It's annoying but completely manageable and knowing about it early you can take steps now.

As your vet suggested, fish oil and glucosamine can help slow the advancement. If she's overweight, getting a better handle on her weight and diet will help slow its impact and reduce potential problems. You can also look into increasing her activity to keep the joints mobile and muscles strong to help support the joints better. Once she shows signs of problems you can look into ramps, steps and lower litter boxes to all help her maintain her access to places she loves (or needs) with less stress on joints. My boy with advance arthritis was a big step user before I started medications.

My boy has an underlying injury that caused his arthritis to advance as quickly as it has. He also responds poorly to modern treatments so I worked with my vet for more holistic options. There are side effects and risk whatever way you go but since it is early days you have time to both look through research and talk to your vet about what steps to take when she does need pharmaceutical assistance to manage her condition.

It will be okay. Will there be bad days? Yes. But you will get through it and she will manage. Cats are resilient and adaptive.

 

[abyeb]

I’m sorry to hear that you and your cat are dealing with this. I think she is young to get arthritis, but the important thing is that you got it figured out, and are working with your vet to manage her symptoms.

Here’s a helpful article: NY Vet 2017: Osteoarthritis in Cats

According to this article, weight loss can help to alleviate arthritis symptoms in cats. But, don’t randomly cut down her food intake. Ask your vet first if they think she needs to lose weight, and how to adjust her diet.

The article also says that Omega-3 (found in fish oil) and Glucosamine are good. It also says that there are some medications available as well, but, as always, talk to your vet about your options. It’s possible that the fish oil and Glucosamine may help enough that she doesn’t need to take medicine.

You may also need to modify her environment. Giving her a low-sided litterbox, and adding additional steps to get to her perches can help to reduce stress on her joints, and make it easier for her to get places.

 

[lab mom]

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, my vet suggested cutting down her food and she is 14 lbs and feels she needs to lose weight. Also, I am trying to change her type of food. So, i don't want to do everything at once, I think it will throw them into a funk. the other issue, is that we kept one of her kittens, and the feed together, so now I don't know how I will get her the right about of fish oil and glucosamine because they share. They said it is okay that he gets this, but then I am not sure she will get enough. Ugh, I could have done without this...it is stressful!!
I will read the article...thanks for including!!

 

[lab mom]

Kieka, thank you also for your response. I hope that I can keep it at bay for as long as possible. I am just disappointed, as I had a dog with melanoma and I took amazing care of him, but it was a lot of work (and I would do it again, if I had to) but I guess I thought that having young animals I wouldn't have problems for a while. Just another thing to worry about.... sorry just venting a bit and I think this all sounds overwhelming right now.
They mentioned hip dysplasia...but i am not sure I understood, because that is something they are born with, correct?
From your experience, does this shorten their lives? Are their lives full of pain? I know these are questions for a vet..

 

[Kieka]

Kieka, thank you also for your response. I hope that I can keep it at bay for as long as possible. I am just disappointed, as I had a dog with melanoma and I took amazing care of him, but it was a lot of work (and I would do it again, if I had to) but I guess I thought that having young animals I wouldn't have problems for a while. Just another thing to worry about.... sorry just venting a bit and I think this all sounds overwhelming right now.
They mentioned hip dysplasia...but i am not sure I understood, because that is something they are born with, correct?
From your experience, does this shorten their lives? Are their lives full of pain? I know these are questions for a vet..

Hip dysplasia is the hip not sitting right in the joint while arthritis is degenerative bones usually at the joints. Arthritis can be achy or tender and you can only slow it down or manage the symptoms. Hip dysplasia has a corrective surgery but if left untreated the cat may not be able to walk at all at some point. Neither will technically shorten a life span and you can take steps to make things easier so it is less impactful. Movement can be painful for them if you don't treat it and if you don't take steps to make things easier (ramps and steps for example). But it isn't immediately bad and it isn't something you can't mitigate.

I had a cat with cancer and that was four medications a day with weekly vet visits. In comparison, my boy gets one drop of his medicine twice a day mixed with his food. My rabbit, I don't do anything for at this point because it is so minor and rabbits have a different system that is more sensitive in general (and it's much harder to mix something in to his food) so I will treat when we notice it impact him if he needs it. Both my animals are at a healthy weight and are active which also helps reduce problems for them.