Arthritis at 11...

[jarn]

So I'm not here much - I had a thread about Timothy's weight loss (he weighed 23.4lbs when we adopted him, down to 15lbs now). We noticed limping when we first adopted him (almost 3 years ago) and the vet couldn't feel any thickening. It went away with his weight loss.

He's been limping again lately. I took him to the vet today for a contactless appointment. They could feel thickening in BOTH elbows (he'd only been favouring his front right leg) and did x-rays. He has fairly severe arthritis in both - "a mess" is how they described it. They'll email me the x-rays so we can see.

We're to start him on 500ml fish oil/day, have him trim down some more (we'd been holding him steady - he's got a little waist), and we're starting cartrophen injections.

Hoping to hear success stories (or sage advice). Timothy is 11, so I wasn't expecting arthritis so young. I guess close to 9 years of morbid obesity before we adopted him will do that to a cat!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I really don't have any sage advice, but am very empathetic to what you and Timothy are going through. Feeby (15+ yo) has been overweight for many years of her life - not quite as bad as Timothy though. She started limping about 3 or so years ago, and we had x-rays done. It showed arthritis in one elbow and some of her toes, as well as two nearly fused vertebrae in her upper spine. Not sure what is the story behind the vertebrae as she found us at 2+ yo, so perhaps a previous injury. Anyway, we put her on Glyco Flex Plus (glucosamine, chondroitin, green lipped mussels) at that time, and her limping went away within a few weeks. She was (and still is overweight) at that time, so even without a weight loss the Glyco Flex Plus helped her. They are big chews, which can be cut up easily to bite size, and they can also be crushed up to put into food. They only cost about $10 per month (one chew per day).

She had also stopped jumping up on her favorite spots but resumed most of them after starting the Glyco. She has since lost some weight, and is still on Glyco, which seems to have helped enough for her to be more mobile. I did, however, add some interim steps to help her get to some of the higher spots that she once had no problem with. She uses those religiously. So, along with everything else, you might want to consider adding some make-shift steps to help him get to places he might not otherwise go.

I am sure other members with experiences closer to yours will soon come along and offer their input and support.

 

[Kieka]

My boy, Link, is six years old and has been dealing with arthritis for three years. His is from a broken bone that healed, was rebroken and healed again. Its pretty advanced in that leg and was impacting his ability to move around.

He doesn't respond well to traditional medicines and we didn't have much luck with Glyco Flex Plus (although some people do so it is worth trying). I've been giving him a very low dose of CBD oil with good effect. Because he is so young and I don't want to risk him developing a tolerance that leads to unsafe dosage, I do give him the absolute minimum dosage for effect. I very slowly increased his dosage until I saw it helped and will continue to increase as needed (which hasn't been since we hit therapeutic dosage but expecting it at some point). CBD oil does have a lot of baggage but it works for us. I would say be super cautious of the source, distributor and carrier oil used.

 

[jarn]

Thanks to both of you - I appreciate your responses sharing your experience. It's all very helpful. I will look into more supplements for him. I take CBD for some issues myself, if we don't see response from what we're trying, I'll look into that as well.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Personally speaking, I think the cartrophen injections for now are the way to go. See what happens with those, and please keep us posted.

 

[jarn]

Personally speaking, I think the cartrophen injections for now are the way to go. See what happens with those, and please keep us posted.

You're probably right. Don't do too many things at one time. Thanks again!!!!

 

[Kieka]

Personally speaking, I think the cartrophen injections for now are the way to go. See what happens with those, and please keep us posted.

Agreed. My boy doesn't handle them well (he gets bad side effects), so we can't do them. But he is pretty sensitive to most medications. I am a fan of going with the option with the most scientific grounding first and holistic only when that doesn't work.

 

[jarn]

Timothy's got his first shot of cartrophen and was not a fan, but he's really quite a chill cat so it went fine. I've given cats sub-q injections before so that part was okay.

 

[jarn]

Here's Timothy's x-rays.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Wow! I just wonder why his front legs are so affected, instead of his back legs. Are his back legs showing arthritis at all? Cats mostly propel themselves with their back legs, so there is more wear and tear on those joints. Makes me wonder if there wasn't some sort of trauma that occurred before you got him, which would explain why those joints in particular are so bad.

Because Feeby's arthritis is primarily in her one elbow (as well as some front toes) and she has those two fused vertebrae in her upper spine, I have always wondered if somehow the two were connected. Did they x-ray his back as well?

 

[jarn]

I know, I'm no x-ray expert but they do look bad to me.

They did not x-ray his back legs. Perhaps we'll do that when he next goes in. I'm not sure whether they felt his hind legs given as I was not in the appointment (contactless) (they didn't mention anything about doing that).

He's such a laid back guy, I can't imagine what would've happened to him. Not that it couldn't, I guess I just don't like to think of it. Our beagle was terrified of feet (if you stepped over his leash to avoid tangles he'd flinch and cower) and hiking poles (cower and shake). I hate to think of what happened to him. He isn't scared of either those things anymore. Of course, Timothy could've just jumped from too high or something.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You can just compare the elbow to the shoulder joint and see the drastic difference. Feeby has always been laid back too - but still, to have damage in her upper spine that has caused the fusion in the vertebrae suggests to me that something happened to her before she found me. Never saw anything in her personality or mannerisms to indicate such a thing, but I guess you just never know.

 

[jarn]

Yeah when you compare it's pretty stark.

Poor Feeby It's hard to know their history, we hope it's good, but we can almost never know.

 

[FeebysOwner]

The key is that Timothy (and Feeby) seem content now in their lives with us - that overall is what matters. Whatever may have (or have not) happened before us, their contentment now means they are 'OK'.

Keep us posted on Timothy and the cartrophen injections. I hope he tolerates them well and that they help him.

 

[jarn]

Oh 100%. Timothy is very settled and happy - the purr machine! He's such a snuggly guy.

I will absolutely. I hope they help him. I've also asked our vet if they think he's a candidate for chiro.

 

[neely]

I've also asked our vet if they think he's a candidate for chiro.

We adopted our guy from a terrible hoarder situation and later found out he has arthritis in his back end. He's a big guy but not as big as your boy, Timothy. One of the vets talked about Gabapentin but his pain doesn't warrant it at this point. We go to a feline specialty vet and she recommended cold laster therapy. She said it's painless which I really liked. In case you're interested you may want to ask your vet about it as an alternative to chiro. Cold Laser Therapy for Dogs and Cats

Here is a TCS Article that discusses arthritis in cats and may have some helpful information for you:
Arthritis And Joint Pain In Cats
And 2 different threads about arthritis in cats: 1) Senior Cat Arthritis Help, Please
2) Arthritis Pain

I agree with FeebysOwner that if your cat is content and living a happy life that is what matters. Best of luck, please keep us posted on Timothy and what works for his arthritis.

 

[jarn]

Thank you so much neely - I've taken a look at these links, very helpful. I will keep everyone posted for sure.

 

[jarn]

I heard from our vet - they feel he is not a good candidate for arthritis in terms of location (elbows) and how advanced it is.

 

[jarn]

Good candidate for chiro I mean! Sigh

 

[jarn]

Timothy's limp has been gone for weeks (but then, it was sporadic in the past). His walk is smoother now than it has been - we think - he's 3.5 weeks into the cartrophen and fish oil. We're pleased with his improvement!