Arthritis in back leg

[abunaione]

So Sandy just made 19yo.
She's doing the best she can.
Eating fine.
Poop and pee fine.
Sleeps a lot these days, but still goes out walking sometimes.
Still jumps up to her favorite place.
She has arthritis on her back legs.
Good some days, not so good some days.
She is getting Solensia shots, and I've been giving her Busters Hemp Oil once a day.
She also get fluids IV once a week, B12 once month, and Adequan every two weeks.
Is there a better hemp oil or something else that will help her????
She's also very hard of hearing.
Getting old sucks.

 

[Lari]

My vet recommended cosequin or dasuquin for our kitty with arthritis.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. You are giving her the two pain meds (Solensia and Adequan) intended to help with arthritis already. You can add joint supplements as mentioned above, but I am not sure what your goal is for Sandy? What exactly do you mean by 'good some days, not so good some days'?

Do you think she is in pain? You could ask the vet for a pain med that is not in conflict with Solensia or Adequan. You also need to make sure there is no contraindications of giving something like hemp oil along with these arthritic treatments too.

Just out of curiosity, what are the once a week IV fluids (not sub-Q?) for?

Sandy sounds like she gets around pretty good for a 19yo cat. You may be expecting more than is possible for her age.

 

[abunaione]

She will not eat cosequin or dasuquin, unless I force her.
Being so old, I don't want to stress her.

Good days she walks around more, Back legs not a hunched, goes out more, and is more talkative.
Bad days she sleeps a lot, and walks hunched on the back legs.
I assume she is in some pain.
When she's lying on me, I sometimes stroke her on the leg by mistake, and she hisses at me.
Fluids are just saline to keep her hydrated.
Doc said it helps older cats.
She doing the best she can for her age.
Just wondering if there might be something else that someone knows about.
Like us, cats are all different.
Somethings work for some, and not others.

 

[FeebysOwner]

My cat won't take Cosequin or Dasuquin either, so totally understand!

As far as the fluids for hydration - take stock in whether her good days seem to follow the times she gets the fluids, and the not so good days are closer to when she is due to get more fluids. She may need them more often. I have read many articles on giving fluids once a week is just not often enough. I give my cat sub-Q fluids (not IV) at home, so if you are hesitant to do it yourself, it really isn't hard to do once you get past the initial fear.

The fluids aren't likely to explain anything to do with the sensitivity in the back legs, but it is possible that Solensia is no longer working. I also read up on that quite a bit, and saw where there are cases when it can become ineffective over time. Sometimes a break will 're-boot' the effectiveness, so maybe she could use a period where she doesn't take it. Feeby was on Solensia for about 6 months, but about 4 months into taking it, she developed severe itchiness, so we had to take her off of it.

I am not as familiar with Adequan, but have often seen where members have resorted to giving both to their cats as they just didn't think Adequan was doing enough all by itself. Perhaps, she could take another form of pain med if you do choose to take her off Solensia for a while. Again, as with almost any med, they have to be checked for use in combination with CBD/hemp products.

Gabapentin is one of the vet 'go-to' pain meds, but I really couldn't get Feeby to take it and I went through 5 or 6 compounded versions. So, she is on buprenorphine for her arthritis. It is a very, very small dose (0.1ml) that I can easily syringe into her cheek without issue - there is not even enough to swallow. It is not intended to be swallowed but rather absorbed into the mucous membranes of the mouth. This is the only thing I have ever been successful in getting Feeby to take by oral syringe

 

[abunaione]

She seems to drink lots of water, and pees through out the day, so she should be good on that.
Seems no pattern to her good and bad days.
I'll ask the doc about the Solensia.
I'll also ask about pain meds.
Maybe some better CBD or Hemp oil????

 

[FeebysOwner]

A long time member on this site uses this CBD oil, and has on different cats for many years. They also gave me another link that discusses the products in general -
CBD Pet Tincture with Hemp Oil - Organic, Non-GMO, Food Grade Ingredients (4cornerscannabis.com)
Cannabis 101: CBD for Cats | Boulder Holistic Vet

 

[Mac and Cats]

She will not eat cosequin or dasuquin, unless I force her.
Being so old, I don't want to stress her.

Are you trying the treats or the capsules? My cat wouldn't eat the treats and she wouldn't eat the capsule mixed with wet food until I started mixing it with one of those liquid churu type treats. She gets those treats twice a day for after pills anyway and she loves them. She hasn't turned her nose up at it yet that way. Our gal gets Solensia and takes Gabapentin twice a day, plus the Consequin capsule. Her arthritis is pretty bad, but she still gets around. You can for sure see it in her walk though that she is stiff. She has been on Solensia for about a year now and that has helped a ton. How long has yours been on Solensia?

 

[abunaione]

I had the treats of both.
She doesn't like wet food, so hard to hide it.
I even tried putting some gravy on them.
She licked up the gravy and left the treats.
Yes, she is spoiled.
I think the got her first shot about 6 months ago.
Maybe longer.