Starting to have trouble getting up and down the stairs

[tiggerwillow]

Tigger's begun to have a bit of trouble getting up and down the stairs now, she can manage to get upstairs and downstairs still, but recently she's beginning to have to pull herself up and down the stairs with her front paws, I'm not sure if its the three year old injury starting to cause problems or if it's arthritis (which the vet said she is at risk of getting arthritis)

How can I make getting up and downstairs easier for her? I'm suspecting arthritis because it seems to be both her back legs that are affected, not just the one that got the injury (three years ago the vet had to pin one back leg back together, after the neighbourhood bully black cat really did a number on her, beat the crap out of her and tore her knee out of its socket)

 

[FeebysOwner]

You could try getting a narrow ramp with carpeting or non-slip surface to lay over the steps on one side or the other of the stairwell (see diagram below as an example).

I would also recommend you look into Adequan or Solensia - both are injectable arthritic pain blockers. The former contains a joint support supplement as well. But you could add something like Cosequin or Dasuquin to the latter.
Adequan (Polysulfated Glycosaminoglycan) For Cats - Cat-World
Solensia (frunevetmab injection) for Cats - Drugs.com

 

[Mac and Cats]

It sounds like it is probably arthritis related. How old is Tigger? I would recommend taking her to the vet and asking about Solensia. This is a monthly injection that can help a lot with arthritis. Our cat with very bad arthritis is getting her 4th injection this weekend and it has helped her a ton. She had become very inactive and clearly was not feeling well. Since she has been on it, she is now moving around much more and jumping up to areas that she previously had stopped going. We pay about $80 per injection (we don't have an office fee).

 

[stephanietx]

You can try Cosequin and see if that helps her. It's good for beginning stages of arthritis. It's a capsule, but you can sprinkle the content of the capsule into wet food and mix in.

 

[tiggerwillow]

Tigger's about 11 (we think)

Its just a guess on the part of the RSPCA, her previous meowmy basically guessed the ages of the cats she handed into RSPCA, Tigger's age was guessed at 2 back in 2014 so her birth year was guessed to be 2012

We cannot be 100% sure though.

 

[Susanna72]

Others have already said it, but Solensia is great. Did wonders for my cat, Mama Dear. I also gave her Cosequin chewy treats every day. She liked those better than the powder. Another thing I did was put her food, water, and litter box on the same floor. She didn't have any reason to go downstairs and mainly stayed on the second floor. She still came down once in a while but not often. Also bought steps for the bed. That made a huge difference, too.