Cat Chat Feline Forum

I'm glad the acupuncture went well - it made such a difference to my Molly when she was having it done. Fingers crossed for the next few appointments and hopefully Lucy will behave with getting into the carrier. Fusses to your girl

Booktigger, I'm so sorry you tried my tip (putting cat in carrier bum first ) and got bitten by Lucy for your pains...

Sounds as though the appointment could have gone a lot worse, but hopefully she will get used to a routine and be less 'huffy'! Give her a (careful) fuss from me! xx

Crewella wrote:Sounds as though the appointment could have gone a lot worse, but hopefully she will get used to a routine and be less 'huffy'! Give her a (careful) fuss from me! xx

I'm not sure she'll ever be less huffy! She's been really odd this weekend, keeps sleeping on the landing but is currently on my knee stopping me doing the housework, so I can give her a fuss

Bless her - I do love a 'characterful' cat!

Well, she had her third acupuncture appointment this week - not as relaxed as last week with the more experienced vet, but still tolerated it well. The vet said she could feel a difference in her spine, I'm not sure I can tell much in her behaviour though!! I've been away for the weekend, she's hid under the bed from me, hissed, huffed, growled and hit me since coming back, and tried to bite me this morning!! She hasn't acted like she has needed any metacam, but has been off her food a bit this week.

How old is Lucy? If she's not quite herself then maybe a one off dose of metacam won't harm to see if it is pain that's stopping her from eating?

Just had a quick look through this thread - have you thought of trying some supplements like easeflex or similar to see if that helps a bit as well?

Oh and another thing that really did Molly the world of good was a heat pad, it kept the old bones from getting cold; so that may be another thing to consider?

Fusses to your girl

meriad wrote:How old is Lucy? If she's not quite herself then maybe a one off dose of metacam won't harm to see if it is pain that's stopping her from eating?

Just had a quick look through this thread - have you thought of trying some supplements like easeflex or similar to see if that helps a bit as well?

Oh and another thing that really did Molly the world of good was a heat pad, it kept the old bones from getting cold; so that may be another thing to consider?

Fusses to your girl

She's nearly 9. She's on Seraquin but refused to eat those the first few days I was back too! She didn't like the self heating bed, but I've got my plug in back off my neighbour, it's unplugged to see her reaction and she lies on it, just need to find the best place to plug it in!

Lucy had to go back to the vet last week, she thinks she may have luxating patellas, which are rare in cats! The orthopaedic vet looked at her x ray's today and thinks it might be her hips sending her knee out. He needs to examine her to be sure but there is a chance she would need surgery, but she needs to lose at least 100g, preferably 2 before he could operate. Not sure whether to do the consultation now or wait till she has lost some weight.

Hi Booktigger fusses & ear rubs for Lucy. Keep us posted re weight & consultation. I have trouble with my right hip & feel for Lucy. Re the weight loss 100 to 200grms first sound too drastic a goal. Vivian

Mayday21 wrote:Hi Booktigger fusses & ear rubs for Lucy. Keep us posted re weight & consultation. I have trouble with my right hip & feel for Lucy. Re the weight loss 100 to 200grms first sound too drastic a goal. Vivian

It's not that drastic when you think she lost 600g last year, this is the final amount she needs to lose - she is 5.04kg

Blimey, she’s done really well already. If she’s overweight though, the weight loss should definitely help her joints anyway. Hopefully she won’t need the op.

Yeah, she has. I think I'll wait till she has lost more weight in the hope it will help her diagnosis. We might have to increase her acupuncture which isn't great, although she has been better this time, she hasn't hid under the bed yet.

booktigger wrote:Yeah, she has. I think I'll wait till she has lost more weight in the hope it will help her diagnosis. We might have to increase her acupuncture which isn’t great, although she has been better this time, she hasn't hid under the bed yet.

Sounds a good plan. Fingers crossed for her xx

I was watching Supervet last night and a Maine Coone was bought in with luxating patellas - as you say not very common in cats but apparently a very simple (according to Noel that is ) operation taking about 15 mins per knee.

Fingers crossed Lucy's weight continues to come down (she's doing loads better than me in that department let me tell you!) and the knees can be sorted

fusses to her when you can

Fusses to Lucy. Tubby Tay from next door had luxating patellas as a kitten - he's fine now and moves like greased lightning even though he could do with loosing much more than 600g (more like 2000g)!

Had to take Lucy back to the vet yesterday, as she wasn’t walking well the back end of last week, it was only 3 weeks since her last acupuncture session, so booked her in for another – vet doesn’t think her knees have got any worse, she hasn’t realistically lost any weight (now 5.01, was 5.04), but the vet could visibly see a difference in her waist, and thinks that she is pretty much at her optimum weight now, so we are going to get her in with the orthopaedic vet to see what he thinks. I was going to do it this month, but she is due her boosters and bloods next month, so might try and combine the lot, just need to find out what part of March her boosters are due.

Best of luck - fingers and toes crossed!

Fingers, toes and paws crossed here too. That's promising news on her weight, well done Lucy.

Lucy went to see the orthopaedic vet this week, they feel that her luxating patellas are congenital, so not much point operating on them, but they do feel she would benefit from her hips being operated on. Fortunately it is the easier of the operations recovery wise, which was my concern. She now weighs bang on 5kg, apparently the nurses weighed her 3 times in the hope it would say 4.99kg for me She had her annual blood tests this week, we are going to wait for the results of those, then get her booked in - if she needs it, I'd rather it while she was younger, even if the orthopaedic vet would rather her lose a bit more weight first.

Vet has just rang with the results of her blood tests - as I suspected, she has early stage kidney failure Her pre-GA bloods show Urea and Creatnine at the top end of normal, but the SDMA test came back as 16, the top end of normal is 14, so it is very early. We can still do the operation, she will just need fluids, and better to do it sooner rather than later. As it is really early stages, vet is hopeful a diet change will be all we need to do at this stage.

Good luck Lucy and more vibes sent - everything crossed here. Very sorry to hear about the bad renal news but she's having the best of care by the sound, no reason why she shouldn't come through it all

Thanks - I'm sure she will come through the operation fine, just kidney issues at the age of 9 is a worry. At least we are picking up on these things early enough, I'll get her booked in next month for the operation

Sending all good vibes for the operation, hope everything goes smoothly. As you say, the kidney problems have been caught in the early stages, so hopefully they can be managed and lucy will have many more happy years with you.

Hopefully - ironically when we were on the way back from the vet, I said to my neighbour that I didn't think she would get to the kind of age Molly or Buster did. I did say to the vet that I had adopted a younger cat with the hope I wouldn't have to deal with kidney issues quite so soon!! Someone clearly has other ideas.

Tig is 6 and he's dealing with kidney issues, seems very unfair in the younger pusses.

Aww, poor Tig

Booked Lucy in for her hip operation, she's going ob 11th so I have the bank holiday weekend with her. Unfortunately she has to have room rest for a week, which I'm dreading. Good thing is her new renal food is cheaper than Busters.

Has anyone had a cat who's had a femoral head incision?

Fusses to Lucy. Keep us posted on her op. Vivian

Dropped Lucy off, turns out that when she went last month they couldn't examine her, they made the decision to operate based on how she walks! She is having some more tests for her kidneys while under