Cat Chat Feline Forum

My 8 yo female cat has luxating patella (dislocating kneecaps) and needs to get weight off. She had always been fed half a pouch of meat each day and biscuits always sat out but after finding out she has something wrong (1 month ago), I started just 2 pouches of meat a day. She was weighed again today and was exactly the same (this was at a different vet who said because they use a different type of scales to the other place, it could be different)

What do you recommend to get weight off? biscuits/meat and how much? what low calorie brand would be good?

Also she has to be on metacam long term. Anyone else have a pet that has had to be given this long term and have they had any problems because of it?

Food - I would simply reduce what you are feeding by around 10%. I don't think it makes a lot of difference to weight whether you feed tinned or dry, although I would avoid anything with a high carbohydrate content - you want all the nutrients with fewer calories, so basically meat, bone and a little fat, or the nearest equivalent he enjoys.

Pippin has been taking metacam or the equivalent for arthritis many years - at least six. He started when he was about the same age as your cat, and is now 15. I give him a 1/2 - 3/4 dose for his weight every day - 3-4 units for a 5.5 kilo cat. He has shown no ill effects, his kidneys are fine, and he is much, much more comfortable. He is also now getting regular cartrophen injections which also seem to be helping. I did worry about possible side effects when the vet started him on metacam, but he was so obviously in discomfort that I reckoned the risk was far outweighed by the improvement in his quality of life. He gets it on a small serving of biscuits - the idea being that over time the biscuits have become associated with the easing of pain, so that I can occasionally give him an extra small serving of them without the drops and there may be a placebo effect - and, of course, I can make sure that he eats them and not one of the other animals!

One thing to be wary of when reducing food quantities is if there is an alternative food source nearby. Next door's tubby Tay (who also has luxating patellas and is decidedly overweight) when put on a diet just nipped round to me and pinched Tilly's dinner!

Our cat was diagnosed with a luxating patella a year ago. He also has a degree of arthritis in his limbs.

I was worried about giving Blackie Metacam for his luxating patella and arthritis because his kidneys are not all that they could be. Initially he had a some vomiting issues with it. The local vet suggested dropping the dose to 2.5ml from 5ml and I hit on the idea of not giving it to him first thing in the morning but later in the day. I also left little bowls with bits of food around downstairs at night. This system has worked for 5 months now without any vomiting issues. He also has 1 YuMove tablet per day as well ... easily sprinkled and mixed in well with his food.

He weighs around 5.2k though a referral orthopaedic vet suggested getting his weight down to 4.8k but our usual vet thought this was too low.

When the time comes for the Metacam dose to be increased I will follow my usual procedure for giving it to him and hope for the best. Injections for Blackie would be a real problem with his temperament. He fights at the vets as though his life depends on it