Non drug remedies for feline arthritis?

[JulieJulie]

One of my rescue cats is starting to walk like Robocop and I suspect arthritis. Obviously a trip to the vet is in order (not fun as he's an ex feral) but I had some Loxicom (pain killer/anti inflammatory i believe) from another vet trip just a few weeks ago and I tried him on that and he seemed better on it. However, I am reluctant to start him on long term drugs, which I think from reading other threads on here, can have a detrimental affect on the kidneys (he's 'only' ten). Wondered if anyone has had any success with any other more natural remedies, or foods, eg with glucosomine added?
Thanks (-:

[meriad]

My old girl Molly, who I lost at age 21 had Molly in the last few years of her life. One of the things that I found was a huge big help to her was a heated bed. I started off with a simple heat pad from PetNap, than then was upgraded to a heated bed and then that in turn was upgraded to an infrared heated bed. Excuse all the links but these are what she had

1. http://www.petnap.co.uk/acatalog/Vinyl- ... ad-30.html
2. http://www.petnap.co.uk/acatalog/Heated ... tml#SID=12 (she absolutely loved this one!)

The infrared one was like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermotex-Infra ... B0015DA21I but I don't think they're made anymore? But not 100% sure.


I also used to take her to the vet for acupuncture which worked really well and was only stopped because she had such muscle wastage in her old age that it was difficult for the vet to place the needles.

Seraquin is a glucosamine supplement you can get from the vet and Molly had them right at the beginning but then went off them and I strugged to find another one she'd eat, but if your boy isn't a fussy eater then google glucosamine supplements for cats and see what gives. Easeflex is meant to be very very good http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pets-Easeflex-J ... B004VU8KMA again worth a try

But I agree, first off a vet visit to confirm it's arthritis and not something else, ie hips, damaged bone, foot etc.... And then warmth and supplements to start. But there probably will come a time when painkillers will be what's needed. Molly was on Metacam for quite a few years but I had to take her off it when it started affecting her tummy - but that was due to the fact that she'd hardly eat anything and Metacam needed to be given with or after food and I just couldn't get Molly to eat enough in one go for the meds.

Hope this is of some help?

[JulieJulie]

hello Meriad, that's a great reply, thank you. He's so outdoorsey that he does like to spend daytime in the shed in his bed out there (my cats all kept in at night), and although I have 2 of the petnap heat pads, for my other elderly cats, he has never shown any interest in them. I've also got a heated overblanket on my bed, naturally bought purely for the cats ha ha, and I've recently had a thermostat fitted to my heating so the house never gets below 17.5 degrees (this has gone down very well with all of my cats!!) I've definitely noticed he puts himself to bed earlier, and spends more time on my bed, he seems to be getting more of a mummys boy.

I'm going to take a good look at the links and information you have given me, much appreciated.

[CatLadyLover]

We struggled with our older cats years ago because the vet wasn't helpful and wanted to give them both harsh drugs that, we found out, could have horrible side effects - including liver, kidneys and pancreas damage. The warm bed was great, but didn't seem to encourage them to get up and move around. We tried the glucosimine products and saw a little bit of a difference, but not a lot. We started researching natural cat companies and found out there are quite a few. The product that we found was amazing and we saw a difference (especially in our male cat) within a week. We picked it because it was a tasteless liquid formula so it was super easy to add to their wet food. The product is called CATalyst and is sold online. Here is where we found it. https: (Advertising link removed) Small family company with real nice people too. I recommend finding something natural, for sure.

[Marla]

We have two 18 year old cats with arthritis (among other things) and have found Yumove Advance for Cats to be beneficial. If I remember correctly, we saw an improvement within a week or two.

[lilynmitz]

Good advice from Ria. I did much the same for my old girl Lily, who also walked like Robocop (good description). in her case I did go with the metacam, as it seemed the only thing that really made any major difference, and she had arthritis really badly in her spine as well as her legs. I put her on as low a dosage as possible, ie enough to make her life comfortable, and when she was in good form, would discontinue it for short periods (eg 4 days on, 3 days off, or whatever she could cope with) to give her dodgy kidneys a break. (Lily had almost every medical condition going!) We decided with the vet's guidance that making sure she was mobile and not in pain was more important than perfect kidneys, and I know we made the right choice. This seemed to work well for her, and it was heart failure that got her in the end, my dear old rickety puss.

[MarkB]

My Alice was arthritic, she was on daily Metacam as well a corta-vet https://www.medicanimal.com/Corta-Vet-Spray/p/I0000052 She also had the Infra-red bed, which I am sure gave her some comfort. A year or so before we lost her, she was diagnosed with CRD and my old vet said I needed to stop the Metacam. Towards the end, I changed vets. My new vet (one with 50 years experience) said that she should go straight back onto Metacam - he said that he really didn't believe that it caused kidney problems and even if it did, quality of life was far more important than quantity - which I agree with. He really thought it was cruel tha she had been taken off something that had given her so much relief from pain (he was sure she had arthritis in her spine, possibly prom being hit by a car, long before we adopted her)

Although it was her kidneys in the end, she had years of gradually failing health and had lived as a stray for years before the woman feeding her thought to contact a rescue after seeing a lump on her face, which turned out to be cancer, which was successfully operated on. I was only meant to be short-termed fostering her, but she stayed and had 6 more years of being pampered.

[JulieJulie]

Goodness, I just assumed that it would be the legs which were arthritic, never occurred to me that the spine might be affected too. I've booked him to see our regular vet in the morning. I'll see what he says but I'll also take a look at the other options suggested. He seems to be fit in every other way, so I'm not keen to start him on drugs which have any chance of limiting his life expectancy at this stage. I think part of the problem is that the pharma companies must do so well from Metacam that they don't want to shout about kidney damage etc, and at the stage of life when arthritis sets in, kidney function deterioration is probably also highly likely so how do you prove the link...

Funnily enough, my boy came to me as a timid feral kitten to be socialised in foster care...ten years ago....

[meriad]

Molly had arthritis in her spine and hips. Towards the end of her life she also used to walk quite low down because of the pain - the steroids we were giving her weren't as effective as the Metacam. This photo was taken about 9 months before I had to make that final trip with her.

What I will say - for what it's worth - don't totally dismiss the Metacam. Molly was on it for a good few years and whilst her kidney values did deteriorate a bit, they had started doing that as a natural old age thing anyway before she was on the Metacam; and she had a daily dose of Fortekor for that. Right to the end the kidney values were OK, yes; on the higher end of normal or just out but never excessive despite those years on Metacam. As mentioned the reason I stopped it was because she wasn't eating enough in one go any more for the Metacam to not affect her stomach and she ended up with a stomach ulcer.

There will come a time where the benefits of a pain killer far outweigh the negatives and it's a fine line knowing when that time is

Fusses to your boy and good luck!

[JulieJulie]

Ah she is gorgeous. My boy is a tabby too. Getting blood from him to check anything will be 'challenging' shall we say, so hoping they won't suggest that!!

[ashleyberner]

My cat Biff, whom lived for 18 1/2 years and passed away in 2012 had arthritis in his hips. He was the WORST patient at the vet, so I tried to do everything possible before having him seen. I would make sure he had a comfy, warm place to sleep. I would put a warm water bottle wrapped in a towel up against his back -- he loved that!! I would also give him gentle massages when he was really having a difficult time. Good luck to you! Having a senior pet is difficult, but is also so rewarding.

[meriad]

Having a senior pet is difficult, but is also so rewarding.

Yup, very much so x

[MarkB]

Just one more thing. Alice had been on Metacam for quite a few years before coming off it and then back on it. Although the vet said it was her kidneys in the end, he also said that she didn't really have kidney disease, just 'old kidneys' that were shrunken. He thought she was at least 17.

[JulieJulie]

Thank you - it's funny because I really don't consider him to be an 'old' cat at ten years old - my last cat was around 18 (you never quite know with rescues) and I have other cats who are older, several others around the same stage (that dates my fostering height to around ten years ago, I was the worst at giving the hard to home ones back!) and they are all, in general, such spritely cats.

I've asked an electrician friend of mine to try and get me an infra red heat lamp - see if I can tempt him to sit under that as he seems to have an aversion to heat pads - unless it's my foot! I think he's stubbornly sticking to the rufty tufty ex feral character, and like many of us, is in denial about a few aches and pains appearing with old age!

Had to postpone his vet visit until next week because I've got this awful cold and you really need to be 100% to get this one to the vet - I'm petrified of losing one of mine on a vet trip - all it takes is a single lapse on concentration and he's off - I know of a few cats who have been lost this way (thankfully found but after a lot of heartache and distress for all concerned). I've ordered some supplements too, see whether he'll go near them or not....