Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Senior Bean

DSC_0446

Bean has always had kind of a funny gait and even as a young cat, her back legs always seemed kind of stiff when she walked.

Last month she seemed slightly stiffer. I also noticed that though she had no trouble jumping up on things like cat towers and the dining room table, she started hesitating before she would jump back down to the ground.  Her twitchy moments caused by her hyperesthesia seemed to be more frequent, particularly in the morning, and these are often triggered by pain.  All of this caused a little bit of concern for me, so we gave the vet a call.

When we took her into see Doc, I shared with her all of these behavioral changes I had recently noticed.  As she examined Charlene and extended extended her back legs, she could feel that Charlene had developed some arthritis in her hip joints.    

We talked about several plans of action and decided we would first try a weekly injection of a neutraceutical called Adequan, which is supposed to increase lubrication in joints, help repair cartilage, and inhibit further cartilage destruction. 

We've been on this for month now, and we've seen some improvement, so we will continue.

We've adjusted her exercise program to "low-impact aerobics" and though we would love for her to lose more weight, we don't want to push her too hard right now.

I'm having a hard time believing it, but I guess our girl, who's turning 10 soon, really isn't a kitten anymore.  She's starting to get some "senior cat" issues now.


21 comments:

  1. Aww Bean! I hope the medicine helps you feel better! I sympathize with you. I'm in my fifties (human years) and have arthritis too. On another note, you and Wylla are on the front page of icanhascheezburger.com again. It's my favorite video of Wylla doing a drive-by nose boop. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awww...poor Bean!

    We've been giving our grand dame elder kitten Smokey (age 16) Cosequin for her arthritis. It does help thankfully.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Allie-cat is getting that as well. It does seem to help and she doesn't mind it mixed in her food. Poor girl tore her ACL a couple months ago, and although it's mostly healed, it will always bother her a little.

      Delete
  3. Sorry about the arthritis and its related aches and pains.

    When Marbles was diagnosed with arthritis in her hips and a few vertebrae, her vet suggested trying a supplement called Duralactin with L-Lysine and it did help.

    A little pricey thru the vet, but it is available online from Revival at about 1/2 the price, before any specials.

    I also gave Marbles a gentle massage most nights when I went to bed. Something like a T-Touch style - Marbles would just melt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I know how time flies. My own little girl turned ten last year and she already has kidney disease. We're managing it. She may not be a kitten in body, but she'll always be a kitten at heart.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Our 12-year-old cat was diagnosed with severe arthritis in her lower back in October, and we've been giving her Adequan injections since then, starting with a couple a week and tapering to once every two weeks now.

    She's gotten so much more active since, it's amazing. She wants to play more, has gone back to jumping on (low) things instead of pulling herself up by her claws, and is even picking more fights with the other cat.

    She's still not happy with the injections, but is struggling less and less when we give them to her, so I'm wondering if she's feeling better right after we give them. (It doesn't hurt that she gets her favorite treat, a Ritz cracker, right afterward!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad to hear you're having great results. We hope that in time we'll see that too. For now, just subtle improvements.

      Delete
  6. When I was a vet tech, we treated horses with arthritic conditions using Adequan injections. It seemed to give them a good bit of relief. It's good to see that it's available to small animals too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Scary how quickly time flies. My male Maine Coon is 11 now - thankfully no senior issues have appeared. He is still the 4 month kitten we rescued from a shelter to me. Keeping loose joint thoughts for Beanie.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My boy is 9 and I am still stunned how kitten like and supple he is.
    I don't know if it is the same for cats, but I found that with some breeds of dog a transition to grain free raw feeding was excellent for joints...but given my fella sniffs distainfully at chicken skin I am not sure I would do well transitioning him onto this kind of diet!

    ReplyDelete
  9. My vet gave weekly Cartrophen Vet injections to my 16 yo Zoey, which made a huge difference in a very short time. Eventually I gave her them at home (as she was on multiple meds and subQs for kidney disease), followed by a treat of freeze-dried chicken. She was able to jump up and down from the bed and sofa with ease again, and with a little creative positioning of chairs, got back to her favourite spot at the windowsill watching birds and squirrels, and dogs going for walks with their hoomins.

    I see it's not available in the States for some reason, but is in Canada, the UK and Australia. It's usually prescribed for dogs, but has excellent results with cats too. It made such a difference to Zo's quality of life.

    ReplyDelete
  10. We had good results with Adequate and Dasaquin but the most remarkable with laser therapy. My cat was walking like she was made of clockwork, three steps, lay down, three more steps, etc. After 7 sessions with the laser, she was going up and down stairs again. I thought it was snake oil but it was nearly miraculous. She was so much more comfortable and it extended her life a year and a half because her quality of life was better.

    ReplyDelete
  11. My almost 13 year olf tortie has suffered from hip and knee arthritis for the past five years. A few minths ago my vet put her on Adequan (now weekly) and Metacam (liquid oral every other day). Metacam is marketed for dogs only in the US, but studies overseas show use in cats prove positive results. she's on a really low dose and we check blood every few months to make sure nothing is off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Metacam, while good for people and other types of animals, is contradicted in felines. Not sure why vets still utilize it. Repeated use may cause acute renal failure and worse. There are other drugs much safer.

      Delete
  12. Our baby Bumblebee is 16 now. I think around the time she was ten, she started experiencing some stiffness, and by 12, wasn't able to handle the big counter jumps. We give her cosequin daily and have kitty stairs in various places around the house so she can get to her favorite spots. She can still jump and run, just not as fast and not as high. May Bean have many more years of troublemaking and fun playtime ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Glad you mentioned this. One of my 10-year-old Siamese has always had a "stumpy walk" and now I will start watching him to see if he's got similar issues. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Could accupuncture help her, like it helped Willa? I know these are different conditions, but it was just a thought...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We could, but car rides are stressful for Bean, and when we tried it before for her hyperesthesia, it always felt like any amount of good that acupuncture provided was offset by the stress of the ride home. We may try it again, but I'm hoping the injections well help enough that we won't have to pursue other avenues.

      Delete
    2. There's apparently a collar cats can wear if they're stressed out by travel - it has ferromones and stuff.

      Delete
  15. wow, that snuck up quickly - feels like it was only yesterday since she was the 'annoying' younger sister to Drewey! Quite a shock.
    She is in the very best of hands, and looks amazing for her age.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks so much for writing about Bean and arthritis!
    Your description fits what I've been seeing in my big gray rescue, the Dude.
    We rescued him a year ago and have no idea about his past, other than someone neutered him and he had dental work according to our vet.
    This past summer he started favoring his left rear leg and his back is extremely touchy, like this hyperesthesia you have described.
    Now I feel that I have an idea of what is bothering him and how I can help him.

    ReplyDelete

Linkwithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin