Cat Arthritis again - Advice please

Dimey

My Old Boy has been developing arthritis over the past year. I only know as his paw joints are thickening. He licks & bites at the joints sometimes and once or twice one leg has given way. He can still jump OK. He's 17.

I bought Seraquin food supplement from the vet but the pill size is huge and even half a pill makes Old Boy choke a bit and he's good taking pills as he takes Fortekor daily for his heart & kidneys.

He wont eat food with a pill or liquid mixed in it and won't chew a pill. He only licks wet food, doesn't chew it. He does chew his dry food but will leave pill lumps. So swallowing a small pill from me is the only successful route.

The Seraquin has 125mg of Glucosamine and 95mg of Chondroitin Sulphate in each full pill.

I've researched alternatives on the threads and have a few questions: -

• What mg dosage of Glucosamine and Chondroitin should I be looking for to be effective?

• Are Green lipped mussel pills smaller to swallow and have others seen a noticeable difference from these?

• Has anyone tried the Cartrophen injections- did you see a difference?
• When is it best to start the Cartrophen - at an early stage before the arthritis sets in too far or later when its more painful?
• Is there a Cartrophen version specifically for cats yet?

• Has anyone used anything else where you've seen a noticeable improvement?

Thanks

Miss_J

Hi there, we've been dealing with arthritis in my elderly cat since the summer. We started with seraquin first but struggled to pill him. The first he took directly from my hand the rest he refused so I started crushing them and putting them in his food but he then started turning his nose up at his food. We also tried a daily dose of metacam but this affected his tummy. By chance I saw a leaflet in the vets for Easeflex and decided to try this, it's more like a chew, which he won't eat directly but it's so easy to crumble into his food daily. It has a higher amount of glucosamine and chondriton than Seroquin too. We have also managed to gt him back onto Metacam, but we only give him 1 drop every other day now and he's doing great on that now. In fact he keeps on jumping over my neighbours 6ft fence to have a smooch around her garden and he now comes up the stairs quite freely whichnh hadn't done for months. He's 18 1/2.

gettingready

If you stick with seraquin, it is much cheaper to buy from pet pharmacy online then from the vets:

£7.66 for a box of 60 tablets

http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/seraquin-tablets-for-cats-and-small-dogs-800mg-x-60.html

Hillbilly2

You might want to also consider acupuncture. Our cat is 17, and is on joint supplements, Metacam and was still hunchd and sore.

This is due to the muscles having to work harder and tensing up. After the first session she was so much better. We are now down to a session every 2 months.

The vet does home vists and its only £80 a session. Others may be cheaper if you take the cat to the practice.

Dimey

Found this questionnaire useful to establish the likelihood of arthritis being present: -

http://cartrophen.com/dog_owners_does_my_dog_have_arthritis.html