It has long been known that the vast majority of cats over the age of 12, about 90%, suffer from osteoarthritis. These lesions are visible on radiography. In short, our aging companions have at least one joint that hurts them, or maybe more. While treating and relieving osteoarthritis in cats has always been a challenge, there seems to be hope with the advent of a new treatment.
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative, progressive and chronic condition of a joint. Wear… The prevalence of this disease increases with age, however, there would already be radiographic signs of osteoarthritis in almost 60% of cats over 6 years of age.
But cats suffer in silence. It would seem that only 4% of owners are aware of their pain.
The symptoms of osteoarthritis are insidious and progressive and the cat will not tend to limp when suffering from this joint disease. Symptoms are more subtle to the less discerning eye. Certainly the cat will tend to move less and less and reduce these activities. He will move less or appear to have a slightly stiff gait, as if he is walking on eggshells. He won’t play anymore. He will hesitate to jump on a piece of furniture or he won’t do it again. He will have more difficulty climbing stairs and can only do it if it is really necessary.
A cat that has joint pain may also groom less and its coat will be less shiny or more “cottony”.
Because of the pain, many cats may also have potty problems. Accidents, like peeing outside the litter box, can happen because your cat has trouble getting in, getting in, or bending over far enough.
We will also see attitude or character changes in the suffering cat. Some will isolate themselves and reduce their social connections while others may become more irritable, even aggressive.
Because cats are reserved for pain, tools have been created to help determine if a cat is in pain. See one of my columns in The newspaper on the facial grimace scale here.
Treatment of osteoarthritis is a multimodal approach. With the veterinary team, you have to work on multiple levels at once to get good pain control. Here are some tips.
- Modify the pet’s environment to make things easier for him.
- Offer specialized veterinary foods for osteoarthritis and some supplements (glucosamine, chondroitin, essential fatty acids, etc.).
- Help an overweight cat lose weight.
- Add physiotherapy sessions and even acupuncture by experienced veterinarians.
- Give cats appropriate veterinary medications (pain relievers, anti-inflammatories, etc.).
New treatment
It sounds simple, but it’s not always easy to medicate a cat, as they are very sensitive to many drug molecules. Veterinarians have therefore always had fewer treatment options for cats than for dogs.
But a new treatment for managing osteoarthritis-related pain in cats has recently appeared, and it seems to work small wonders.
It is a monthly treatment, by subcutaneous injection, of monoclonal antibodies that target a protein (NGF) involved in pain regulation, thus preventing the pain signal from reaching the brain and the cat from “feeling” or perceiving the pain. ache.
Talk to your vet! Cats finally have “their” treatment for osteoarthritis.
