Oh Those Aching Joints!
This morning I went for my usual walk, the weather is overcast and it looks like it just might rain. Maybe it is the damp weather but my knees were really aching, it must be the osteoarthritis! Thanks to the marvels of modern veterinary medicine, our pets, just like us are living much longer lives. With longer lives, however, come chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a pretty commonly recognized disease in dogs. However, it is now being recognized as a disease of older geriatric cats.
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition of the joints in which the normal cartilage cushion in the joint breaks down. Eventually, adjacent bones rub against each other, causing pain, decreased joint movement, and sometimes the formation of bone spurs and other changes around the joint, sound familiar? Osteoarthritis is a progressive disease; however, it can be actively managed so that the course of the disease is slowed and remaining joint function is preserved.
Physical diagnosis of osteoarthritis in cats is difficult even for experienced veterinarians. Cats, unlike most dogs, can tolerate severe orthopedic disease due to their small size and natural agility. Cats generally resent being physically handled or manipulated during clinical examinations. Thus, the examining veterinarian may have difficulty in determining whether a cat is pulling its foot away because of pain or simply because it doesn’t want to be touched. Cats are also notorious for cowering on the examination table and remaining immobile. Due to these obstacles in diagnosing osteoarthritis in cats, veterinarians will often simply rely on the cat owner’s observations that their pet is not moving around as well as it once did. Veterinarians will rule out osteoarthritis as a diagnosis by actually having the owners treat the cat for osteoarthritis and seeing if the owners note any improvement in their cat’s quality of life.
Changes to osteoarthritis-affected joints in cats are usually subtle. Decreased range of joint motion, commonly seen in dogs, is uncommon in cats in one study by Clarke and Bennett, published in the Journal of Small Animal Practice, 5 of 86 cat joints with osteoarthritis had decreased range of motion. Crepitus, a grinding/crunching sound or feeling in a joint, is also common in dogs, but uncommon in cats (no joints of the 86 joints in the same study had crepitus. Thickening of the tissues surrounding affected joints, however, is a common finding.
Clinical signs of osteoarthritis in cats include:
- Weight loss,
- Loss of appetite,
- Depression,
- Change in general attitude
- Poor grooming habits
- Urination or defecation outside the litter pan
- Inability to jump on and off objects. Surprisingly, lameness is not as commonly reported a clinical sign by owners as one would expect.
Because joints are frequently bilaterally affected (meaning that if one elbow is affected, the other elbow is also affected), cats can compensate and appear to be walking normally.
Treatment options for cats with osteoarthritis are limited. Non-pharmaceutical treatment options include weight loss for overweight cats, increased exercise, and environmental accommodations (e.g., using litter pans with lower sides for ease of entering and exiting, and elevating food and water bowls, and providing soft bedding). Regarding pain relief, steroids have been used in the past; however, they have fallen out of favor due to side effects. The only approved non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for use in cats is Metacam® for Injection. However, it is approved for a one-time dose for the control of postoperative pain associated with orthopedic surgery, ovariohysterectomy, and castration in cats. Metacam® is not approved for any repeat dosing. Thus, no NSAID is currently approved for safe, long-term control of osteoarthritis pain in cats.
Pain in animals, particularly cats, is difficult to assess, and there are few validated pain assessment tools. Diagnosis of osteoarthritis in cats is difficult even for the experienced veterinarian. Thus the disease remains largely underdiagnosed and undertreated. However, as new methods of pain assessment are developed, osteoarthritis in cats may soon become a readily recognized and actively managed disease, thus alleviating the silent suffering of many geriatric cats.
We cat owners are ultimately the best source of knowing when something is wrong with our cats. We naturally want to make them feel better. Hands on treatment works great, also, we carry cat health care supplements in our eBay store. You can massage their joints and provide some gentle heat. These are the same things that work for my own aching knees!
Your Best Friend Is Counting On You!
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