It’s World Arthritis day, and one species where arthritis goes undiagnosed is cats. As anyone who has a cat knows, cats are masters of hiding pain and discomfort from their human companions, and that can make joint disorders be very hard to diagnose until they have progressed significantly.
Osteorthritis, also known as arthritis, is the most commonly-diagnosed degenerative joint disease in cats. It occurs when cartilage, the smooth tissue that protects the ends of bones from rubbing directly against each other within a movable joint, either wear way or are torn away. When this happens, the ends of the bones come into direct contact.
Did you just wince reading that? It sounds painful, and it can be. Bone grinding against bone results in inflammation and pain in a cat with arthritis.
Arthritis has several causes:
- Injury to a joint
- Gradual wear and tear on a joint over time
- As a secondary impact of another disease that compromises the internal structure of a joint.
Although all of a cat’s bones can be susceptible to arthritis, the most obvious ones are the moving joints: Shoulders, elbows, knees, and wrists are all frequently suffer from arthritis as your cat ages, though the elbows and shoulders may be the most noticeable.
Older cats are most susceptible to arthritis. In one study of x-rays for 100 senior cats aged 10 or older most had signs of arthritis. 90% of cats over age 12 showed evidence of arthritis. Another study showed that cats begin to show joint degeneration earlier than anyone would have expected, with 30% of all cats eight years or older already having some signs of arthritis.
Signs of Arthritis in Your Cat
Early signs of arthritis in your cat are likely to be so subtle you might not notice at first. Your cat may move stiffly, especially when getting up from a nap. She might also not move around as much, choosing not to make the high, graceful jumps of her youth. It’s easy to miss this last one if you have spent years trying to get your cat not to jump up on the counter and are relieved that she’s not doing it any more.
Other signs of arthritis may be mistaken for other problems. Your cat’s matted coat may not seem like a sign of arthritis, but if her spine is arthritic and it hurts to bend around for thorough grooming, she could become unkempt because of joint disease. Your cat’s claws becoming overgrown may not seem like a sign of arthritis, either, but they can be caused by less stretching of painful joints to sharpen them on your cat tree.
As arthritis progresses, you might even see your cat limp or walk oddly.
Helping Your Arthritic Cat
Making some simple adjustments around the house can make your arthritic cat more comfortable.
Make sure your cat has soft, warm, accessible places to sleep. If your kitty used to sleep only on top of the cat tree, you might not think about placing beds in draft-free locations so that she doesn’t need to struggle to climb to a comfortable resting location.
Add cat steps to locations that your cat likes to join you so that she doesn’t have to jump up onto the sofa or bed to join you at night or up to the windowsill to watch bird TV.
Make sure litterboxes have low enough sides to be easy to enter and exit. An older cat may physically struggle to get in and out of the high-sided litterbox he once leaped into with ease.
Ensure food and water are easy to access and don’t require climbing a flight of stairs or leaping up onto a countertop.
What about Pain Relievers?
When you realize that your cat is in pain, of course you want to do something to alleviate it, but don’t give your kitty aspirin! Cats don’t have the enzyme necessary to metabolize salicyclic acid in the aspirin, so the common human medication is dangerous for them.
There are no anti-inflammatory drugs (NSIAD) for treatments of chronic musculo-skeletal disorders for cats, including arthritis. Researchers at NC State are currently enrolling cats in a clinical trial of a potential pain reliever for arthritic cats. If you are in that part of the United States and are interested your arthritic cat participating in the study, you can read more at their web site.
Talk to your veterinarian about getting your cat to a healthy weight so that extra weight isn’t causing extra stress on her painful joints. Your vet may also suggest complementary therapies like supplements or acupuncture to help give your cat relief from arthritis pain.
References and Further Reading
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Is Your Cat Slowing Down?
International Cat Care, Arthritis and Degenerative Joint Disease in Cats
NC State Veterinary Hospital, Feline Arthritis and NSAID Study
Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, Feline Osteoarthritis
Photo Credits
flickr/ajr595
flickr/Annie Mole
flickr/Alan
So far Binga and Boodie are still very active kitties, so if they have any arthritis, it’s not bothering them enough to slow them down much, if at all. My human attributes this to keep them a healthy weight over the years. That means less stress on their joints over time.
Good info! I have a little touch of arthritis and the mom gives me Cosequin that helps. But we wish there were better pain relievers for cats. ~Wally
Howdy friends…
Another informative post…Mom says she has a itty bitty case of Arthur too.
Her theory is to keep moving and stretching.
Hugs madi your bfff
Great information! I didn’t realize there weren’t any pain relievers for cats on the market.
Very informative!
Most of my cats have not had arthritis. I have one 15 year old and he is slowing down but I don’t think he has the arthritis. Great post with lots of good info.
guys…thiz bee a grate post; thanx for sharin…gram paw dude had sum arthur eye tis; bee sides what ewe men shuned bout dishes; another thing de food serviss gurl finded help full…. waz ta rais hiz water & food dishes ta chest height…. sew he dinna knead ta ‘scrunch over” ta eat frum de bowls on de floor~~~ ♥♥♥
Good to know about all these things, we are 7 and 5 now and getting older too.
Excellent post. Spooky has arthritis so I have little footstools around to help him get up on things. We tried several glucosamine supplements, but they all upset his tummy.
Many older cats when they slow down is arthritis. It’s so important to make environmental adjustments for older cat even before arthritis sets in. One of the issues I see with litter box issues and older cats are those with boxes in the basement.
What a super good informative article and thank you. I believe I may have the beginnings of it. Mom has to take me to get three mats shaved out of my very back flanks. Who knew.
That was great information and now we know to be on the lookout!
TW thinks I may have a touch of this cos when I was much younger. We collided and she thought she broke my leg or got it out of joint. The cat tree is the highest I jump these days and when I’m in bed at night I switch positions slowly. She hopes she’s wrong and I’m ok.
Thanks for very good information. With a 16 year old kitty who had bad injuries, I can see that she has some arthritis. She continues to get up on counters, beds, dressers, the cat tree but I can see that she struggles with it. Like her human mom, she is super stubborn. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
Mum has osteo arthritis. She knows how things hurt.
Very good information ! We didn’t know that pain relievers do exist for cats. Purrs
it is sad that there aren’t better pain management options for cats..
Timely post. My heart cat lost a battle with arthritis earlier this fall. I couldn’t keep his pain under control, and he was starting to lash out at his roomies and at me. Very sad. We did have quite a few medication options that provided relief for a time, however, including Dasuquin, gabapentin and Adequan. None are NSAIDs, per se, but Gabapentin does provide some level of pain relief. It worked wonders for Eamon.
Jean from Welcome to the Menagerie