Osteoarthritis in cats – Symptoms and treatments

They usually suffer osteoarthrosis or osteoarthritis Elderly, elderly or senile cats that begin to suffer wear in one or more of their joints. It is a degenerative disease, that is, it worsens with the passage of time.

In let’s explain what is the osteoarthritis in cats – symptoms and treatments. Due to its irreversibility, once it is present in our animal, it can not be reversed, but we can improve the quality of our feline, preventing it from affecting too much in their daily routine.

What is osteoarthritis? Why is it produced?

To understand correctly what osteoarthritis is in cats, we are going to use the definition offered by the dictionary: “It is a degenerative and irreversible disease of 1 or more joints by wear of the cartilages that cushion the same, losing their function of cushioning. “

We must differentiate osteoarthritis from arthritis in cats, which is a chronic inflammation of the joints, but reversible in most cases. Many times they start with arthritis and by not detecting it and with the passage of time, it will transform into osteoarthritis.

It is a silent disease, because the 90% of the older cats of 12 suffer from it and, sometimes, the owners never detect it. They can have different causes that trigger it including:

• Genetics, frequent in breeds such as Maine Coon, Burmese, Scottish Fold, or Abyssinian, depending on the affected joint.
• The traumas, due to blows, fights, falls, etc.
• Being overweight, although it would not be a cause that triggered it, but it did exacerbate it.
• Acromegaly, a lesion in the pituitary gland that deforms joints.

The appearance of the disease can be linked to any of these causes or, simply, surprise our cat, therefore, we should be alerts to signs and symptoms that we can observe to treat it in time.

Signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis in cats

Sometimes it can be difficult to detect ailments in our cats, because it is not so easy to recognize certain anomalies, much less observe signs of pain, but changes in the daily routine.

Within signs or behavior changes that we can observe: changes in character, more irritable or depressed animals, changes in grooming habits or, sometimes, they stop doing so because certain positions hurt them and they can show irritability or aggression when caressing them in certain areas of the body such as the spine or the spine, for a great sensibility.

When we talk about the most visible symptoms, we can meet with:

• Loss of habitual appetite.
• Rigidity in the joints.
• Limitation on movements that were usual before.
• Loss of muscle mass due to disuse of certain joints, very common in the hips of Abyssinian cats.
• They defecate or urinate outside the health box because they have difficulty entering.

Diagnosis of osteoarthritis

As we have said, osteoarthritis is a very difficult disease to diagnose and in many cases it is detected by the owner’s observation and suspicion, seeing that something is not right.

If you think your cat may be suffering from osteoarthritis, you should go to the vet In order to be able to do the corresponding tests and start the treatment, it is the only way to delay, as far as possible, the effects of this disease.

The veterinarian will do the physical examination of our cat, and with that, they usually already have a fairly accurate diagnosis of what is happening. To confirm the diagnosis you can request radiographs of the most affected joint.

Treatment of osteoarthritis in cats

Being an irreversible disease we will look for relieve symptoms so that he suffers as little as possible and at the same time avoid the advance of the disease. Each case will be evaluated in particular with the veterinarian, since sometimes, they have other more serious diseases that require more attention.

We can resort to anti-inflammatory conventional as well as natural anti-inflammatories for the most acute phases. We can also resort to Homeopathy or Bach Flowers for a more natural management of the disease.

El diet control It will be a very important part for them since overweight cats will suffer more in the affected joints. In the event that the cat is already overweight, we will consult with our veterinarian the option of offering diets for obese cats. Do not forget that the food you choose must be rich in fish oil and vitamin Eas well as low in carbohydrates. Remember that glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate favor the formation of cartilage so that the food must be present.

Last but not least, we must condition the home so that our cat should not change its habits. See if we can lower the walls of the hygienic tray, water and food in an accessible place, etc.

This article is merely informative, in .com we do not have the faculty to prescribe veterinary treatments or make any kind of diagnosis. We invite you to take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Osteoarthritis in cats – Symptoms and treatments, we recommend that you enter in our section of degenerative diseases.