Arthritis experience

[OneBadKitty]

Hi, I just wondered if anyone has any advice for helping a cat with severe arthritis. It seems to have come out of nowhere really but my cat is in lots of obvious pain and can hardly walk.

For the last year or so we have noticed that occasionally after a long sleep she looked a little stiff on initially waking up but other than that had no other symptoms. Then one day a couple of weeks ago she came in with a really obvious limp on her back paws. We took her straight to the vet who ex-rayed thinking she might have a dislocation or break but they didn't find anything except arthritic looking hip joints. They suspect she may have had hip dysplasia all her life which has led to developing arthritis.

The vet tried her for a week on metacam with no response- she's just got worse and is now hardly moving at all. She takes a few steps then lies down again. She is spending whole days just hiding away either under a bush in the garden or in the house hiding behind a chair. When encouraged to get up for meals she is growling and hissing with pain. She's not using her tail at all either and it's just hanging limp as she walks, she's not even twitching it response to me talking to her like she usually does. I'm so sad for her.

The vet is now trying her on Solensia injections which she had the first one of yesterday.

Has anyone had experience of a cat with such bad arthritis and has anything helped? If they can't relieve her pain I don't think she can live like this as she's so unhappy. She's 13

Hello, sorry to hear you kitty is struggling.
My cat has been on the solenseia injections for almost a year and they have been amazing for her. She's 18 and used to walk with very low back legs due to arthritis. She stands straighter and has even tried to scale a few 6ft fences! She seems so much happier on them. I hope your cat feels better soon on the injections x

That sounds promising @GillGills , I've read lots of positive stories of cats having a new lease of life on it so fingers crossed x

The limp tail suggests to me that it could be spinal rather than just her hips, and especially as she went from apparently nothing to pretty bad very quickly.

What's she like if you stroke or brush her firmly down the centre of her back, are there any places where she flinches or otherwise reacts? Concentrate on the area from the start of the pelvis and backwards from there. Also check with your vet whether the x-rays covered the whole of the rear end of the spine mentioning that you thought it could be that rather than hips.

My parents cat had solensia and metacam. I thought it made a difference to him. My parents thought it didn’t. He is now on gabapebtin and metacam. It does seem to be suiting him. As well
as making him a bit more chilled out. (He’s very highly strung!)

I agree with @Allergictoironing it sounds like a spinal issue. My cat was diagnosed with arthritis, after sudden onset pain and difficulty walking. It wasn’t until she started fitting at the emergency vet, that we realised something neurological

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have a feeling it's not just arthritis after reading this. The limp tail is very worrying. If the Solensia doesn't help in the next week then it will be back to the vet again.