YOUR Cat Has ARTHRITIS, Here's What to Do NEXT!

[@venn2001ad]

I'm happy to see Mr. Pirate still doing well. 😊

[@tealimeteatime1244]

Oh Mr Pirate, we missed you so much 😻

[@tealimeteatime1244]

A heated blanket or pad can work wonders for elderly cats. My 15 year old cat is fond of her heated blanket 😻

[@nickywellman594]

My cat spends most the day on there! He is 17 still jumping up fences although arthritis

[@GScully42]

My 17 year old loves sleeping under the blankets of the heated waterbed.

[@krisniznik3953]

Electric blankets are great for cats. I had a feral who decided to be tame when he was twelve after discovering mine! He went from being unhandleable to the nicest snuggler. He spent most of his time on my bed for the next seven years and was my dear friend.

[@DawnRK3204]

@@tealimeteatime1244 yes! My cat takes over my heating pad when I’m finished with it.

[@stellarobado4269]

So glad Mr Pirate is still here! Thanks for keeping him healthy and happy.

[@jonnavdpas]

Good to see that Mr. Pirate is still doing well and inhabiting his rightful place on your shoulder.

[@peachfuzz00]

MR. PIRATE!! I'm so happy to see that he's still doing well. I haven't kept up with this channel very much recently, but I always remember the video where you shared your story of Mr. Pirate and how you care for him. I'm so glad you have each other. As a cat lover myself I have such a special bond with my boy, and just the thought of him not being here someday makes me tear up. All cats deserve an owner who will give them even half of the time, care, patience, and love that you've given Mr. Pirate. Best wishes to the both of you ❤

[@karljiks]

I'm finally in a place where I can start thinking about getting a cat, but I can't do it before I move, so I have been researching to prepare for the entire life of a cat. You posting again has been a lifesaver.

[@fgm1197]

Adopt don't shop.😉

[@joeyotten2091]

My boy Wilson has arthritis in his back legs and spine….he has been getting Solensia for a year now and it’s amazing….before he gets his shot he can barely jump up onto the bed and he can’t lift his tail up…he gets his shot and almost overnight he’s able to jump up again and he can’t lift lift his tail a bit again. I wish I could administer the injection myself instead of going to the vet every month and spending $80 but the difference in quality of life for him makes it worth it.

[@incog99skd11]

I tried a little cat massage today on my Nehemiah. He clawed me. Might take some time before he gets used to it. He did kinda like it along his spine though.

[@noname-vz5wx]

I have the same situation and for a year had been going to the vet, but last month my vet said I could try it at home next time! Maybe your vet would also accept it?

[@incog99skd11]

@@noname-vz5wx Is it a shot into the muscle or into the bloodstream? If it's intramuscular; then it shouldn't be too hard to do.

[@joeyotten2091]

@@incog99skd11 it’s subcutaneous! Not even into the muscle…I will ask again if I can do it…I just got trained how to do subcutaneous fluids at home…I should be able to do solensia as well you’d think.

[@fgm1197]

Exact same thing here although i am not sure what exact painkiller my baby gets. She is(would) limping on her back left leg but with this injection every 6-8 weeks she is doing fine. She hates car rides as well. Not just hate she almost panics every time and starts to hyperventilate. Not a pretty sight but unfortunately necessary.

[@shroomyk]

I'm here for Pirate. Cutest old man on the internet. I would die for him.

[@keaco73]

Mr Pirate looks amazing! Thanks for your videos

[@natlee8947]

Great to see Mr. Pirate , hope he's doing well. Always good to see you Doctor ! Your advice is always welcome.

[@yin8817]

I missed you so much Mr. Pirate!!! I'm so happy to see you doing well!! I'm also happy to see you too Dr. Uri :)

[@pyasta1]

Thank you for this! Always happy to see a Dr. Uri video. Your videos have helped me so much in giving my cats the best quality of life possible. Your videos on kidney disease management made it less scary for me and my partner to make decisions and administer care.

[@TooLazyToFail]

Thank you for this! We have young cats now but have had our share of old cats. Your advice has helped tremendously! Best of luck to you and a long life to the dignified Mr. Pirate! Long may he reign.

[@Pieling]

My senior kitty is another Solensia success story. Before getting it, she would spend all day in bed, barely moving around. Four days after her first injection, she was up and walking around the house! It's been amazing seeing her filled with life again

[@gwaeron8630]

I'll be taking my 16 year old girl in for her T4 check and I'll be talking with the vet about OA because she is definetly not jumping as easily as she used to. No counter jumps for a while now and for 2 foot high jumps she uses her front claws to assist. Thank you for the video Dr Uri!

[@haleypratt7934]

My 16-year-old cat has had monthly Solensia injections for about a year, and it seems to have helped him a lot!

[@smulroy]

I'm doing that since August for my 15 yo.

[@kermitdafrog444]

My cat gets a solensia injection every 4-6 weeks and he is doing SO much better. Hes running and jumping like never before and can get up the stairs much better

[@KatjeKat86]

My cat used that in her last couple months of life it made such a difference, this was a little bit ago so it was new to the area. I didn't mind the monthly vet visits at that point because we were debating which was the tipping point of quality of life for my little lady. And the vet needed to see her to help me evaluate that. If she had gotten earlier I think she would have been way more comfortable for more time. Which is great for any future cats I have because Arthritis seems to always get them if you're lucky enough to get them to be old. And under those circumstances after a couple months I would push to do them at home more for the lack of stress for the animal then for saving money cause my vet did not charge me for the visit just the meds because it was such a quick in and out.

[@chabetex]

Sooo good to see MrPirate

[@VVFFTTAA]

Have been waiting for a video on this subject. Thank you!

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Glad it was helpful!

[@andreah6379]

TY, Doc. Always great advice. And so nice to see Mr. Pirate, again. I hope your family is doing well, too!

[@willmendoza8498]

Solensia has really helped our 20 year old arthritic cat. As has the fireplace. I'll try the elbow massage.

[@MaxairEngineering]

So good to see a fresh video Dr. Uri……

[@doomskull7549]

My poor baby had to be put down this afternoon at the age of 17 and had suffered with arthritis for most of his later life. It's so sad seeing it siphon the life out of innocent cats with pain every time they want to move. Thank you for what you do in helping these animals

[@llamaslovedrama]

Solensia has been so amazing for my cat, she was the first cat at her clinic to get it and has been on it since it's been available. She also gets an Adequan injection each month as well along with her Solensia, and ancedotally the combo has been even more effective. I do agree that when she took glucosamine treats it didn't seem to make a difference, but the injections appear to have really helped in conjuction with the Solensia Of course we have been seeing the results at home, but when our longtime pet sitter saw her again she commented that she had "never seen her move like that before!" which is so amazing to hear. She's way more playful and in much less pain, we don't give her pain medication regularly anymore 🖤🖤

[@tori7014]

I always adopted older cats in the past, but right now I have a blind 9 year old boy. He does not jump, only moves distances he can reach with his paws. Im worried I wont be able to see the signs of pain when he gets old because he moves so carefully. But I want to give him the same care and help you give Mr. Pirate. :)

[@josie4peace]

I'm sure you will know due to your compassion. I have a one-eyed cat and he humbles me every day 💕🐈🙏

[@Tribblejuice]

Just today I borrowed a cat massage book from the library..then there was your video!

[@Вікторія3о]

Mr Pirate, so great to see you again! And you, Mr Yurii, as well 🙌

[@mazaari]

Mr. Pirate is the best

[@incog99skd11]

I tried powdered glucosamine in my cat's food. He knew it was in there and I suspect he thought I was gonna poison him. He refused the food with the added powder. My little guy is very smart.

[@whathandleUtalkabt]

Don't give human drugs, vitamins to cats 😮

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Besides glucosamine not being effective for OA, it's also never a good idea to mix medications i to food. Just give them directly to cat/dog/turtle.

[@incog99skd11]

@@whathandleUtalkabt It was formulated for cats but my Nehemiah knew better than I. He rejected it immediately.

[@incog99skd11]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet OMG, I'll leave giving meds to my cat to the vet. He would fight me ferociously if I tried. Early on when he was small he broke his leg and I was supposed to administer liquid antibiotic to him after they set the bones and put some screws and pins in his front leg. Well that did not go well. It was off to the hospital for a few days of IV antibiotics. My cat simply is way to feisty to try anything like that. He was a TNR cat so he will always be somewhat "difficult" but I love him to pieces on his terms. The good news is that the vet says he is quite healthy at this time.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Some cats are definitely easier than others! Most can be medicated by owners, but not all. I do have vids on here that teach you how.

[@whathandleUtalkabt]

Thank you so much. This needs to be known worldwide. Most cats by age 10 have it and owners have no idea.

[@washtubz]

Been looking forward to this video. The side effects of solensia were spooking me cause I was worried it'd mess up my girl who has IBD like Mr. Pirate. Hearing Mr. Pirate is currently on it is very reassuring, and your endorsement makes it moreso.

[@meowmeowmeowbarf]

My little guy lost 2 pounds in the past year!! It takes a while but it's possible ♡

[@melanierosalez6989]

Dr., I consider you a valuable resource as a point of reference for me and my cat. Thank you for making this content!

[@anabanana7599]

My goodness, it's been a while, good to see both of you 👍😻

[@PIGEON5265]

Thank you Dr. Uri and Mr. Pirate for these amazing videos! You're such an awesome person 😀

[@whelessarmstrong]

So glad to see Mr.Pirate! Towards the end of the video he looks like he was done meant to go find a good sunbeam

[@TheJunnutin]

My little 17yo Pearl who's getting gabapentin and Solensia for her arthritis (she also has kidney disease) was watching Mr. Pirate very intensely 😸 Have to say at least in her case Solensia was a saver. I had to bump up her gabapentin dose quite frequently but after she started getting Solensia it's been over 2 years with the same dose. In hindsight it's quite annoying how long it took for a vet to diagnose her arthritis. I talked to 4 different vets about how her back "twitches" and how she's ripping (and I mean literally RIPPING) the hair from her belly and hind legs. Poor child had a completely bald belly. She was also yowling a lot. With the 4th vet It took like a minute of observing Pearl move around to suggest an x-ray and after the diagnosis she got the gabapentin prescription. I'm happy to tell she stopped yowling and has fully furry belly and legs again! And I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to pet that fluffy belly any time. It's never a trap! She also jumps to the kitchen counter which is something like 4ft high. Also, great to see Mr Pirate is still around and looking as dignified as ever!

[@Spikypotato.]

Oh mr Piraaaate❤ I love how doc holds him like a sleepy baby, talking with a soft voice😍🥰 Our younger cat gets solensia, she is only 5 but she is a mix of scottish fold and something else (we were told it is maybe persian but we can’t know for sure) so the poor thing got arthritis at 4 years old. FYI we had no impact over her breeding and we spayed her immediatly. The shots work wonders for her, she gets it once every 1,5 months now. I hope the medication is not going to shorten her precious life just because she started at 4 years old?❤️

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

The medication will not aa far as we know.

[@FantaLain]

Solensia has been a game changer for our 11 year old cat. Shes a big cat breed so we could only get her weight to a certain point, and it was clear her front paws really bother her - she cannot retract the majority of her nails and trimming them causes her discomfort, but she loves to play. While she is still stiff after getting up she's back to playing tinfoil soccer and leaping around. We did get some stairs for her as both beds in the house are very high but she still ignores them 😂

[@yzettasmith4194]

Mr. Pirate!!! Nice to see you, too, Dr. Burstyn.

[@terfalicious]

The patient Pirate! What a good boy!

[@mehradmazaheri]

Thank you for the Video

[@QMulative]

You make me wish my Gunstar lived long enough to start getting osteoarthritis, if only we could choose what age-related diseases our pets get (although in that case, who wouldn't just pick "none"?). Mr. Pirate seems like he has just the same kind of mellow, affectionate attitude that Gunstar did. My current kittens are just too hyper to sit still for a massage, but maybe they'll mellow out and sit still to enjoy a massage once they get into their senior years. I can only hope that maybe within 10 years or so, pet medicine will have advanced to where we have some way of restarting regenerative processes to get that "joint-teflon" back, maybe telomere rebuilders while we're at it, to increase healthspan, if not also lifespan. I can also only hope that I can afford such a treatment for them.

[@annabee6697]

We use solensia and massage to manage Sunshine's arthritis and it's helped him so much! Thank you for talking about it because it really has been revolutionary for my senior fur baby 😊

[@siaking99]

Solensia has been a lifesaver for my 17 year old kitty

[@jennie9]

My cat took metacam and gabapentin for arthritis for about 4 years and we slowly increased the doses over that time. Once she reached the limits, the vet switched her to buprenorphine instead of the gabapentin, which worked much better for her because it provided better pain relief and she was awake more (gabapentin made her sleep a lot). I think solensia would probably have been better than gabapentin in the beginning but it wasn't available here then. When solensia came out, we tried it but it didn't work quickly enough for her advanced case, so we went back to buprenorphine. It kept her comfortable for the last couple of years of her life. She lived to the ripe old age of 22 without any other health issues until right near the end.

[@jonnavdpas]

22 is super old for a cat. No doubt she reached that thanks to your excellent care and love.

[@kindred.7313]

My cat is a rescue, had her bones broken 12 years ago but no one really noticed until recently. Went to a different vet and they noticed her swollen nodes on the joints She was doing super bad and couldn’t even clean herself. She is on her 2nd shot of solensia and she just started climbing her giant cat tree and running around again :D night and day!! She hasn’t done that in 5 years

[@ClaudiaRusso-tr2qg]

Hi Mr. Pirate, you look adorable as always sweetie. Give your dad a hug from me fur all his wonderful work!❤😻

[@er...]

Squish! 😊❤

[@noname-vz5wx]

my cat takes solencia and it has helped so much!

[@DawnRK3204]

Thanks for the suggestion. My cat’s vet mentioned it during her last visit, and I just called to make an appointment. I do massage, Maggie, who is 18, but I would love to see her more mobile.

[@ikeekieeki]

thanks for sharing this helpful video

[@elainebradley8213]

Silenzia has worked well with our cat. It was amazing to see how beneficial it was.

[@jmr9735]

(Checking this video to see if I can find tips for my own osteoarthritis. 😆) It's great to see Mr. Pirate!

[@FortTheMighty]

so glad Mr Pirate is still chillin

[@amicaaranearum]

For those with young cats, is there anything we can do to delay or prevent the onset of osteoarthritis?

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Good question. Nothing other than avoiding obesity.

[@amicaaranearum]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet Thanks!

[@barbaracholak5204]

Welcome Dr. Uri & Pirate Salutations from California USA

[@chuckbatson595]

Thank you for this. My beloved Luna will be 22 this year and has OA among several other issues. Sedation from pain meds is more than just sleeping... I've worked hard to tune buprenorphine and gabapentin to the smallest effective dose. Yet, the buprenorphine reduces her gastric motility, and she grooms less, leading to matted fur, etc. We tried two doses of Solensia a month apart but she did not appear to respond to this treatment.

[@jennie9]

My elderly cat didn't respond to solensia either. I think her case was just too advanced. However, she reacted so well to buprenorphine that I was able to cut the gabapentin completely. It was amazing to me how much more awake and alert she was without it.

[@CrankyPantss]

Thank you for this information.

[@RLaraMoore]

Such very helpful information 🙏

[@authormichellefranklin]

Love you, Mr Pirate

[@gosman949]

How about the use of Solensia with diabetic, renal, and intestinal issue cats?

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

So far, no problems.

[@gosman949]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet I was talking about my girl cat, Tambourine. haha I forgot Mr. Pirate has the same issues!

[@ToddDouglasFox]

Quality liquid CBD oil a couple of days per week. Collagen, cartilage, follistatin vs myostatin, Omega 3, Vit D3/K2 and whatever is needed for absorption and bowels, like ox bile. Additionally be sure to use spring water that is bottled in glass, has minerals, a pH of about 7.5, carbon filtered and ozonated (you’ll find it). Water is absolutely imperative to reduce OA progression. What’s the humidity? Cats generally like about 30-35%. Get a humidifier for the area your cat sleeps in. An orthopedic bed helps with comfort and make sure the step up into the litter box is not more than a few inches. Use ramps as needed rather than stairs. Frequent grooming generally keeps the sensitivity levels down. And infrared wraps that don’t get hot can bring relief to the joints as well as stimulate mitochondria (you don’t need to buy expensive pet designated ones - the ones for people can be much less expensive).

[@werelemur1138]

The vet warned me about sedation with gabapentin but Princess started playing like a young cat again.

[@Sashazur]

Cat obesity seems to be a double edged sword. A healthy weight is good for arthritis, but I think you had an earlier video where you said a study had found that being a bit overweight could be better for kidney disease. Both are problems mainly in older cats so what’s the right answer?

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

I think the right answer is 'slightly chubby is ok'. Vets score animals on a 1-9 body condition scale. 5 is perfect, 9 extremely obese etc. So 6/9 is acceptable in an older cat but probably not 7/9.

[@Sashazur]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet Thanks! At our last checkup our vet said our two ten year old sisters were a little heavy so we’re gonna put them on calorie limited food. They certainly aren’t walking pillows so they probably already are in the zone you recommend.

[@CrashPilot1000]

Much love went into that video.

[@llnow1237]

Our cat got very sick using Medicam - it was scary. While expensive- a monthly shot of Solencia has been working wonders. My cat is deaf now - and I’m not sure if it’s related- a quick google in various chat rooms and I’ve seen several comments where someone’s cat became deaf after the shot - so i wonder. All anecdotal. And deafness and old cats seem to go together- so the ol’ correlation doesn’t mean causation is relevant . Ultimately I’d rather not have her in pain so even if it’s a side effect I am glad we have the shot.

[@dianekassmann8821]

At my vet’s suggestion we started using Solensia last month. It has really helped my cat’s mobility and comfort, so we’ll continue it.

[@ekleshump4165]

Tears...yet happy. I love you like my Sticky Meowgi. You are a spoilt little cat

[@stephalina]

mr pirate!! baby angel loml i am always so happy to see him in your videos :)

[@hulejul9748]

hey, my old lady cat has issues around her hip and tail. gets zolensia monthly and had improved a lot. it's a bit expensive but worth it

[@bearfog07]

How old is Pirate? He looks like a real sweety! My girl, Fog, just closed her 'founding day' as I don't know when she was born as I found her up the tree in the back yard! She is offically eighteen plus years old.

[@KatjeKat86]

The statement about weight loss being the first step unusually one of the only ones needed is very telling that a lot of people don't keep their cat at healthy weight. I have had to fight to keep the weight on my cats when they were old way more than I did to make sure they lost it to be healthy weight. I do like keeping them when they're elderly at the upper edge of a healthy weight because if they have a health crisis it seems to help keep them alive. Luckily whenever my elderly cat had one of those we could take her to the 21st 7 vet hospital and get her taken care of. Without frequent reoccurrence between was 6 months and the first time she had one I think it was 3 years before she had it again. After each episode we'd work with the vet to prevent it from happening again. She sadly had a couple cool mobilities that made her care harder. I don't know as a vet what your thoughts on that are but it is under an unhealthy weight level so my vet has never had a problem with it. It is helpful to have the vet tell you what their new weight range is when they start getting old at different stages because it's not standard for their size anymore because of what's happening to their muscle mass etc. That injection is a miracle it wasn't available at my vet till close to the end of my cat's life but it made her last 6 months so much better and probably gave us half of that time with her cause otherwise we would have had to say good bye sooner for her sake.

[@ArtSMRdianne]

As in many human medication theres the addicting effect, how is this in animal medicine? Have there been studies that anyone knows of? What could we see in our pets if they have withdrawal symptoms? I think it's important for the well-being of our pets to be aware of this 🙏 Thank you for this video!!

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Addiction occurs due to drug specific mechanisms so not everything is physically addictive. Solensia is definitely not. Psychological addiction doesn't happen in pets because they lack self awareness.

[@ArtSMRdianne]

@HelpfulVancouverVet that's what I mean, yes, physical addiction. Sorry if my English doesn't reach far enough. How would you notice withdrawal symptoms?

[@lindasimons691]

I appreciate the helpful advice. My 14 yr old, with stage 3 kidney disease has started to occasionally limp. At her next follow up I will discuss selenzia (sp?) with her. Thank you.

[@nikkiewhite476]

Ha ha ha! Mr Pirate was asking why am I not on your shoulder! I saw those airplane ears. To add my cheers to solencia: My girl has had arthritis for years she has been on gabapentin and a steroid for 4 years. She took a turn for the worse last summer and we tried medacam and the narcotic you mentioned. Sadly she is prone to constipation so the medacam made it worse then the narcotic sealed the end as it were. Laxatives for 6 days didn't produce anything so she had an enema. Sedation and enemas are hard on elderly cats (she was 2 months shy of 17 then) and she was badly off. She got her first shot the day after but her arthritis is so advanced plus the stress it took about 3 weeks to really work. We had actually booked the appointment for the end she was just suffering so. Then about 5 days before she turned around. She recovered quite well to a level before she started medication. It has given us a few more months with her and I cherish every day!

[@thhseeking]

Mr Pirate...hang in there, Mate 😻😻😻😻 Lots of love from Australia!

[@melissamartin9237]

My 15-year-old cat started on Solensia about 6 weeks ago and we’re already seeing some improvement. Unfortunately, this means she can get up to the kitchen counter now …

[@saliciousable]

Hi Uri, Love to see you and the handsome Mr Pirate❤. I have my senior foster cat on Solensia but it's expensive. Can I stretch the shots to every 5 or 6 weeks without losing efficacy? Thanks!

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

For some patients you can! I would advise doing monthly shots for 2-3 month end try extending interval to 5 then 6 weeks and let your little cat tell you when another shot is due.

[@saliciousable]

Thanks ever so much for your advice❤​@@HelpfulVancouverVet

[@incog99skd11]

Freeze dried chicken cat treats keep my Nehemiah nice and trim. We prefer those over the corn based treats like Temptations.

[@joeyotten2091]

Be careful cause freeze dried doesn’t mean it’s cooked…and you don’t want to risk feeding raw to our cats right now cause of H5N1..just make sure the treats have been cooked before freeze drying…avian flu going around is very scary for our kitties!

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Excellent point, never feed raw food, freeze dried or otherwise!

[@incog99skd11]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet We use Cat-Man-Doo freeze dried chicken, all breast meat fully cooked before being freeze dried. With cat's propensity to diabetes, we prefer these over the corn based treats.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Ah, well that sounds like an excellent treat.

[@BellePullman]

My old boy has arthritis, at 17... while Solencia was offered to us, our previous elderly resident who passed away 8 years ago had had great success with Cartrophen injections for her arthritis for years. Was this medication not licensed in north America? It never seems to be mentioned, and was so effective for the old girl that she got to the point of voluntarily getting in the carrier to go to the vet for her injections! The only downside we saw was it was really obvious when it wore off, the few days before the next appointment were clearly far less comfortable for her. Now my current 17 year old is less clear cut, but he's still definitely much more mobile after the cartrophen injection!

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

We used to use cartrophen a lot, but solensia is just so much more reliable and effective that it seems to me there is no point in cartrophen and dasequin anymore.

[@yowaikemen]

Awww

[@siaking99]

Mr Pirate!! 💕

[@chaymaarris6244]

دكتور قطي يعاني من تسوس الاسنان متقدم والتهاب اللثة ويتالم في كل وقت وأثناء الاكل ويخاف من الأكل هل من دواء لتخفيف المه من فضلك أرجو أن تفهم سؤالي

[@aeolia80]

Oh man! I think this is for me, lol. I have a Korean shorthair (yes, Korean, adopted him in Korea and he was born on the street like most Korean shorthairs are, and it was a pain in the butt to get him imported to the EU, lol), he's a big cat, orange male tabby, he was neutered at 7 months but did nothing for his size, he still got really big and muscular, only difference is he doesn't have the large puffy face that I remember a lot of tomcats on the streets of Korea having. Anyways, he's 8 years old now, and really starting to show some signs of joint problems, i think he jumped down from a high spot not long ago and was very ginger with his hind legs for a few weeks, he seems better now, but it's getting mote frequent where I don't let him jump down from high places anymore.

[@butterpoweredbike6135]

Mr. Pirate!

[@littlekitsune1]

Could you possibly do a video on how to help bunnies stay active and lose weight? I'm a first time owner and I've noticed that even though she has a whole room to free roam, my bunny doesn't like to be that active and now she's getting kind of fat. She's otherwise very healthy but I can't find a good solution other than maybe changing her diet. (She gets adult Oxbow pellets and leafy greens twice a day in addition to unlimited grass hay in her litterbox) She does binky for me but refuses to play much otherwise.

[@Kenkire]

While most supplements might not work in a large population, my Loki was overweight and had joint pain. We couldn't get him to exercise. We got recommended Dasuquin by our vet and in a month he was much more active. It's a powder you put in their food. He has since lost all of the unwanted weight and is a healthy 12 lb boy.

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Sadly the data supporting glucosamine (and Dasequin) efficacy is really weak. Even more sadly we know that up to 30% of owners who give their pet a placebo treatment will report a positive impact. This placebo effect is similar to what is seen in humans, except of course the patients do not benefit from it in the veterinary case. Unfortunately it does prevent seeking effective remedies, so it is something we really need to watch out for as vets and animal welfare professionals. In your case I suspect it was the weight loss that improved your cat's life, and the effects were seen early enough to be confused with medication. Or just placebo effect. Or he had a waxing/waning inflammatory cycle that coincided with Dasequin administration (arthritis works like that sometimes) and the improvement was misattributed to the treatment. That's why large population studies show us the truth, and individual reports are worthless from a scientific perspective.

[@chrisalmendra4370]

Can you give us tips on how to clean our cats ears?

[@angiangol7286]

❤️

[@toughr1506]

Why is Pirate not allowed to walk when he wants to?

[@user-hh1ut8re5j]

❤

[@CurtQuarquessoMedia]

MR. PIRATE!!!!

[@yvonnerogers6429]

👍🏻

[@ishwarilaughing6256]

What is your opinion on Cartrophen used for cats? I know it is off label, but it has been around for years and has fairly few side effects 🤷

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Very safe but of questionable effectiveness. I pretty much stopped using it since solensia came in the market.

[@ishwarilaughing6256]

@HelpfulVancouverVet thank you, I was a little nervous about solensia because the trials published were short term ones, have you had cats that have tolerated the drug for more than a year or so?

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

It has been used for many years in Europe so the long term safety data exists, and it is excellent.

[@daniellefournier978]

MR. PIRATE!…🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

[@bmiles4131]

Lol, I saw the thumbnail photo and thought I know this cat…? Then I saw it was Mr Vancouver vet! I do know that cat!

[@sasori7833]

Dr, sorry for my english, i'm French, but could you please talk about natural options without having to go once a month to the vet and scaring my cat ? Glucosamin and chondritin don't work, i agree, i tried for my baby and no results. I use curcumin with piperin, harpagophytum (not recommended if the pet has a kidney or heart disease, but it works like a painkiller) and omega 3 for my cat and i have great results without injections or meds. I mean, it's obvious because now he jumps again and doesn't hesitate 5 minutes before doing it. Just to inform pet parents community 😊

[@HelpfulVancouverVet]

Drugs are made by humans, and we are a part of nature, therefore drugs are natural options, and your cats would benefit from them 🤗

[@Tribblejuice]

@@HelpfulVancouverVet Best comment I have ever heard on not using useless supplements/herbal remedies (CBD oil etc). Brilliant! Thanks! (I still say you argue like a Jesuit!). That is a good thing.

[@sherilynn1310]

Someone, please spell the new med he mentions? Solenzia? something like that

[@amicaaranearum]

Solensia (frunevetmab).

[@billkormas3460]

God is so cruel cause Why would He give osteoarthritis to little Kitty Cats