My sweet baby Jack has Arthritis

[carrotmater]

Hi there, my baby Jack, I guess he will always be my baby since his mother was run over and killed a week after he was born. He had 2 sisters that were stillborn. So I took him to work in my pocket to keep him warm and fed him every 2 hours and used a warm paper towel to stimulate him to pee and poop. My Vet said it is very hard to get a kitten to survive, but he checked him every week and he said he was thriving. I found this weird glove that I would pet him with like a mother cleaning him. So needless to say I was the first person my jack saw when he opened his eyes, so I am momma. Jack is now 11 years old and has been healthy up to last September and then he got this fast growing weird knots, but at the same time my Dad died right in front of me and I did CPR on him for 20 minutes until the ambulance came. He was in perfect health, but he had a stroke. Then my mother, after celebrating 53 years of marriage and fighting cancer for 14 years she had multiple myeloma, she passed in November. So my whole world has been a night mare, being an adult orphan. Back to Jack, I got him to the Vet and he said he thought it was fibrosarcoma, so he kept him and did some blood work and did the surgery and said he got it all. It seemed like it took forever for the lab report to come back and when it did it was positive for fibrosarcoma. Since then he was doing fine until last week and all of a sudden he would not walk on his left rear leg. I took him to the Vet and had to leave him over night because that leg was so painful that he would not let them manipulate that leg. So they had to sedate him to manipulate his leg and take xrays of that leg. The vet said that he had severe arthritis in that knee area, and he gave him some liquid pain medication and will see him back in a couple of weeks. I have another cat and a border collie that is 12 and since the loss of my parents it terrifies me about losing Jack.

[puremutt]

wow you sure have been tru a lot.
It does happen when one parent leaves us the spouse joins him soon after, they are together forever, it's hard for the people they leave behind..........
you have the comfort of your pets I am sure they help you heal.

Arthritis can be helped for sure with pain meds and supplements.
Let us know when you're baby gets home.
we are all here for you if you need to talk.

[carrotmater]

It really makes me feel good to have found this site. I love Jack like my other 2 but I do have more of a special bond with him. I want him to enjoy life. I am just now seeing better days, I was a definite daddy's girl. When I get home from work Jack is always so glad to see me.

[puremutt]

oh I just re-read your first post and I understand that jack is home with you right now?

I had a dog, that had severe arthritis and in the end I gave Adequan injections at the vet .I don;t know if those can be given to cats.
there will be more responses to your post in the coming days from more knowlegable people, hang in there!

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Also a light massage will give you BOTH comfort. Two of my dogs and I all have arthritis and we are here to tell you it feels WONDERFUL, and it is such a bonding thing. I am recovering from a broken rib and every other ache and pain is accentuated by that. So I may be visiting a spa for a massage when this rib heals. There are some OTC pain relievers, but the anti-inflammatories are probably more helpful in reducing the cause of the pain rather than relieving the pain.

I have dosed Glucosamine to pups in the past, but haven't tried it myself in probably 10 years, because it wasn't effective for me. I should probably give it another try. I have no idea what the dose for a cat would be. He is a pretty boy!

[critters]

Baba babies do, indeed, have a special baba baby personality, so I know what you mean. I'm pretty sure Adequan can be given to kitties, as can microdoses of aspirin and a few painkillers.

[carrotmater]

Hey All, Thank you so much for the advice and the encouragement. Yes, Jack is home with me, he is sleeping a lot which is really no different than before . The Vet has him on Metacam 2ml every 24 hours, and it seems to be helping his knee joint for now. I had to take the top off the litter box because it seemed he was not getting around in it with the top on, and not getting urine down his leg. He does enjoy the massage and so do I. I appreciate all of you and keep up in your thoughts,

Karen and Jack

[puremutt]

Oh that's right ! I forgot that one, my dog was on Metacam where you use that 'syringe' for the amount, that works great!
I think your Jack will be fine