Thursday, August 6, 2020

Those Old Bones

I have been giving Josie joint-medicine for several weeks now. She receives about two millilitres of it orally on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays (the other days, she receives a dose of Restoralax, to keep her regular.) I think I have seen a concrete improvement in my Chubs.


I have several water-bowls placed about the apartment; in the bedroom alone there are three, because my cats spend so much time in there; certainly, it is Josie’s favourite room. There is a big one by the door, a small one on the ledge under the window, and Cammie’s Bowl in the corner, a couple of inches off the floor. This is the Great White’s preferred source of water.


During her urinary tract infection six weeks ago or so, Josie took to lying on the base of one of the bedroom cat-trees; she evidently found it to her liking since she snoozes there now even though she is fully recovered. Cammie’s Bowl is easily reached from there. Josie also sleeps on the bed but still mostly uses Cammie’s Bowl. To get there from the bed, she merely drops the two feet to the floor.


She could easily use the stairs from the bed, or walk across the desk to the descending platforms of the cat-trees. And she does travel these routes from time to time. But the fact that she repeatedly jumps from the bed to the floor tells me that her sixteen year old bones and joints must be able to withstand the shock of landing. She may have done this priorly, and I hadn’t taken note; that she does it now suggests that her joints and muscles are serving her well, and without pain. Whether this is due to the medicine she is imbibing cannot be known for sure. Then again, I don’t think the medicine can hurt.


So, despite her dislike of receiving it, my Chubs will continue to take her dose. Maybe if she keeps taking it, she’ll soon be spry enough to run away from it…


21 comments:

  1. John, I read what you wrote with interest. Alex has arthritis, and the joint medicine I've been giving him for awhile now does not seem to be helping. Would you be able to tell me what you use for Josie? Perhaps that would work better than the joint supplement I'm now using. Thanks!

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    1. It's called Aventi Joint Formula (you can read about it here: https://www.petsdrugmart.ca/Product/Aventi-Joint-Formula-5910780/5472). Josie's veterinary said that it is a pretty benign medicine, so you can't really give too much (within reason, of course.) You may also want to look at the products mentioned by the Trout Towne Tabbies and Kea, in this comments section.

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    2. Thanks so much for the information, John. And also thanks to da Tabbies and Kea for their help. I'm going to check out all of the products you guys mentioned. Thanks again!!

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  2. We hope if helps your sweetie, that kind of hurt is not fun at all.

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    1. Josie seems to be doing well, especially for her age.

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  3. Aww, Josie! You are the light in your hudad's eye, you know that?

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  4. josie; yur foto two day bee pricelezz.. ♥♥♥♥

    we due knot wanna jinx yur roo teen; but tell dad to chex out gycoflex 3 for cats sum time.....just in case....

    me toona, can vouch itz my tee tastee...{ and it lookz like fish :) ♥♥

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    1. Another useful product. I wonder if it's similar to what Kea wrote of. It's available at Walmart, though that may not mean their Canadian branches. Thank you, Tabbies.

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  5. I don't know what you're giving her (I'm glad it's helping!), but Pet Naturals of Vermont sells hip + joint supplements for cats, via Walmart (probably Amazon too, though likely more expensive).

    https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/pet-naturals-of-vermont-hip-joint-for-cats/6000199758053

    I started giving Derry their hairball treats (I cut them up into crumbs and sprinkle them on his canned food 2x per day). It's too soon to say whether it will help for hairballs, but I hope the product at least helps his coat (dandruff).

    Anyway, if Josie gets to the point where she refuses what you're giving her, maybe another product will help.

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    1. The Pet Naturals product comes in chewable treats, so Josie may not care for them, but at such a price, it'd be worth buying a jar to find out. Thank you.

      As for dandruff, I give Tucker salmon oil, which gives him calories and helps his skin and coat, which can become dry with diabetes. (I've noticed it to a lesser extent with Neville.) The dandruff decreases with the use of the oil. It's a liquid and I administer it by syringe on the same days that Josie gets her joint-medicine.

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  6. We are so glad that Josie is doing well. When our Angel Buddy Budd was a young 18 he would still jump off the bed or couch. It was getting back up that started to slow and we gave him something to climb on

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    1. That’s how Josie is: she can still drop down from a decent height, but she uses stairs or cat-trees to climb up to the bed.

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  7. Sasha is much the same, getting down doesn't seem to be much of a problem but climbing up is more difficult. I haven't thought to give him any meds as he doesn't seem to be in pain at all. That could be the stoicism of cats though.

    I'm glad to hear Josie is doing so well!

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    1. Not all cats will suffer aches and pains as they age, but it is something to watch out for.

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  8. Joints get old. Sometimes faster and sometimes slower. I feel it myself. Sometimes just putting on shoes takes a pull on the knees.

    Iza jumped less her last months. Marley is only almost 10 but climbs the deck steps slower this year. He is rather large. Ayla is 13 but agile as an elf.

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    1. Ayla sounds like my Renn: thirteen years old and eats like a bird, but strong and fit.

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  9. I am glad Josie is doing so well.
    Flynn had so much going wrong the last couple of years, (which I will forever be convinced it was all triggered by that Convenia injection) but thankfully never suffered from arthritis.
    Up until his last month he would run indoors flat out and take a flying leap onto the cat tree which was shoulder height to me.

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    1. I've heard similar concerns regarding Convenia from other cat-people. I would not want any of mine to have it, based on what you and others tell me. But who would know to begin with?

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  10. Katie, though not well up there yet, she's 12...gets down with ease but no longer leaps to the desk top in the kitchen to patrol nor the counters. She stopped leaping to the bathroom sink as well. I have stair but she didn't use them for the bed, as she habitually uses the heavy oak chest at the foot of the bed as a stepping stone. She gets on the spare bed now as a stepping stone to get onto the cabinet so as to patrol in the spare room. She can drop down but not get up.

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    1. It seems for many cats that the landing upon dropping is less of an ordeal than the effects of jumping.

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