Adequan Dosing Question

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Amy&TrixieCat

Amy&TrixieCat

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My senior Civvie, Mario, started on Adequan a few months ago for his arthritis. It seems to be helping him quite a bit, but I have some questions about dosing frequency. The schedule my vet has us following is:

Twice a week for a month.
Once a week for a month
Every other week for a month
Once a month for life

At this point, we're a the "every other week" stage, with tomorrow being his last shot at this level of frequency. So, after that, we begin the "once a month" phase.

In the past few days, though, I've noticed him stiffening up a bit again, and "flicking" his hind leg again while he walks, which he completley stopped doing almost as soon as we began the injections. Is Adequan something that can be dosed a little more frequently than the protocol I've listed, or is that dangerous to do? If he's uncomfortable again after just 2 weeks, I'm wondering if he won't do well at the "once a month" level.

I do plan on talking to my vet about this and I definitely won't start randomly increasing his dosage, but I wanted to gather a little more info before talking to the vet, and I know that FDMB is the best place for all things cat.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Amy
 
My civie, Miss Emily, had severe arthritis. We ended up using Adequan weekly on her. I think that your vet may be willing to discuss adjusting the dosing schedule if the less frequent injections are not helping. There may be a possibility of reduced blood clotting ability with Adequan use, so that is something to keep in mind.
 
Hi Amy: I'm glad Linda gave you some thoughts. I used adequan on Gus for several months but because his arthritis was congenital and breed related, it didn't seem to help him much. Glad it's helping Mario!!!
 
Adequan can be dosed in accordance with how the cat responds after the initial "loading" period, so if you notice it seems to have worn off before 30 days, you might consider trying every 3 weeks and see how he responds. I asked my vet about doing it every other week for Gandalf and she agreed that would be fine and actually a good thing to do for him, he's 18 1/2 and a large maine Coon type cat with arthritis in his hips and spine.

Another thing you might consider is acupuncture to help with pain. I have seen it make a difference following treatment. If you can find an acupuncture vet, you might want to consult with them. Our acu vet administers B12 shots and the Adequan in certain acupuncture points even.
 
Ditto on my dosing Ennis with Adequan. We are well past the loading period, but he gets it as needed now, even if that is every 2 weeks.
 
Thank you guys so much for your replies! I spoke to my vet, and she was OK with the "every 2 weeks" for a while longer, but - so far - not as a long-term matter of course. However, with the info that you've been providing me, I'll be able to talk to her more solidly about dosing on an "as need" basis, which probably will be every other week. Mario was definitely feeling the stiffness until I gave him the shot on Monday. By Monday evening I once again saw marked improvement. His arthritis primarily seems to be in his back end, too...definitely his knees, and probably his hips and spin. It does my heart good to see him feeling and moving better!
 
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