Arthritis treatment

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drjsiems

drjsiems

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Jake, my nearly 20-year old gray guy, has been taking Dasuquin in his food on a daily basis for his arthritis for about the past 6 years which has helped him immensely until recently. I can tell that he needs something more as he appears to be having a more difficult getting around and probably in pain. He does not have any other health issues with the exception of slightly elevated kidney values which is pretty common for a cat his age. Are there treatments for arthritis out there that will not affect Jake's diabetic remission status which he has been in now for almost two years?

Thanks,
Judy & Jake
 
I agree----My Buddy has been on Adequan for 2 years ( I inject him when needed, about every 2 weeks) and he shows NO SIGNS of his once awfully bad athritic condition. only thing is it's expensive, and not every vet will give you a bottle to take home . Good luck.
 
Thanks Karen and Marci,

I called my vet today and she is preparing a bottle of Adequan and needles for me to bring home. Since she just saw Jake for a senior/renal profile, she is not making me bring him in again in this terribly cold weather. I am to give him a once per week shot for about four or five weeks, I think, and then probably once a month after that. The vet knows that I am quite experienced with subq injecting when Jake had active diabetes for nine months. Not only is this way best for Jake, I assume it will cut down on the cost to do it this way?

Judy & Jake
 
Hi Judy, my cat Sitka is severely arthritic (the last xrays she had the radiologist said he's never seen a cat that arthritic that could actually still walk!). She's been on adequan for about three years and I honestly think its the reason she still CAN walk. I think that your shot schedule - one a week for 4 weeks - is conservative - for dogs/cats the dosage listed is 2X a week for 4 weeks (http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_adequan.html). Since adequan does take time to build up in the system doing only 1 shot a week just means it might be longer to be effective. I've had no bad reaction with it and Sitka is the queen of bad reactions cat LOL. I hope that Jake starts feeling better soon. Jan
 
In addition to the Adequan or instead you may consider acupuncture. Alternative medicine such as laser therapy and acupuncture is becoming more widely used for pets with good results, as long as the therapist is certified. Gandalf's acupuncture was done by a vet certified for the acupuncture also, so she really knew what she was doing!

I always had my doubts on how much the acupuncture helped, but at the end of his life, it gave him and I some good quality time the last couple of weeks and only on the days he was treated. So I have no doubts now that it helps them in ways we just cannot be aware of.

As for cost of Adequan, you can order it much cheaper from Drs Foster and Smith's pharmacy online, you can fax in or have your vet fax in the prescription, but it was a lot cheaper than my vet charged. Because the doses for cats are so small, it lasts a long time. Gandalf had it every 2 weeks and one bottle lasted a year and never went bad.
 
Hi Judy,
I hope the adequan works for Jake and that it makes him more comfortable. If it doesn't help, consider trying Gabapentin. I used it with Blackie for more than a year and it really helped his arthritis. I know there are others here that have used it too. Sending healing vines for Jake. Its great that he's so healthy!
 
drjsiems said:
Thanks Karen and Marci,

I called my vet today and she is preparing a bottle of Adequan and needles for me to bring home. Since she just saw Jake for a senior/renal profile, she is not making me bring him in again in this terribly cold weather. I am to give him a once per week shot for about four or five weeks, I think, and then probably once a month after that. The vet knows that I am quite experienced with subq injecting when Jake had active diabetes for nine months. Not only is this way best for Jake, I assume it will cut down on the cost to do it this way?

Judy & Jake
Click to expand...

My vet figured out the amount to use in insulin syringes. Then it was easy for me to give (though I had to keep it VERY separate from the insulin and I deliberately wrote down and double check WHAT I was giving before I gave the shot so that I would not accidentally give a humungous overdose of insulin. (Even if this is not your diabetic. I HIGHLY recommend keeping and giving the adequan in a TOTALLY different location from where insulin shots are given. Like a different room, so no accidents can happen.)
 
Karen,

Don't have to worry about that right now - Jake has been in remission from diabetes for going on two years. I hope the insulin gig is a thing of the past. Thanks for the tip though; it is easy to see how two injectable medicines could get mixed up. Also thanks for letting me know that I can use left over insulin syringes if the vet can figure out the conversion.

Judy & Jake
 
Ele,

Good to hear from you - hope things are going well for you! Thank you and everyone else that responded for your input on Jake's arthritis. I am going to try to pick up the medicine today (we are having a major snowstorm so I might have to wait a day) and will let you know the exact particulars of the dosage, etc.

Judy & Jake
 
Re: Arthritis treatment/adequan dosage

I just picked up Jake's Adequan and asked the vet to convert his dosage so that I can use the u100 syringes I have left over. Using those syringes, he is to get 19 units one time per week for eight weeks and then one time per month thereafter. The 19 units sounds like a lot to me, but I am sure I still have insulin on the brain which is whole different story. Does 19 units sound right to you?

Thanks for your input!!

Judy & Jake
 
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