Dasuquin - options?

The vet had us start our civie Taz on Dasuquin (glocosamine/condroitin supplement) after we noticed some arthritic symptoms showing up. At first she took it ok putting on pill worth on 2 meals a day. Then after a little over a week she decided she'd rather not eat than eat the food with that stuff on it. Since she was on Clavamox at the time we stopped giving it to her, getting maybe a partial dose a day into her, since she was getting an upset tummy from the Clavamox without food.

Talked to the vet tech who talked to the other vet (not our regular) and she suggested compounding it since Taz refuses to eat anything we put it in. The tech suggested ice cream and the thought in my head was -Seriously! you are suggesting serving ice cream to a cat every day for the rest of its life to someone with a sugarkitty!?!?

So its compounded and obviously not flavored and its more of a gel than a liquid and she hates it even more. Tried hidding the gel in her food, whip cream, nothing works. We decide to just squirt it in her mouth and hubby does that while I dish up food so she can quickly eat and get the taste out of her mouth. She spends the next half hour running around hiding, drooling and trying to spit her own tongue out.

We will not go through that for the rest of her life for a supplement. Any hints? Alternatives that are easier for her to take? I think I see results. Hubby thinks I am crazy, that the supplement cannot produce results for at least a month. But I have seen a much more playful, agile kitty lately so I'd like to keep up with something if the administering isn't such a trama for her.

 

You might consider Adequan; those are injections. It's one of those front-loaded meds -- you have to have injections I think it was once or maybe twice a week for a month or so, then it goes down to one shot a month.

 

Shaikha has taken Dasuquin for quite some time now for arthritis. It works wonderfully, and she has really bad arthritis. The cat capsules are designed to be sprinkled on food, but can be swallowed whole. If your cat doesn't like the taste of it then perhaps you should just give it in thea gelcap. I wonder if the compounded version just tastes awful. Given her reaction, that may well be the case. Shaikha hasn't minded Dasuquin either sprinkled on food or given as a pill, but I often pill it instead just in case she doesn't eat all her wet food. If the pill is too large for your cat you could split it into 2 or 3 smaller gelcaps.

 

Thanks guys.

Is Adequan a vet administered shot or do you do it yourself? This is our most difficult cat to take to the vet. But something that is not an every day dosage would be nice.

Can I buy gel caps myself to make it a smaller pill or does a pharmacy do that or?? Again, she's bullheaded, we can't pill unless it fits in a pill pocket. She has this wonderful reflex in her tongue that flicks the pills right into your face when you stick one in. The vet tech did suggest giving her the whole pill, but its just so big and to try to get 2 into her in one fight..I just can't see it happening.

 

I haven't used adequan before so I'll leave someone else to comment on that.

Dasuquin is only given daily for about a month (maybe longer; I'd have to look at my bottle). After that, you drop back to once every other day. On pilling, have you ever tried a pill gun? They work great for cats that are not pill fans. I buy empty chicken flavored capsules from www.capsuline.com in the #3 size, which is a good size for cats. I've opened up one of the larger capsules and dumped contents into the smaller ones, but you'll have to pack it in order to try to fit it into two. If she hates pilling, you could give full daily dose in a couple of pill pockets (one in AM, one in PM for example).

 

I've never heard of a pill gun, will have to look into that.

Vet said we need to give 2 pills (1ml compounded) daily for 4-5 weeks and then 1 pill (.5 ml) daily for maintenance. Unless we can get to a size we can pillpocket her with, we will have times when she needs to go a couple of days without since she would not tolerate anyone else trying to get her to do anything but eat. She is a lover kitty, but also earned her name quite well because of her fits so we don't encourage sitters to handle her.

Off to check out those capsules. She tolerates an extra little "treat" before her meals pretty good. Though it sounds like we might be needing 4-5 to get the 2 capsule dose down her, thats alots of "treats"!

 

You can give the Adequan injections at home, they can be given SQ even though the label says to give IM. I would definitely do this.

You can also give additional supplementation in treat form. A board member here likes Pet Naturals Hip & Joint treats for cats.

One thing that helps a great deal is high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oils) but unfortunately cats are very resistant to eating 'tainted' food. There is a new rx food from Hills with tons of EFAs, j/d, and it is the only means I know of of getting such high levels of this into food. I got some for free and have been giving it to my cat and it actually has helped his coat and his mobility, as much as I resist complimenting rx foods! I would consider this if your cat has severe symptoms and other less drastic (less drastic than changing the entire diet) means are ineffective.

 

The pill gun I have was purchased from ThrivingPets.com. I've had other ones but this one is the best I've used. Pretty simple device but it gets the pill to the back of the throat without losing your fingers.