Diabetic cat having sharp pain. Question about meds.

Hi,
I think my diabetic (in remission) hypert, ibd cat is having a bad arthritis flare up tonight. her vitals seem fine, eating, breathing, but she's having trouble walking, not like paralyzed but sharp pain when walking. I would be more worried but she has had this several times before and i have had her checked out and it was a bad arthritis flare up. right now she is resting fairly comfortable in the corner eating some treats i put in front of her. i am not planning ontaking her in to emergency tonight unless she seems to get worse, but i guess if she's not better tomorrow i should, although in past, if this is arthritis, it has worked itself out with the help of cosequin. i guess it could be a spider bite or something? that seems pretty unlikely though. or she could have gotten injured but she's strictly indoor and that seems unlikely too.

ok, so my question is, can you give cosequin with metronidazole and tapazole? the latter two drugs she is on now.
also, is it possible for metro or tap to cause seeminly sharp pain when walking?
she's not drooling, not weird eye or face stuff, no tremors, convlustions, no weakness or paralysis, no vomiting... came on suddenly, and she's had this about 3 times in the last few years. she has been diagnosed with arthritis in her spine.
there's a really bad vet on call and ... anyway, i guess my main question is
can you give cosequin with those other drugs? if so, i would start her on it tonight. it usually takes about 5 days and then it does seem to help her with the arthritis. oh, she was just at the vet about a weeka nd a half ago and her heart sounded normal, liver and kidney was normal and the thryoid was also normal because of drug (2.7). she got an ok on her exam. that's the other reason i'm not super worried... although of course i am worried...
am i doing the right thing?
thanks a lot for the help.

 

I'm sorry I have no answers for you but will send prayers. And this response will bump your thread up.

Jeanne

 

Hi Sara,

I hope Buttercup is feeling better.
I don't know if you ended up going ahead and giving the cosequin or not. I saw you posted in general health about is as well. The support staff at Nutramax ( manufactuer of cosequin/dasaquin) are super. They have very well informed vet techs you can talk to. I highly recommend you call them and ask about your concerns. 800-925-5187


Here is a thread that was on general health about treatment suggestions for arthritis. Please check with your vet of course !

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5562

please let us know how your kitty is feeling.

 

You should be fine giving the cosequin, tap is for thyroid only, the metro is an anti-inflamatory/antibiotic but it works mainly in the gut.

Going forward I would talk to your vet about getting a few doses of Buprenex to have on hand and also change your kitties bedding. Egg crate mattress pads or senior bedding, you can get it pretty cheap at petedge.com and make sure your kitty has pet stairs or ways to get on and off from high places without jumping.

Hard landings can be difficult on the athritis. We also like the self warming pet mats from petedge or drs.foster and smith. They can be tossed in the wash and don't need any electric or microwaving. The heat from the kitty's body radiates back up to them and is soothing for pain.

Do call your vet today and if nothing else let them know what happened. It could be the same as the other times, but you never know if your kitty jumped and hurt her leg or something else happened.

 

Hi,
Thanks for the advice! She was having an arthritis flareup and she's back on cosequin and much better now. thanks again!

 

it sounds like kitty doesn't get cosequin consistently? if that's true, i'm wondering why? the instructions for use say to give daily during the initial period of 4-6 weeks, and then "Once desired response is obtained, capsules may be administered every other day to maintain your cat." http://www.nutramaxlabs.com/Vet/Product ... -cats.aspx

 

disregard metacam post please some are against the use of it ........

 

he problem with Metacam is that in the USA it is only approved as a one-time injection for cats. There are many reported of kidney damage in cats due to Metacam. Therefore, I would not used Metacam unless the cat was in a terminal condition because of the risk of kidney damage.

Here is website:
http://www.metacamkills.com/

 

I have to disagree with you on that Larry. Many cats and other animals are on the liquid Metacam and have ben fine . I have over 20 years vet tech experience and would not tell someone to check into a medicine that I think would harm their cat. Always check with the vet first to see what he says obvioulsy but it has helped many animals.

I am erasing my above posting then just to be on the safe side and not start a riff.......

 

I just posted about Metacam so that someone can see both sides of the issue. Most cats seem to tolerate it fine but some others do not. The caretaker has to make an informed decision on what to do. What I dislike is that the vets I have used have never told me that using the oral Metacam in cats is not FDA approved and is thus off-label use. They do not seem to give the information needed for the client to make an informed decision.