I got my cat, Tails, when she was 12. I assume she was already jumping less than she had been when she was younger but I had no comparison. A few years later, I noticed that she was hesitating before jumping up on the sofa, so I took her to the vet and asked them to check for arthritis. Sure enough, the x-rays showed signs of it. The medicine helped for about 5 years with the dosage slowly increasing over time. Eventually, we had to switch her to a different kind of pain medication that was stronger. It gave her a good quality of life until the rest of her body started to fail at 22. I'll be forever grateful for those extra years that we got because of the pain relievers. My current cat is 6 and yesterday, I noticed her hesitating to jump up on a cabinet that she used to jump up on regularly. It was always a stretch for her but she liked it up there because the other cats couldn't jump that high. She hasn't been jumping up on those two pieces of furniture as much as she used to but I attributed it to her now being an only cat, so not needing to be up there to get some solitude. Once I saw her hesitating, though, my immediate thought was to keep a closer eye on her. She still easily jumps to other high spaces, so I'm not particularly concerned about it right now, but I really like your idea of recording her moving around once a month and using that as extra data. I'm going to start doing that. Thanks! I'm glad to hear that Lucy's feeling better. 😻
Thank you so much! Wonderful information and, at the same time, so difficult to hear. It’s opened my eyes. Very recently I’ve noticed my big white lover assessing more and “missing” slightly when jumping into my lap. Not always, but enough to be different. I attributed it to depth perception due to age. Hard not to feel guilty for not addressing it as a health issue and letting him be in pain 😢
I got my cat, Tails, when she was 12. I assume she was already jumping less than she had been when she was younger but I had no comparison. A few years later, I noticed that she was hesitating before jumping up on the sofa, so I took her to the vet and asked them to check for arthritis. Sure enough, the x-rays showed signs of it. The medicine helped for about 5 years with the dosage slowly increasing over time. Eventually, we had to switch her to a different kind of pain medication that was stronger. It gave her a good quality of life until the rest of her body started to fail at 22. I'll be forever grateful for those extra years that we got because of the pain relievers.
My current cat is 6 and yesterday, I noticed her hesitating to jump up on a cabinet that she used to jump up on regularly. It was always a stretch for her but she liked it up there because the other cats couldn't jump that high. She hasn't been jumping up on those two pieces of furniture as much as she used to but I attributed it to her now being an only cat, so not needing to be up there to get some solitude. Once I saw her hesitating, though, my immediate thought was to keep a closer eye on her. She still easily jumps to other high spaces, so I'm not particularly concerned about it right now, but I really like your idea of recording her moving around once a month and using that as extra data. I'm going to start doing that. Thanks!
I'm glad to hear that Lucy's feeling better. 😻
Miss Lucy thanks you and I thank you for loving your cats so much!
Thank you so much! Wonderful information and, at the same time, so difficult to hear. It’s opened my eyes. Very recently I’ve noticed my big white lover assessing more and “missing” slightly when jumping into my lap. Not always, but enough to be different. I attributed it to depth perception due to age.
Hard not to feel guilty for not addressing it as a health issue and letting him be in pain 😢
Don't be too hard on yourself. Cats actively hide this info from us. What matters most is what you do now. :)