[Tutubean]

So Tutu has always been protective of her hind legs. When she's relaxed, she lets me pet them SUPER gently, but any other time, you even graze them and she swats at you. This swatting and protection is increasing with intensity....
Lately her human dad mentioned that he thinks she has been struggling to jump high. This is not because of her weight, since she's trimmed down a lot over the summer.

What I do know is that she has lower back pain. Two of her lower thoracic vertebrae (a few inches up from her hips) are too stiff and her disc is being compressed (I suffer from the same thing, so I know it sucks big time). She was x-rayed because of super super aggressiveness when I just gently touched her belly one day, and she was also acting weird. The x-ray showed the back problem, but also that her hips were "perfect", particularly for a 10-year-old.

So, her hips are fine, but her back is not. The back pain can radiate across the ribs and present as belly/chest pain (same in humans...). I don't know what the cat nervous system is compared to a human's, but it could be that lower thoracic nerves contribute to hind limb sensation. If a nerve in the spine is compressed, you can get manifestations in the limbs (for instance, I have a problem in C7-T2 area and have manifestations in my forearm....). It's possible that the manifestations are pain, tingling, numbness, or nothing noticeable.

If it's not that, it could be arthritis, I guess. She has been complaining SO MUCH MORE when I try and clip her FRONT claws.... I used to be able to do a few claws at a time before she complained, but now I just have to press down gently and not even get one claw clipped and she is wriggling and crying. (My guess is that this is an overreaction, but I just don't know.)

I don't think I'm going to be bringing her in for any x-rays any time soon ($$$$$$$$$), but was wondering if anyone else's older cats have similar issues, or that maybe some cats just DO NOT WANT you to touch them in certain places. (Maybe from a past incident I'm unaware of....)

 

[librarychick]

Jitzu is very sensitive about her tail mostly, she broke it when she was a kitten and the girl who claimed to take care of her (and really didn't) didn't take her to the vet for over a month so it never healed properly.

She used to hate having her hind end touched, but she'll tolerate it from me as long as I'm just petting. I think that over stimulates her.

If the pain is increasing I'd ask your vet about anti inflammatories, or pain meds. I'm sure when your back is hurting you don't tend to 'suffer through' unmedicated...at least I know I sure don't! Even if you can't do xrays you should take her in for a check up.

...Don't get Metacam, I don't know if you've heard of this before but metacam is VERY bad for kitties. You need to get some other form of pain killer/antiinflammatory. If I'm remembering right I usually request tramadol. They have it written on all my cat's files at the vet that metacam is an absolute no-go.

 

[Tutubean]

Thanks LC. Metacam doesn't sound familiar, but under my care Tutu has only been on pain meds/anti-inflams once and Tramadol sounds familiar. I will keep those names in mind.

She's better the last two days. I was able to clip the remaining hypodermic needle on one of her front paws without too much fuss...

The vet recommended costocondroitin (sp?) and another ingredient I can't recall that is combined in a kitty powder-on-food med that I can't remember the name of.... But Tutu gets regular doses of it with Catswell Happy Hips.

We have to go to the vet soon for an anal gland expression, in a couple months anyway, so I guess I'll ask about what I can give her on an as-needed basis. They gave me a temporary amount of pain-killers that one time I took her in for what I guessed was something severe, but if you could see her now, she's perfectly fine.

I guess she's just like anyone else.... bad days and good days...

 

[Mom of 4]

Metacam is contraversial for cats.
I will never use it for my cats.