Pain Management For Older Cats

Fortunately for cats and the people who love them veterinarians have made excellent progress in understanding cat pain and how to manage it.

Pain management for older cats.

Pain management options in cats include appropriate medication good nursing and acupuncture. Acute short term pain is often treated with a prescription opioid pain reliever called buprenorphine but this medication can be costly over the long run. What causes in arthritis in cats. Most cats instinctively hide their pain as a survival mechanism.

Pain and difficulty experienced with litter box usage is a very common reason why older cats might stop using their box become constipated or even develop a devastating case of urinary obstruction. Cartilage forms a cushion between the bones at a joint. Joints naturally degenerate as part of the aging process. Pain management options for cats are limited because of the unique physiology of the cat and how drugs are metabolized and treating your cat s pain may often involve multiple medications or modalities.

Your vet may prescribe the pill robenacoxib which is also available as an injection. Because of their large size under bed storage boxes are often the best type of litter boxes you can get for any cat. In localized acute pain injections of local anesthetic or freezing similar to your dentist s needle for pain can be used for a short period of time. Meloxicam is another nsaid that s injected usually after surgery.

Nsaids are usually the first line of defense. Pain medications for cats should only be given to cats under close veterinary supervision. Most cats instinctively hide their pain as a survival mechanism. In addition to medication holistic remedies acupuncture and reiki can be important components of comprehensive pain management.

As cats get older the cartilage deteriorates and becomes less flexible.