Vets and medication

My cat Bella is 13 yrs old and has difficulty jumping up on the chairs/bed/walls in the garden etc. I have to lift her up.
She has also put on weight because she doesn't move around so much these days, so I thought she has arthritis.

Recently she had some 'loose' bowel motions so I took her to the vet, to whom she was nasty - biting and clawing while being examined !
The vet said her stomach was distended and wanted to exray it in case there was a growth there.

Result - nothing wrong, she's just fat !
(and the loose bowel was because she eats too much cheese, although only little bits . She screams relentlessly until I give it to her)

But also the exray showed she has arthritis, as I suspected, and it is worst in her elbows.

The vet gave me some medication in the form of tablets, but after I read the leaflet that came with them, I've decided not to give them to Bella - they're for epilepsy in humans.
They act on the brain to 'cure' the epilepsy, but they're also 'safe' for cats, because they lessen arthritic pain.

NOW - if a doctor gave me medication for epilepsy to cure my arthritis (which by the way I have in my knees and shoulders) I would not take it, so the same goes for Baella. I don't want to give her something that will work on her brain and have side effects in the bargain.

I paid £420.00 for that.
AND the vet wanted her to have monthly injections costing £88 a time, and the stress of taking her there every 4 weeks ... NO NO NO !

I've now got something called yumove which people swear by, and Bella is taking the powder mixed in her food with no trouble at all. It will take a few weeks for it to work but then she'll be a bit better. It has Glucosamine in it and I take that myself, so I feel better about giving it to Bella.

Maybe the yumove isn't perfect but it's better than human medication for epilepsy, with probable side effects.

 

I hope Bella continues to improve.
I'm aware of a couple of friends who also give yumove to their elderly pets with good results.
The vet prices you mention are unjustifiable.
If I need medication for my dog, I get a scrip from the vet and order the meds online usually at about 30%-50% cheaper that the vet.

I take a medication for epilepsy, but I don't have epilepsy.
I'm unable to take aspirin, ibuprofen and the like so my GP suggested Pregabalin, which is a medication for epilepsy.
It doesn't give any pain relief as such, but it causes me to ignore the pain and also lifts my spirits considerably - it also makes me feel as if I've had a couple of pints, so I'd not drive while using it.

It's not something I take often, but for me, it works very well indeed.
If I've overdone it in the garden and have a painful back, within a couple of hours of taking pregabalin I feel fine and my because I'm not hobbling around like a bit of an invalid due to the pain, the back pain fixes itself much faster.

 

They do rip you off @Michael Hewett, I got charged £147 a few weeks ago when Ben tore a claw, mostly antibiotics and pain relief, I neve gave him either as he wasn't in pain as such, it was just sore, and it wasn't stopping him racing around.

I used to take Pregablin for my back and knees when I was working, now retired and the knees replaced I find I can get by without it.

 

My epileptic cat was on diazepam for life. It said on the leaflet don’t drink, drive or operate heavy machinery. It ruined Spats’s weekends. On one occasion the GP wanted to prescribe diazepam for my wife. She really did not want it but the doctor kept pushing, pushing. Eventually Mrs Cotto relented but with the excellent line “… but I’m giving it to the cat.”

We had two cats at the time, as well as Spats there was Fitz who often got into scrapes with the neighbour’s cat. It amused the vet that while Fitz had spats, Spats had fits. Incidentally the cats, or at any rate their names because their colours and character traits are not true, feature in Michaela Morgan’s ‘Little Sausage’ series of children’s books.

 

Many, probably most, medications will have an effect on a wide variety of ailments. The fact that it will cure something you, or the moggy, don't have is not a reason not to use it.

 

It does something to the brain, it said so on the leaflet that came with the tablets.
Drugs also have side effects so because of those things I'm not going to give it to my cat.

I'm giving her a safe supplement which has natural ingredients and doesn't cause side effects.
It also doesn't do anything to the brain.
Therefore it is safer and I feel easier about giving it to her.
She started taking it yesterday mixed in her food. In a week or two there will be an improvement - many people I've spoken to recommend it.

 

Glucosamine is good for arthritis @Michael Hewett . I take it and our two dogs did, along with some phyto based concoction with nettles, turmeric and meadowsweet. However, if you can quietly reduce your cat's feeds by small amounts and stop giving her cheese she'd lose weight and that would help her joints function better. I hope she does feel some improvement.

British vets' fees do seem excessive.

 

I also take glucosamine @Obelix-Vendée

 

I very rarely look in here but having read the more recent posts thought I'd post the link below. There have been two dogs (one my own) in my family in the past and both suffered badly from arthritis. We were told about the magnets and decided to try them and what a difference it made to our dogs lives in just a few days. They really do work and gave them a new lease of life. My own dog a West Highland terrier spent most of her time hopping around on three legs and within a week she could run around the garden. My son has a dog that has been wearing a magnetic collar for over a year and again it's made a big difference to his mobility. Dogs can't lie, so the collars must work.

On a different note my husband wore a magnetic bracelet for more than a decade which helped a great deal up until he had a hip replacement last year and no longer needs it.

Both collars and bracelets need to be in contact with the body, so in my husbands case he wore one with a soft watch strap type material. With animals a fur coat isn't a problem, the magnet will work through the fur. In the early stages of wearing the collar animals are likely to drink more, so it's good to keep an eye on their supply.

Magnetic Therapy Dog & Cat Collars | Magnetic Wellness & Joint Care For Pets – Bioflow UK