Help! My 18 year old cats arthritis is severe and she is doing something strange lately

Question
Urgent! Help! Please! My 18 year old baby (tabby cat) has had a bad case of arthritis (she was diagnosed last May) and I have been giving her Metacam every 24 hours in the last 5 days (as prescribed. She was doing fantastic and walking around until about 5 days ago when I saw her down with her back limbs.She is crawling with just her front legs. She has a great appetite and drinks water too. She also urinates but has not had a bowel movement in the last 5 days. This concerns me terribly. Also, she has been doing the strangest thing since she fell flat on her hind legs - she has been sitting around on or near electrical wiring..I don't know why she is doing this. She is coherent and seems alert.So far, she does not cry in pain, at least not that I have heard. With her urinating in the flat litter pan that I made for her, the urine sticks to her coat (she is long haired) and she drags it around the carpet. I have no heart to confine her and I want her to be as comfortable and free to move around as much as she can. But I am wondering if I should confine her. I bathe her as often as I can but I do not know what else to do....I love her dearly but don't want to make things uncomfortable for her. I don't know what else to do. Please help me!

Answer
Hello Dahlia,

I am so sorry to hear of this. My 17 year old Tabby passed away very recently, she was having very similar issues and so I know exactly how you must be feeling right now, and I sympathise greatly.

I do not want to talk to you too much about her behaviour in regards to seeking out electrical wiring, apart from the very obvious danger that she may get harmed by the electrical currents, especially since she is very often going to be wet from the urine and subsequent washing by yourself. I simply suggest you do whatever you can at the moment to keep her away from these types of places.

The issue you must concentrate on right now is the very obvious medical condition. The fact that she has become completely lame on her hind legs must be taken very seriously. The reason she has not passed faeces is because the muscles that she uses to allow her to pass faeces have become very weakened along with her hind legs, meaning that she will have great difficulty performing this action. Struggling to urinate properly and the subsequent mess this makes and washing that you do to try and help her is most likely going to cause some issues with her skin, such as urine scalding etc. This is not including the obvious mobility issues.

Although we try so hard to do all we can to keep our cat happy, comfortable and well, there are simply some things that we cannot make better, things that will sadly continue to progess.

I'm so sorry Dahlia, I really wish I could give you some behavioural advice and help you and her to make progress, but this is a far bigger issue than simply behavioural. I really feel you need to speak to your vet again and let him or her know that her hind leg issue has worsened.

The thing is Dahlia, cats are very very good at hiding pain and trying not to show weaknesses. Although she is not 'crying-out' in pain, this does'nt neccessarily mean she is pain free.

Please please take my advice and seek further help with your vet, he or she is the person that needs to help and guide you further with this problem.

Although I have not given you any behavioural advice I do hope this has helped you a little, and I hope, as hard as it is, you take my advice and see your vet again.

Thank you Dahlia.

Kelly