Cat much less active than a few months ago

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has experienced what I've been experiencing with my cat. He's 10 this year, and hasn't really had any major health issues.

We have stairs in our house, and up to a few months ago he would race up and down them at feeding times, and fling his toys around up and down the stairs. He would chase and be chased by other kitties. He would run around and play all the time.

But he's really slowed down. He doesn't run anywhere, he doesn't play with his toys, he goes up and down the stairs but slowly, even at meal times. And it seems like he's debating whether he wants to do that. He'll sit at the top or bottom like he's thinking if it's worth the effort. Sometimes I notice he loses his balance too when he's jumping or walking on something narrow, but it's not drastic and he's never been very graceful.

Now, this doesn't seem unusual for an older cat, but what's weird to me is how sudden it happened, literally over a few weeks. My first thought is he injured himself but he's not limping. He has a spot over his hip that he doesn't like being touched. It
doesn't seem super tender but if you pet it too much he will start
nipping.

I took him to the vet last Thursday. He had full xrays done, an ultrasound, full blood work and urine work. The ultrasound showed one kidney was a little bigger than the other, but all his blood levels came back perfect. Xrays showed that his hips looked good but he was showing a little bit of arthritis around his spine towards his tail. He had an injection and he's on supplements to help with the arthritis.

Now, I know arthritis can cause movement issues, but does it happen this quickly? To go from racing up and down the stairs to barely walking up them within a few weeks? The vet thinks that he may have injured himself and it triggered a flare up in the arthritis, or it's possible there are nerves involved that can't be seen on the xray. He seems to do better going down the stairs than up.

His appetite is totally fine, he seems really normal except he's not moving as much as he used to and when he does, it's slower. My vet just wants me to keep an eye on him and bring him back if he starts showing any other symptoms, including neurological.

Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas for any additional testing I can do? Thanks!

Here's a video I just took of him moving up the stairs. Does it look like arthritis? I've never had a cat with arthritis before.

Featured Answer

Emily Hurley

11 years ago

Awwww...poor little guy. He certainly looks like he's trying to be careful going up the stairs, which would seem to indicate some kind of discomfort to me.

It could be that he injured himself, especially since his X-rays and blood work didn't show anything. Appetite is always a big indicator to me. How's he doing with the litterbox. Anything unusual?

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Comments (8)

Chi
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Emily. Litterbox seems fine, though he shares with two other cats so it's hard to see what he's producing all the time. But his urinalysis came back normal. He does seem to be drinking a lot but his kidneys came back normal too. The vet specifically did some extra tests to make sure the kidneys were fine.

Appetite is fine, he's sleeping a lot too but I think that's correlated with moving less. He doesn't hesitate to jump up and down on things.

We had an incident over Christmas break where another cat of mine got loose (he's separated and has his own room because he attacks my other cats) and got into a huge fight with this cat. The mean cat was chasing this cat all over the house, attacking, and i'm sure they both flew down the stairs. We were able to get them separated after a few minutes, and this cat seemed fine but I'm wondering if he was injured during that attack. This seems to be about the time when things started changing. But 2 months seems like a long time to have an injury that doesn't show up on xrays. The vet said xrays aren't really helpful in showing soft tissue problems.

I'm just frustrated because he seems to be in pain but I don't know what to do for him other than continue the supplements. He doesn't need to use the stairs but unless I lock him in a room, he's going to keep using them. All his stuff is upstairs but of course he wants to be downstairs with the family so he ends up going up and down the stairs at least 10 times a day.
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Emily Hurley
11 years ago
It's probably a good sign that he wants to go up and down them though, right? Could you bring more of his stuff down to where you guys hang out? That might give him a chance to heal if it's painful for him.
Chi
Original Author
11 years ago
I think it's good that he's using them. He could just be recovering from an injury and just being extra careful. He seems to spend most of his time upstairs during the day, popping downstairs every once in a while, but I could try bringing his litter box and a bed downstairs and see if that helps so at least he has the option to use the stairs less.
carthiefintexas
11 years ago
Could you find a vet that does acupuncture, massage, homeopathic treatments? My boy is 16 and he doesn't move like that. We have a big flight of stairs and he bounds up those easily, and he has kidney and heart problems as well. I went to a holistic vet for a few sessions and both vets (original and holistic) were very accommodating of the other's treatment.
Chi
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Carthief - did you see good results from the holistic vet? There's a holistic vet nearby that has chiropractors on staff that I'm considering. They could probably tell me more if it's a muscle or joint issue. I love my vet but I don't think there's much else he can do as all the tests he ran came back normal.

I really think it's an injury given how quickly it developed. My suspicion is he injured himself a few months ago but hasn't properly healed, most likely because he keeps going up and down the stairs. I'm going to keep supplementing and keep him confined for a week or two and give his muscles a chance to heal. If there's no improvement I will look into some alternatives.
carthiefintexas
11 years ago
I did have good results and I believe it was a combination of a bit of acupuncture (only because he wouldn't stay still for too long) and some tinctures. I love my regular vet too, so I think you are being very sensible considering everything has come back as normal so far.
Chi
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, there's a vet nearby that is a certified vet acupuncturist and chiropractor so I may have a consultation with her. I think I'm at the limit of what my regular vet can do, but I'm going to call him tomorrow and see what he thinks of the idea.

Here's a short video of my cat walking. He was following me around looking for his dinner, which is why he's circling me, lol. I think he's walking fine which is a good sign.