Feline Arthritis — A Condition That's More Common Than You
Think- Provided by VetStreet.com When I graduated from
veterinary school 20 years ago, we learned that cats were so
well designed and adapted that they incurred very few injuries
or diseases related to their joints and bones. Osteoarthritis,
one of the most common causes of joint pain in animals, was
something only rarely diagnosed in cats — if ever. Turns out we
were wrong. Alarming Feline Arthritis Stats New research proves
that today’s house cats get osteoarthritis (OA) about as
frequently as dogs. Over the past decade, an increasing number
of studies have found that older cats, especially those 12 and
older, have a high incidence of arthritis. A 2011 study using
X-rays found that 61 percent of cats over the age of 6 had OA in
at least one joint, while 48 percent had two or more affected
joints. If a cat was older than 14, he had an 82 percent chance
of having arthritis. So much for that practically perfect
skeletal system. And what happened? In my