The big one that we use here is a medication called Gabapentin. It's safe for almost all cats. It is perfect for arthritis pain, especially in kitties with other underlying disease processes—thyroid, heart, or kidney stuff. There are some nonsteroidals out there that we use too. We use them on a case by case basis, depending on the kitty's overall health. We want to make sure they're healthy before we start those, and we monitor blood work while they're on those sorts of meds to see if we need to take them off it or adjust dosing.

I think that it’s a fabulous idea, and there's an excellent reason for that. Many of these cats can have multiple things going on, and they are very good at masking their signs until they're super sick. It's going to be vital that we get a good head-to-toe exam on these guys to get a feel for what's going on with them. Then we can identify any pain or disease to properly set up a medication if needed and get those things in order.

There are. I will say the regulation and the studies behind those are kind of limited, so at the end of the day, I would recommend something medicinally prescribed by your veterinarian.

Absolutely. Just getting a good head-to-tail exam on these guys makes all the difference in the world to identify where the pain is at and how painful that pet is, and it's also essential because we can look for progression. Are we getting worse? Are we improving on the pain medication? Do we need more? Do we need less? We can store all of that information with regular visits by keeping tabs on all those things for you.