Arthritis Screening After 12: 5 Signs to Score

Radiographic arthritis is present in 60 to 90 percent of cats over 12, and most of them never limp. Cats do not stop walking; they stop jumping, stop climbing, and sleep 2 hours longer. That is why screening after 11 is a calendar item, not a response to a complaint: a scored check every month at home, a veterinary examination every 6 months, and a baseline set of radiographs at 12.

Why cats hide it so well

A cat in pain does not guard a limb the way a dog does. It distributes load across 4 legs, shortens the stride by 10 to 20 percent, and moves less. The result is a slow loss of range that reads as aging: a 13-year-old that jumps onto the sofa instead of the counter, a 12-year-old that asks to be lifted. Roughly half of cats with radiographic disease show no obvious lameness on a 5 minute exam, so the history you collect at home is worth more than what the vet can see in the room. That is the reason for scoring 5 behaviors, on paper, every 30 days.

The 5 behaviors worth scoring

Score each item 0, 1, or 2 once a month and add them up. Use numbers, not impressions: measure the jump with a tape, count the seconds at the litter box, and count stairs on a normal day. A single bad month means little; 2 consecutive months moving the same direction is the finding.

Item	What you measure (unit)	Normal	Flag	Points
Jump height	Highest reliable jump (cm)	60	30	2
Litter box entry	Seconds of hesitation at the door	2	5	2
Stairs	Steps taken up per day	10	4	1
Grooming	Unkempt patches on the back	0	2	1
Stiffness after rest	Minutes before a normal walk	0	10	2

A total of 0 to 2 needs no action beyond the next monthly score. 3 to 5 means a call within 2 weeks and a video of the cat walking toward the camera. 6 or more, or any single month where 2 items jump at once, means an appointment this week and a discussion about pain control. Print the table, keep it on the fridge, and bring the last 3 sheets to the visit: a 3 month trend answers questions that a 4 minute examination cannot.

What the examination adds

From 11 years, a full examination every 6 months, which usually means 2 visits a year. The vet will palpate the spine, hips, stifles, and shoulders, measure thigh circumference on both sides (a 1 cm difference is meaningful in a 4 kg cat), and watch the cat walk 3 to 4 metres and jump onto a 30 cm box. Radiographs of hips, stifles, and the spine are the baseline at 12; 2 views per region is the usual standard, and sedation is often needed because a painful cat will not be positioned. Bloodwork before any long-term pain medication is not optional: kidneys and liver decide which drug is safe.

Home changes that change the score

Most of the measurable gain comes from the house, not the pharmacy. A ramp at 30 degrees or less to the favourite window perch, a step every 25 to 30 cm of height, a litter box with a lip of 10 cm or lower, 1 box per cat plus 1, and a box on every floor the cat uses. Raise food and water bowls 10 to 15 cm so the cat does not reach down. A 2 cm foam bed in a room kept at 20 to 22 C reduces morning stiffness, and a warm spot by a radiator does the same for free. Trim nails every 3 to 4 weeks, because a cat that no longer scratches wears nails unevenly and a curled nail can grow into the pad. Details are in the senior home modification guide.

Weight is the cheapest pain relief

Every 0.5 kg on a 5 kg cat is 10 percent more load through 4 joints. Target a body condition score of 5 on the 1 to 9 scale, and weigh monthly: 1 percent of body weight per month is a safe loss rate, so about 50 g per month for a 5 kg cat. Do not put a senior cat on a crash diet; rapid loss in a cat over 11 risks muscle loss and hepatic lipidosis. If the cat cannot exercise, cut calories by 10 percent and reweigh in 4 weeks.

Pain control is a prescription, not a supplement

No over-the-counter painkiller is safe for cats. 1 tablet of paracetamol or ibuprofen can be fatal, and 1 dose of dog-strength meloxicam chewable is enough to damage a cat's kidneys. Long-term options exist — daily oral NSAIDs at cat doses with bloodwork every 6 to 12 months, gabapentin for nerve-related pain, and in some countries a monthly injectable monoclonal antibody — and every one of them is by veterinary prescription only. Joint supplements are not regulated; if you use one, tell the vet the exact product, because 2 or 3 ingredients commonly interact with drugs.

When to stop waiting and book today

Sudden inability to use a back leg, a leg that drags, crying when lifted, not eating for 24 hours, or not using the litter box for 24 hours. Those are not arthritis screening questions; they are same-day problems. Arthritis itself is progressive, so the realistic goal is a stable score, not a score of 0: a cat that holds 2 to 4 points for 12 months with the same jump height is doing well.

What the year costs

2 examinations, 1 blood panel, and a baseline radiograph set usually fall in the range listed in the cost tables. Monthly pain medication is the smaller line item; the X-ray set is the larger one, and it is a 1 time cost that tells you what you are managing. If the budget is tight, do the 6 monthly examination and the monthly score first, and postpone radiographs until the score moves: that order still catches the cat at the point where treatment helps. More on the disease itself is in arthritis in older cats.

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