NHV Tripsy is a feline urinary and kidney supplement aimed to soothe the lining of a cat’s urinary system, prevent the formation of kidney stones, and reduce inflammation for an all-around more comfortable urinary tract for our kitty friends. Urinary crystals and urinary tract infections may also be prevented with this product.

NHV’s Tripsy supplement comes as a liquid available in a 3.4-oz (100 mL) bottle with a syringe/bulb top for easy measuring. They provide your dosing instructions clearly on the bottle, which you can then give directly to your cat or mix into food.

Urinary inflammation is one of the most common health issues of cats, and NHV’s Tripsy For Cats is one of several supplement choices you can choose from (or mix) to help relieve urinary or kidney disease-related signs in cats.

Click to Skip Ahead:

• About NHV
• NHV Tripsy Overview
• Key Features
• Is It A Good Value?
• FAQ
• Our Experience

About NHV Natural Pet Products

NHV has formulated 100% natural supplements for over 150 different pet health conditions. All of their supplements contain human-grade ingredients and are formulated by herbalist-specialized veterinarians. All of their supplements also undergo multi-step product testing to confirm formulation and safety.

Pet supplements are tricky to trust because there are few if any regulations around their development, what claims of efficacy can be made, or what testing they must undergo. Unlike most other supplement brands, NHV uses research and veterinary expertise to formulate all of their products and goes above and beyond the requirements for testing. They also have products tested in high-quality research studies to support the health claims of their supplements.

When choosing an NHV supplement for your dog or cat, you can feel confident that the product contains what it claims and the ingredients are safe for your pet.

Which Types of Cats Is NHV Tripsy For Cats Best Suited For?

Cats with struvite urinary crystals, kidney stones, recurrent UTIs, or bouts of urinary inflammation best benefit from this product. Many of these cats may already be using prescription urinary or kidney diets to support them, and especially for those without complete control of their symptoms, NHV Tripsy works great in conjunction with other urinary treatments or potentially on its own.

NHV Tripsy Overview

NHV provides a lot of different supplements, even many other urinary and kidney supplements for cats, but here’s what you need to know about their Tripsy supplement for cats specifically.

Specs

Pricing

NHV Tripsy For Cats is available for $44.95 per bottle on their website. When you buy two bottles, you also receive a discount of $3 and financing options are available through afterpay to help break up the cost over time. You can provide a credit or debit card to pay, or use Paypal or Google Pay.

Contents

NHV Tripsy arrives in a small, green box, which contains the supplement bottle currently capped, and a bulb-top syringe cap separately. You can unseal the cap and replace it with the syringe cap, which has increments up to 1 mL marked up the syringe. When time to administer you simply use pressure on the bulb top to pull up the advised amount of the liquid supplement to give to your cat.

All dosing and ingredient information is available on both the bottle and the box.

In Summary

Key Features

Quality

High-quality pet supplements can be a challenge to find but NHVs products are a great place to start. All of their products go through two-step testing that includes a third-party lab, are 100% natural and organic, and are formulated by veterinarians.

The brown glass bottle for the supplement protects Tripsy For Cats from light, the bulb-top syringe isn’t flimsy or difficult to use, the label is bright, clear, and easy to read, and the product is safe for long-term use in cats.

Palatability

Tripsy For Cats is designed to be palatable to cats so that they’ll drink it directly from a dish or mixed with food, but as we all know, many cats are notoriously picky. My cat is what I consider moderately discerning. Within a couple of days to adjust to the new taste, which is a common issue, he would start eating this placed on top of his food and later he would even just lick it up.

Ingredients

NHV’s Tripsy For Cats contains the following ingredients: stone root, parsley piert, wild hydrangea (root), gravel root, echinacea purpurea, marshmallow, and Oregon grape.

These ingredients are all known to reduce or prevent inflammation, improve urinary and blood flow, aid in the removal or prevention of urinary or kidney crystals or stones, among many other benefits.

Most of these ingredients have some sort of support in high-quality research studies across various species, but unfortunately, research on the effects of these ingredients in cats specifically is lacking. Luckily though, NHV is actively pursuing research for their products, and Tripsy For Cats in particular has at least one study showing early support that it can aid in the dissolution of struvite urinary crystals, which is great.

Is NHV Tripsy a Good Value?

Tripsy For Cats costs $44.95 per bottle, which contains 100 mL. The lowest possible dosing is 0.5 mL given twice daily, which equates to over three months of treatment from a single bottle. For even the heaviest cats, the most you will need to give is 1 mL twice daily, which is still over a month of product per bottle.

For larger cats, approaching $50 every 6 weeks or so may seem pricey for some cat owners, but with pet supplements, you do not want to choose the cheapest available option.

Pet supplement companies are regularly caught with mismatches between the listed ingredients in the supplements and what is actually found in them when tested. Sometimes the active ingredient(s) isn’t found at all and worse, sometimes toxic ingredients are found instead. Other companies may also design a supplement that has irrelevant ingredients that have no support for their claimed use.

While the cost can functionally double based on whether your cat is over or under 16 pounds, NHV puts in the work to provide a product you can trust.

FAQ

Can this help dissolve my cat’s urinary crystals?

The University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine compared results from giving six cats Tripsy For Cats at the recommended dosing for two weeks and showed that there was a significant reduction in struvite crystals in these cats’ urine (compared to a placebo). While this is a very small study, the initial results show support for the ability of this supplement to dissolve struvite urinary crystals in cats.

Is wild hydrangea a problem for cats?

The answer to this essentially lies in the differences in toxic properties of plants, depending on which part of the plant we’re discussing. Often, toxic properties are specific to one part of the plant, or some combination of parts. Wild hydrangea’s leaves, flowers, or buds do have a toxic potential, but Tripsy uses the roots, which is not toxic to cats. Additionally, even if another part of the plant was used, research shows a significant amount would have to be ingested by a cat to be dangerous.

Our Experience With NHV Tripsy For Cats

My personal cat, Boots, is a 9-pound domestic shorthair tabby cat who is generally a healthy cat, but he does have Stage 2 Chronic Kidney Disease. I decided to check Boots’s current blood creatinine levels (important kidney value), give him Tripsy For Cats for one month, then recheck his creatinine afterward to see if anything changed. I also monitored his litter box habits.

While he has no history of urinary crystals, lower urinary tract inflammation, or problems going outside the litter box, Boots struggles with constipation due to his kidney disease, and an irregular urinary schedule.

As I noted above, Boots wasn’t a fan of Tripsy in our initial days. I continued to offer it with food each day, trying it with his dry food or his gravy-like hydration supplement, and after a couple of days of adjustment, he decided he didn’t mind eating it with his food!

As the month progressed, he grew to be excited when he heard me grab the bottle, knowing food or treats would also be coming, and I was able to transition him to simply licking a small bowl clean to take his supplement, and then giving a treat afterward.

At the end of the month, I rechecked Boots’s creatinine levels and found they had not changed, and all was well and stable. I was very happy to find that he became perfectly regular in his urination habits, and I knew exactly what points in the day I could check the litter box and find he had gone. He also suffered no bouts of constipation throughout his month of treatment.

By the end of the month, he was happy to take Tripsy, was excited even, and while it didn’t appear to do much for his kidney values, it did seem to support his urinary health in a measurable way that left him more comfortable and better hydrated.

Based on how Boots handled taking the supplement in the beginning, I would be hesitant to tell an owner of a picky cat that they’ll be easy to give this supplement to, but I do think it would be at least worth trying. I also plan to continue giving Tripsy to my cat and watching his kidney values in the future, as the time it takes to cause changes can vary. He luckily has mild kidney disease, and this might be more impactful for him as it progresses later in his life.

Conclusion

NHV’s Tripsy For Cats urinary and kidney supplement has the potential to provide several important benefits to cats. Considering how common urinary disorders are in cats and based on my own experience with the product, I recommend any cat owner with the time and funds to try this out with their cat. You may not even identify signs of inflammation or discomfort in the urinary tract of your cat until after giving Tripsy to them and seeing an improvement as I did.

The post NHV Tripsy For Cats Review 2024: Our Vet’s Opinion by Dr. Maria Zayas, DVM (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

No one likes to be constipated, especially not our feline friends who make a comfortable career in whichever way they choose. Unlike a dog that may poop unseen in a yard, we usually know if a cat stops pooping (if they’re indoors using a litter box at least), so if you do notice your cat has stopped pooping, what do you need to do?

Luckily, usually, this isn’t an emergency, though they do need to be seen by a vet. How big a deal this is depends on the cause, how long it’s been happening, and if they’re showing only signs of constipation or anything else. Here’s what you need to know about constipated cats.

Click below to jump ahead:

• Signs
• Causes
• What to Do
• Why a Constipated Cat Might Be an Emergency
• Frequently Asked Questions

Signs of Constipation in Cats

The old feeling is just as true for cats as it is for us. Everyone poops. When a cat stops pooping, things start to build up inside pretty quickly. Early signs will usually be just a drop in appetite and maybe trips to the litter box, but poop doesn’t come out.

As it progresses, a cat may go off food entirely and even start vomiting. You may notice them straining to poop in the litterbox, even crying out, while getting nothing or barely anything out. Hiding, gagging, becoming aggressive, and having a tense, painful belly are all signs that can develop as constipation persists.

Causes of Constipation in Cats

The intestines are constantly in motion, squeezing and releasing to slowly move things down the pipe. This is called peristalsis. A cat that is constipated may do so because the poop doesn’t want to move or because this movement in the intestines has stalled.

In most cases, a constipated cat will have hard, over-dry stool that is hard to pass. When they do get any out, it is rock hard and smaller than usual. Dehydration is a classic cause of this. This can be brought on by age, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, or some other things.

For cats failing to move stool because the intestines can’t keep up, toxins, diet changes, pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and megacolon are common culprits. This tends to be the more dangerous form of constipation though you likely can’t tell which you’re dealing with from home.

What to Do If Your Cat Is Constipated

Constipated cats need water, all the water they can get. The better hydrated they are, the better they can move things along. Feeding wet food is a great place to start at home. There is also an over-the-counter hydration supplement, Purina Pro Plan Hydra Care, which is scrumptious gravy-like packets that significantly help hydrate a kitty in need.

Some cats may need stool softeners. While Miralax is an over-the-counter option, this needs to be carefully dosed by a veterinarian. There are also more effective prescription alternatives that may be a better choice.

In some cases, direct hydration via fluids given underneath the skin regularly may be the best route. A veterinarian can help with this.

Lastly, in almost all cases, constipation is caused by something. Once you notice your cat is constipated, even if it’s going to be treated at home, you need to reach out to a veterinarian for an appointment so they can figure out why it’s happening. If it takes too long to intervene, your cat may need an enema to clear out the blocked-up stool, which is no fun for everyone involved.

Why a Constipated Cat Might Be an Emergency

Constipation caught early with little to no signs of illness isn’t an emergency. Cats that are constipated enough that they’ve gone off food, though, need to be seen by a vet soon for care. Cats are special from other animals in many ways, but their ability to get a condition called hepatic lipidosis is one of their less awesome quirks. If a cat doesn’t eat for a day, they will start to develop liver damage from how they mobilize the fats in their body for energy. When this keeps happening, it becomes an emergency.

If you think you’re catching a constipated cat late into the process that is hiding, eating very little, seems painful, or is vomiting, they need to see a vet within a day.

If your cat appears to have yellow skin or gums, usually best seen inside their ear pinnas (the ear flaps), conjunctiva, or gums, then it’s an emergency. That cat must see a veterinarian immediately as the condition can be fatal.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should a cat poop?

A cat should be pooping at least once daily. If they go two to three days without pooping or passing very little stool, that means they’re constipated.

Can you massage a cat to help them poop?

While this may sound soothing, a constipated cat belly is usually uncomfortable, and it isn’t recommended to press around in there. Instead, getting them up to play and move around for exercise promotes intestinal motility (getting things moving) and will help them to poop if they’re able.

Can I perform an enema at home for a constipated cat?

This is very much not recommended. Most enema kits at the store are not sized appropriately for cats, even some infant variations, and the enema solution is often toxic to cats. Cats also need to be sedated for enemas for everyone’s safety in most cases, so always bring them into a vet clinic if you think they may need an enema.

Will olive oil help my cat poop?

Large doses of fats, such as when giving oils, can cause tummy problems for cats. While this can sometimes work in a pinch, it may also make them sicker, so it’s best to skip this and give a real laxative instead, as recommended by a vet.

How can I prevent constipation in my cat?

Treating the underlying cause of constipation is important. Beyond that, high-fiber diets can help to keep them regular, as can adding fiber to their normal diet with things like pumpkin puree. Probiotics are also often helpful.

Conclusion

Constipated cats are usually uncomfortable and in need of help, but luckily this is rarely an emergency, especially if caught early. As soon as you realize your cat has gone an extra day without pooping, it is best to reach out to your vet to check in about what’s going on. They may run some blood, urine, and or fecal tests, take X-rays, and start treatment. Some cats need treatment for a short period, and others have chronic conditions that will need lifelong treatment.

If a cat is going into a litter box and straining, always be sure to confirm if it’s poop or pee, they’re failing to pass, as unlike constipation, a cat that can’t pee is always an emergency.

Featured Image Credit: Uryupina Nadezhda, Shutterstock

The post Is My Cat Being Constipated an Emergency? (Vet Answer) by Dr. Maria Zayas, DVM (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

No one enjoys being woken up in the morning by a kitty crying for breakfast and attention, but the routine is even less pleasant if a cat has terrible breath. Gum disease is the underlying cause of bad breath or halitosis, but what sort of gum disease can a cat develop, and why does it happen? Is there anything you can do to prevent it so your nose and ears aren’t simultaneously assaulted in the mornings?

Luckily, most gum disease in cats is highly preventable, so let’s go over everything you need to know.

Click to skip ahead:

• Feline Oral Anatomy
• Gum Disease Overview
• Signs
• Causes
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Care Tips
• Prevention
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Feline Oral Anatomy

To make sure we understand gum disease, it helps to make sure we know what constitutes a cat’s gums in the first place.

A cat’s mouth is the cavity that sits between their lips and their throat. It contains their teeth, tongue, palate (roof of the mouth), jaw, and gums. The gums or gum line is the pink tissue lining the roots of teeth and underlying bone with an inner surface their tongue rests against and an outer surface their lips rest against.

Since the gums line the roots of the teeth, disease between the two is often closely linked.

What Is Gum Disease?

Gum disease is any condition or abnormality of the gums that is negative. In most cases, we mean inflammation, infection, or cancer of some type and source. Gum disease is incredibly common in cats; in fact, up to 90% of cats over the age of 4 may have gum disease ¹. Signs of gum disease can overlap between different causes, and treatment is often similar too, and one cause of gum disease almost always leads to other dental or gingival (gum) diseases.

What Are the Signs of Gum Disease in Cats?

One of the less common causes of gum disease in cats can include tumors which can look like masses inside the mouth also.

While gum disease is often painful, especially in severe cases, cats may hide the pain for a long time, and the disease usually has to be very significant and progressed before they stop eating. This is important to know because anyone who has had a toothache knows how bad that feels and how impossible it can be to eat like that, so cat owners often rule out dental or gum disease as a problem if a cat is still eating, which is often untrue for these guys.

What Causes Gum Disease in Cats?

Gum disease can come from many sources, like trauma, inflammation, infection, and cancer being the main causes. Let’s go over the most important causes to know about.

1. Gingivitis

Gingivitis is inflammation of the gumline, which will look like the red lining of the gums along the teeth. It may be present in one spot or throughout the whole mouth and may or may not be painful or associated with any other signs or diseases.

A cat’s teeth develop a bacterial film known as plaque which generally starts out as beneficial bacteria that line the tooth enamel and don’t go under the gumline. If that plaque overgrows to parts of the tooth that touch the gums, and/or if bad bacteria instead of beneficial bacteria develop, this can trigger a cat’s immune system to react on the gumline, which is what gingivitis is, and is why it looks like red, angry tissue.

Once the gums are inflamed, this will generally trigger bad bacteria to replace good ones on the tooth, and this process can progress to periodontitis, in which the tooth also is affected, and the root may die. Tartar or calculus is also the mineralization of plaque. The best way to prevent this is to regularly brush a cat’s teeth, and unless the gingivitis is very severe, brushing is often also the treatment.

2. Tooth Resorption

Tooth resorption is predominantly a problem for cats. The basics of this disease actually start at the tooth, with a cat’s immune system attacking and eating away at layers and parts of a cat’s tooth, with different types of resorptions defined by where the process starts. This dental disease almost always triggers inflammation at the gumline as it presents, which is important because, without dental X-rays, the telltale red gums of an affected tooth are usually a veterinarian’s (or owner’s) first hint that there might be a resorptive lesion on that cat’s tooth.

We don’t know for sure what causes this though we know tooth resorption is far more common in house cats than feral cats. Dental X-rays are how doctors confirm the diagnosis, and extraction of an affected tooth is the typical treatment. This allows the adjacent gumline to heal and the inflammation to leave, leaving the cat’s mouth far more comfortable going forward.

3. Gingivostomatitis

This special form of gingivitis is far rarer than run-of-the-mill gingivitis. More commonly known as stomatitis, this disease happens when a cat’s immune system overreacts to plaque and bacteria on the teeth and mounts an extreme response. For these cats, their gingivitis is usually present through the whole mouth and is so significant that the roots or teeth start to rot, ulcers occur throughout the mouth, including under the tongue, there’s usually extreme drooling and even bleeding from the mouth, and their breath will be one of the worst things you’ve ever smelled.

While biopsies can definitively diagnose stomatitis, the signs are so unique that it’s usually enough to diagnose the disease just by looking in their mouth.

This is one of the only times when brushing a cat’s teeth is not recommended, and this is because their mouth is so incredibly painful and their immune system is in such overdrive that there’s no point; it will just make things worse for their dental pain.

To treat this disease, most cats will need most to all their teeth removed. Without the teeth, there is no plaque film of bacteria for the immune system to react to, and the mouth heals and goes back to being pain-free in most cases.

We don’t know why stomatitis happens, there may be some links to genetics, diet, and other diseases like FIV, but we don’t have definitive answers about this currently.

4. Oral Tumors

The most common type of oral tumor in cats is squamous cell carcinoma, which makes up about 75% of oral cat tumors. While not nearly as common as other gum diseases like gingivitis, oral tumors are the 4th most common type of cancer seen in cats.

Signs can vary, including bad breath, red gums, or a visible mass. Of note, trouble swallowing and weight loss are more commonly seen in oral tumors than with other gum diseases (except potentially severe stomatitis cases).

Unfortunately, oral tumors of cats are rarely treatable by the time they are diagnosed. Surgical removal can be done if the tumor is small or isolated enough, but usually, cats with oral tumors would need full jaw resections and other incredibly invasive interventions to remove the tumor, which is just not feasible or in their best interests in most cases.

How Is Gum Disease Diagnosed in Cats?

A thorough oral exam by a veterinarian, potentially paired with dental X-rays, is typically how gum disease is diagnosed in cats. In some cases, biopsies of the gum may also be used to confirm which type of gum disease a cat has.

How Is Gum Disease Treated in Cats?

Treatment, as you can see above, mostly depends on the specific underlying disease. Removal of plaque buildup through dental cleanings and daily brushing is usually a component of treatment. This can also include removing any diseased teeth that cannot be salvaged. Some diseases like stomatitis may need aggressive treatments like full dental extractions. Others, like squamous cell carcinoma, may not have a treatment option at all.

After diagnosis from a veterinarian, a plan to optimize your cat’s dental health will be made that includes treating anything that needs treatment in their mouth.

How Do I Care for a Cat With Gum Disease?

Cats with active gum disease often benefit from switching to wet food, at least temporarily, as it is more comfortable to eat. Soaking their dry food if they refuse wet food is also an option, though cats are so picky about the texture that this is also not tolerated sometimes.

While antibiotics are generally not recommended in most gum disease cases as they don’t help as much as you’d think they would, for cats too painful to eat dry food but also refusing any diet changes, pain medications or antibiotics may be prescribed by their veterinarians while awaiting further treatment.

It’s important to give these medications exactly as directed, as some pain medications can be hard on a cat’s kidneys, and antibiotics cannot be stopped early, or else you risk your cat developing an antibiotic-resistant infection.

Many cats with gum disease will also benefit from having their teeth brushed, as long as they aren’t too painful for it.

Can Gum Disease Be Prevented in Cats?

Regular brushing of a cat’s teeth, especially daily, will prevent most cases of gum disease. Cats, of course, are not always interested in cooperating with this preventative measure, but luckily there are resources to help cat parents adjust their cats to the procedure.

The basics of teaching a cat to have their teeth brushed is to use a small brush, cat toothpaste (human toothpaste can be toxic to cats in most cases), and slowly introduce steps of tooth brushing one at a time.

Rewarding a cat for letting you touch their head, hold their head, lift a lip, touch a tooth, sniff their toothpaste, lick their toothpaste, let you place some toothpaste on a tooth, let you rub their teeth with a finger, lick or chewing on the brush are ways to progress through the steps until they allow you to brush their teeth.

When brushing a cat’s teeth, you only need to worry about the outer side of the teeth, not the inner.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How long can a cat live with gum disease?

Cats often chronically live with this condition for years before diagnosis, but without early intervention, this can cause them to lose teeth, lose weight, lead to organ disease or failure from bacterial spread, and can potentially shorten their lifespan.

Can cats recover from gum disease?

It depends on what type of gum disease they have, but very often, yes, they can recover. Uncomplicated gingivitis can be reversed entirely with a dental cleaning and an at-home dental hygiene regimen.

Is gum disease in cats painful?

Cats hide pain as their default, so a lot of times, it may not seem like a cat with gum disease is painful. They are usually still eating and drinking, and you may have no clue there’s a problem until a veterinarian looks at their teeth, but we know they do still feel dental pain even if they aren’t showing outward signs of it.

Conclusion

Gum disease is a common problem for cats over their lifetime, especially for something simple like gingivitis. For most cats, gum disease is preventable and treatable. While brushing a cat’s teeth may not sound like any fun, this can go a long way towards preventing future dental disease and early identification of anything that does develop.

Annual physical examinations with a veterinarian also help with tracking gum disease in cats as they age, so be sure they’re getting their checkups even if they live inside at all times.

Featured Image Credit: Yaya Photos, Shutterstock

The post Gum Disease in Cats: Our Vet Explains Causes, Signs & Treatments by Dr. Maria Zayas, DVM (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

There are all sorts of reasons for a cat to start limping. An injury to the muscle or bone is what most commonly comes to mind first, but in some cases, damage to a cat’s nerve could look like this too. How do you know if a cat has hurt their nerves? Does that get better?

We have everything you need to know about one example of this, radial nerve paralysis, which you’ll find to be much more common in cats than dogs.

Click to skip ahead:

• Radial Nerve Paralysis Overview
• Causes
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Care Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What Is Radial Nerve Paralysis?

The radial nerve is one of the major nerves of the forearm in mammals, including cats. It branches out from the spinal cord at about the level of the shoulder and extends down to the toes (fingers for us), controlling the contraction of certain muscles in its path. The radial nerve contributes to the extension of a cat’s elbow, wrist (carpus), and front toes. It also communicates sensation felt on the outside/outside-top aspect of the forelimb and paw.

Paralysis of the radial nerve, therefore, is the loss of these functions. This is most often due to trauma, like a fall, getting hit by a car, or penetrating trauma, like an animal bite or gunshot wound. Paralysis can start anywhere along the route of the nerve, wherever an injury or abnormality occurs to cause it, so in rare cases, that can include things like tumors along the nerve or at the root of the spinal cord too.

A bundle of nerves controls the movements and sensations of the forearm that pass and branch off near each other around the shoulder area, called the brachial plexus. Brachial plexus injuries can result in radial nerve paralysis that may also affect other nerves.

Anatomy of a Nerve

To better understand radial nerve paralysis, it helps to understand the different parts of a nerve. The radial nerve is a peripheral nerve, meaning not of the central nervous system like the spinal cord.

A nerve cell appears like a long cord, called an axon, that electrical impulses travel down, which has dendrites at the end that function like little feelers to carry electrical impulses to the next nerve cell or the tissue they’re innervating and is covered in connective tissue layers that help keep the nerve healthy and able to conduct those electrical impulses or nerve signals.

What Are the Signs of Radial Nerve Paralysis in Cats?

What Are the Causes of Radial Nerve Paralysis in Cats?

Blunt trauma is one possible cause of a radial nerve injury leading to paralysis. Landing on the shoulder from a large jump, like off a cat tree, a roof, or fence, can hurt the nerve. Cats who spend time outdoors are more likely to experience radial nerve paralysis.

More significant traumas can cause radial nerve paralysis too. Breaks in the bones of the forelimb can hurt the nerves around them, which may be in addition to blunt trauma, like getting hit by a car.

Penetrating traumas can hurt or sever nerves. Dog bites, especially if the cat is shaken, can cause radial nerve paralysis. Gunshot wounds are another unfortunate possibility.

Cancers of the radial nerve can lead to radial nerve paralysis, as can other tumors that happen to be near the nerve. Tumors or trauma to the root of the radial nerves where the nerve for each forelimb comes off the spinal cord are a reason to have signs in both front limbs, but this isn’t common.

How Is Radial Nerve Paralysis in Cats Diagnosed?

Most of the time, the physical examination and any relevant history are enough to diagnose radial nerve paralysis in a cat. If a bone has potentially been broken, leading to nerve damage, X-rays need to be taken for the bone rather than the nerve. There are electrical stimulation-type devices to assess nerve activity, or MRIs or ultrasounds to visualize the nerve itself, but these diagnostics are rare in veterinary medicine.

Luckily, visualizing the nerve is often unnecessary since tracking where the paralysis starts on the limb can isolate the location of the injury.

How Is Radial Nerve Paralysis in Cats Treated?

Some nerve injuries, if given time, will heal themselves. Peripheral nerves can heal at a rate of about 1 mm/day. Their ability to do this depends on the level of injury to the nerve, of which there are three stages. These are the three, from least to most severe:

In cases of neurotmesis, the nerve will not heal without surgery to reconnect the severed nerve pieces.

If trauma causes radial nerve paralysis, it is also important to treat any other aspects of the trauma, such as broken bones, skin damage, open wounds, bleeding, and more.

In some cases, usually radial nerve paralysis cases that do not heal on their own or cases where the cat starts to chew on the affected limb, amputating the limb may be required. Luckily cats typically adjust very well to living with three limbs instead of four as long as they can live inside.

How Do I Care for a Cat With Radial Nerve Paralysis?

For cats that need time to heal their injury, we provide supportive care to keep them comfortable and safe while that happens. That usually starts with assessing their environment for risks, like potentially removing or blocking areas they climb and jump from.

Cats may drag their paws, causing trauma. The paw can be wrapped or placed into a boot to protect it if the cat allows it.

If the limb lacks pain sensation, cats will sometimes start to chew on the limb. If the nerve just needs time to heal, the cat can be placed into an e-collar to protect the limb, but the loss of pain sensation holds a very poor prognosis for nerve rehabilitation, and so this may alternatively be a case that requires amputation of the limb as the better plan.

Physical therapy is incredibly important for cats healing from radial nerve paralysis. Continuous movement of the limb, the joints, and the skin is required to increase the chance the limb can get fully back to normal function as the nerve heals.

How far the injury on the nerve is from where the nerve was trying to reach dictates how long these injuries take to heal. Improvements of some sort are expected after about four weeks, and this may be used as the cutoff to decide if a limb should be amputated instead.

Integrative medicine practices such as acupuncture or laser therapy may also improve healing times, so reaching out to veterinary practices with these modalities is helpful, when possible, too.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the recovery rate of the radial nerve?

Many cases can recover within six months, based on where the nerve is most commonly injured.

Is radial nerve damage in cats painful?

Usually these injuries are minimally painful (excluding pain from injuries to the bones or muscles), though there can be chronic discomfort. Complete lack of pain sensation carries a poor prognosis.

Is radial nerve damage recovery in cats painful?

As new areas of the nerve come back online, there can be uncomfortable tingling sensations, as we understand from humans. These kinds of sensations may also cause a cat to overgroom or chew on their limb, so it may need to be protected from them until it passes.

Conclusion

Radial nerve paralysis can be a scary and significant injury for cats. The underlying cause of the paralysis and whether the nerve has been severed significantly impact the prognosis. Nerve injuries typically take months to heal, and supportive care like physical therapy at home is critical to achieving a full recovery when it’s possible.

While some nerve injuries can heal themselves, ones that sever the nerve may require surgery to reconnect the nerve pieces or an amputation of the limb alternatively as needed. If you note any signs of radial nerve paralysis in a lame cat at home, it is best to bring them to a veterinarian for evaluation.

Featured Image Credit: Olesya_Alexandrova, Shutterstock

The post Radial Nerve Paralysis in Cats: Our Vet Explains Signs, Causes & Treatments by Dr. Maria Zayas, DVM (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

On almost every list of toxic plants for cats, especially holiday lists, you’ll see poinsettias listed. The good news is that poinsettias are very mildly toxic to cats, and a cat would have to eat many leaves in one sitting to pose a significant danger to them, more than a single leaf or the chewing on leaves that would normally occur.

If your cat has eaten a poinsettia leaf, here’s what you need to know.

Click below to jump ahead:

• What to Do
• Supportive Care
• Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Poinsettias?

Scientific name Euphorbia pulcherrima, these are popular holiday plants that are commonly used as table decorations around Christmastime in the United States. They are tropical plants with gorgeous bright red leaves. Poinsettia leaves contain a sap that can cause contact dermatitis if rubbed onto the skin, which can also cause irritation to the mouth and GI tract if ingested by a cat.

What to Do if a Cat Eats a Poinsettia Leaf

If possible, try to note how many leaves you think your cat has eaten and when it could have happened. Then contact the Pet Poison Helpline. For a fee, this service has specialists ready to check the risk to your cat from ingesting any poinsettia leaves. While significant complications from eating poinsettia leaves are rare for cats, they can help guide you on the next steps and how likely your cat is to feel ill.

Supportive Care for a Cat That Eats a Poinsettia Leaf

In most cases, when a cat eats a poinsettia leaf, veterinary intervention will not be necessary. That doesn’t mean your cat might not be at home and uncomfortable, though. If they are showing any signs of having eaten a poinsettia leaf but have been advised to stay home by the Pet Poison Helpline, these signs should resolve within a couple of hours to a day or so.

It’s important to offer water and food to your cat to help clear anything from their mouth. If they develop vomiting or diarrhea, it’s usually best to switch them to a bland diet.

A bland diet is made of boiled boneless, skinless, non-seasoned chicken breast, shredded, mixed half and half with cooked white rice. Feed the same volume of food you normally would but made from the chicken and rice mixture. You can also mix one teaspoon of 100% pumpkin puree into each meal as a source of fiber.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my cat die from eating a poinsettia leaf?

Poinsettias are far less toxic than most people realize, and it is very rare for a cat to ingest enough leaves from this plant to suffer serious health consequences, nonetheless death. Unless they have an allergic reaction to the plant or are already very ill for another reason, eating a poinsettia leaf should not be fatal to a cat and may not cause any signs of illness at all.

Do I need to take my cat to the ER if they eat a poinsettia leaf?

In most cases, no. It’s best to contact the Pet Poison Helpline for more in-depth advice, but since poinsettias are so mildly toxic to cats, it’s rare for them to eat enough of the plant to need medical care from a veterinarian.

Conclusion

While technically toxic, poinsettias are far less dangerous than most people think and do not present an immediate health threat to cats. Eating a single poinsettia leaf is likely to cause little to no problems for a cat, and they would need to eat several leaves to be at risk of more significant illness.

If your cat does eat a poinsettia leaf, it is still best to contact the Pet Poison Helpline just in case, but otherwise, they will usually get better on their own, if they get sick at all.

Featured Image Credit: Robert Woeger, Unsplash

The post My Cat Ate a Poinsettia Leaf, Here’s What to Do (Vet Answer) by Dr. Maria Zayas, DVM (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Thankfully, dog dewormers are not inherently toxic to cats. However, the potential issue is whether a cat has eaten too much of the dewormer since dogs can be much larger than cats. Here’s everything you need to know to determine if your cat is in danger after eating dog dewormer.

Click below to jump ahead:

• What to Do if a Cat Eats Dog Dewormer
• Supportive Care
• Frequently Asked Questions

What to Do if a Cat Eats Dog Dewormer

Try to assess the situation. Can you tell exactly which dewormer your cat ate and how much they ate? Can you note when it was eaten? Write this information down and collect any deworming packaging if you have it. Be sure to remove all dewormers from the area so your cat can’t get into it anymore.

Now you want to contact the Pet Poison Helpline. For a fee, this 24-hour, 365 days a year service has specialists ready to check the risk to your cat from ingesting whichever dewormer they ingested. They will let you know if your cat needs to see a veterinarian immediately, soon, or only if signs of illness develop.

Supportive Care for a Cat That Eats Dog Dewormer

If the Pet Poison Helpline advises that your cat ate more dewormer than a normal dose for cats but doesn’t need to see a veterinarian, they will advise you to watch them at home for signs of illness like those above. Over the next day or so, you’ll want to check in with your cat frequently, including their litter box, watching for any changes. Encourage eating as usual and increased drinking, if possible, to support hydration.

For cats that experience any diarrhea, which would be the most likely sign you’ll see, you can provide a bland diet instead of their normal cat food to help them recover. A bland diet is made of boiled boneless, skinless, non-seasoned chicken breast—shredded, mixed half and half with cooked white rice. Feed the same volume of food you normally would but made from the chicken and rice mixture. You can also mix one teaspoon of 100% pumpkin puree into each meal as a source of fiber.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can eating dog dewormer kill my cat?

This would be incredibly rare. Dog dewormers are well tolerated in cats, and a cat would have to eat a very significant amount of dewormer for this to happen, but it is possible.

Do dog dewormers taste good to cats?

In most cases, no, but pyrantel can come flavored, and some cats, especially kittens, may like licking this. In small amounts, that’s not a problem, but if they happen to knock over a whole bottle and ingest a significant amount of it, they may become ill.

Conclusion

Most dog dewormers are safe for cats at appropriate doses. If they do happen to eat too much, it can make them sick, and in the worst cases, that can be fatal. The Pet Poison Helpline should be contacted immediately if your cat is suspected of having ingested dog dewormer so they can best advise the next steps. While the most common side effects of dewormer ingestion in cats would be vomiting, diarrhea, and hypersalivation, more serious side effects can occur.

Featured Image Credit: gabriel claudiu puscau, Shutterstock

The post My Cat Ate Dog Dewormer! Here’s What to Do (Vet Answer) by Dr. Maria Zayas, DVM (Vet) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.