Cat treats for oldies

[sausage4ever]

Okay I am just sharing my experiences with this idea. A few months after Eli turned two, his back legs began to fail. I realized he was starting to drag his feet and tail along the ground whe he walked. I began searching the web for ideas of helping older rats cope with hind leg paralysis, and found an article on RMCA about adding Glucosamine and Chindroitin in 40mg/kg of rat dosages may help. Although the person who wrote the article was still playing with dosages. I went out to the health food store and the pet store to look for the supplement. The pills for human had 500mg or something like that and those for dogs had 200mg. So I eventually found Zukes Hip Action Cat Treats, each treat contains 50mg glucosamine and 35mg chondroitin.

Protein not less than 12% (the Website now says 17.5% so I may have to look for something else)
Fat not less than 7.5%
Fiber not more than 3%
Moisture not more than 30%
Glucosamine HCl* not less than 50mg
Chondroitin Sulfate* not less than 35mg
Calories Approximately 2.2 per piece

I followed the packaging directions and fed double the dosage for the first two weeks. For a rat I have the dosage as half a treat, so for the first two weeks Eli got a whole treat and now gets a half treat every morning.

I have seen these changes in him, he lifts his tail when walking (only the tip drags on the floor), tries to walk tip-toe (but his feet are curled) and is more active. I have to add that I aslo (on the advice of my vet, give him fish oil and baby oatmeal). I hope this help some people, I don't believe it will help prevent paralysis or completely reverse it if your rat is totally paralysis.

 

[jorats]

One thing that you need to watch for with older rats is their kidneys. It is so common for all older rats to have kidney disease, in fact, they teach it to all the young interns at the Guelph University to recognize this as a fact and never part of an illness when doing necropsies on an older rat. I was told this when my Radar was sent there. So this means your protein levels must be kept very very low so the kidneys don't work overtime with the high protein.
But, high fat is good (the good fat) to help retain muscle mass. The fish oil is excellent and you can't go wrong with baby oatmeal.
It's been my experience that when an older rat walks on tiptoes and if he also has his back legs slightly apart, this has alerted us to them being in pain and having some issues with either their bladder, reproductive or digestive organs.

What about switching it to a dog supplement with the glucosomine and chondroitin? It would be lower in protein but you would still get the benefit with the supplements for the joints.

 

[sausage4ever]

That's what I had wanted but I don't want to overdose him on Glucosamine. The dog treats have 300mg of Glucosamine wouldn't that be dangerous? And humane supplements have 500mg or so and in capsule form that is very hard to split up for ratties.

 

[jorats]

Oh I never thought of that. I don't know enough about Glucosomine to determine what amount is safe.

 

[jorats]

I found this: http://ratguide.com/meds/herbals_health ... ulfate.php

The following dosages are empirical.

1/6 tablet to 1/4 tablet per day of 1 tablet containing 250 mg glucosamine and 200 mg chondroitin. Best result reported at the 1/4 tablet per day ( RMCA article, “Arthritis in rats, A Remedy?” ).

or

40mg/kg once a day ( RMCA article, “Care of older paralyzed rats”).

 

[sausage4ever]

Ok thanks I'll try that it was very discouraging going to the pet and health food stores and trying to find the best suplement and it was also almost every one I looked at was a capsule.

 

[sausage4ever]

Ok I went out and bought 300mg Gluco. tabs w/150 chondrotin but my issue now is how to give them to just him??? I am going to try mixing the 1/6th tab with something, hopefully he likes it.

 

[sausage4ever]

Is 12% actually too high in protein if the food recommended here is 14%? And it's half a treat too...I'm just seeing him doing so badly right now...

 

[SQ]

I wouldn't think 12% would be too high.

Thanks for sharing the info.
I will try this the next time I have a rat with this problem.

 

[jorats]

12% protein is quite good. I hope he feels better soon.

 

[theratlady]

i know zukes treats and they are semi moist so that percentage is on a wet matter basis not a dry matter. its like comparing canned foods to kibble. you can also get glucosamine in a liquid form. and i get chewables for princess they are like jerky compressed into small pieces would be easy to cut those up.