Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Early neutering, obesity, and trauma linked to joint disease in cats
By Maniaki, Evangelia et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2021·Faculty of Life Sciences, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Associations between early neutering, obesity, outdoor access, trauma and feline degenerative joint disease.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study found that nearly 30% of 6-year-old cats reported mobility issues, which can show up as difficulty moving or playing. Factors that seemed to increase the risk of these mobility changes included being overweight, having access to the outdoors, and experiencing trauma before the age of 6. Interestingly, cats that were neutered before 6 months of age had a lower risk of developing these problems. Keeping your cat at a healthy weight and monitoring their outdoor activities may help maintain their mobility as they age.
People also search for: why is my cat limping · cat joint problems · overweight cat treatment · neutering effects on cat health · cat mobility issues causes
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this case-control study was to identify early-life risk factors associated with the occurrence of owner-reported mobility changes in 6-year-old cats by examining prospective data from a longitudinal cohort study of pet cats, the Bristol Cats study. METHODS: Data on potential risk factors were obtained from seven sequential questionnaires completed between the ages of 2-4 months and 5 years. Mobility-related questions from the study questionnaire distributed at the age of 6 years were used to calculate each cat's mobility score. Cats with mobility scores of ⩾2 and 0 were allocated to the case and control groups, respectively, and the cat's status was the outcome variable. RESULTS: Of the 799 cats included for analysis, 238 (29.8%) had owner-reported mobility changes. Binomial logistic regression using backwards elimination identified four risk factors for owner-reported mobility changes at 6 years of age: entire neuter status at 6 months of age (odds ratio [OR] 1.97; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26-3.07), sustained trauma before 6 years of age (OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.30-2.60), outdoor access at 6 years of age (OR 1.67; 95% CI 0.96-2.90) and overweight/obese status at 6 years of age (OR 1.62; 95% CI 1.13-2.33). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Risk factor analysis demonstrated that obesity, outdoor access and a history of trauma may predispose cats to developing owner-reported mobility changes associated with degenerative joint disease, whereas neutering before 6 months of age appears to decrease that risk.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33569999/