# Arthritic Cat

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthritic-cat/122849>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 7, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthritic-cat/122849 "2002-08-07T21:38:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthritic-cat/122849/1 "2002-08-07T21:38:09Z")

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My 9 year old tabby cat walks like an old arthritic lady. She has obvious troubles climbing stairs and leaping to the bed. She’s somewhere around 18 pounds and had always been a pudgy little thing (even on diet cat food).

She’d probably be more comfortable if I could get her a daily analgesic or similar.

Anybody know if this is possible? Can I just slip her a baby aspirin once a day?

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**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthritic-cat/122849/2 "2002-08-07T22:55:04Z")

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[http://www.vetshow.com/download/fortdodge/roberts2.html](http://www.vetshow.com/download/fortdodge/roberts2.html)

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**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arthritic-cat/122849/3 "2002-08-08T01:36:06Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Belrix \*  
> \*\*Can I just slip her a baby aspirin once a day? \*\*

“CATS METABOLIZE ASPIRIN VERY VERY SLOWLY AND IT IS EASY TO OVERDOSE THEM.”

From this site:  
[http://www.marvistavet.com/html/aspirin.html](http://www.marvistavet.com/html/aspirin.html)

I didn’t bother reading the article carefully enough to see if Aspirin would actually alleviate your cat’s pain, so you can do so yourself if you’d like.

Just I thought I’d warn you that if you do decide to give your cat any aspirin (which, again, I am not suggesting, as I do not know if that is appropriate or not) you should check with your vet as to the appropriate dosage first.