What’s the matter with osteodystrophy in Balinese cats? Osteodystrophy is the general term for rickets and osteomalacia. Rickets refers to young cats. So what exactly causes osteodystrophy in cats, and how to treat it?

There is less calcium and more phosphorus in the feed, long-term lack of sunshine, vitamin D deficiency, or when intestinal disease (steatorrhea) occurs, poor or inability to absorb vitamin D; chronic vitamin A poisoning, etc. can cause bone malnutrition in cats. bad. Secondly, there is the so-called hereditary osteodystrophy of the limbs.

Due to different causes, clinical manifestations are also inconsistent. Common symptoms include dysplasia, broken lines in varying degrees, heterophilia, poor appetite, poor fecundity in adult cats, bone and joint deformation, and pain. When the feed contains too little calcium and too much phosphorus, it is more common in kittens between 6 and 8 weeks old (more common in those born in winter and spring). The affected cat suffered sudden severe pain, accompanied by vertebral body atrophy. Or the pain is not too severe, accompanied by insufficiency or small fractures of one or more limb bones (so-called greenstick fractures). When the disease is mild, the affected cat often squats still and is unwilling to jump up or down even in very low places. After some cats recover, paraplegia and dystocia may occur in female cats due to pelvic deformation and bone hyperplasia that compress nerves. Chronic vitamin A poisoning often causes the formation of hypertrophic exophytic bone around the joints of adult cats. The most affected parts are the cervical spine and limb joints. The diseased joints become ankylosing, and the affected cats crouch immobile for a long time due to pain. Hereditary limb osteodystrophy is only found in cats with wrinkled ears. There is severe bone damage in the tail, ribs, and carpometacarpal bones.

Treatment is based on the cause of the disease. If it is caused by too little calcium and too much phosphorus in the feed, the feed ingredients should be adjusted in time, and the affected cat should be given intramuscular injection of Vidin Colloidal Calcium Injection, once a day, 0.5-1 ml each time, for 5-7 consecutive days. Calcium carbonate can also be taken orally, 1 to 2 grams per day. Or take calcium gluconate, 5 grams per day, or calcium phosphate, 2-5 grams per day. You can also add one of the above-mentioned calcium supplements to the food and feed it for 2-3 weeks; allowing the cat to bask in more sun is beneficial to the skin's synthesis of vitamin D and eating due to licking the hair, which is beneficial to the absorption of calcium. If it is caused by vitamin A poisoning, the vitamin A content in the feed needs to be reduced in time. There is currently no effective treatment for cats suffering from hereditary limb osteodystrophy.