I love my cats. God knows the last 18 months and nearly $10,000 for diagnostics and medications for Scamper should prove that I’m very much dedicated to my pets’ health and well being.
I do not, however, think I would go so far as to pursue some of the therapies I was reading about in a journal article today.

Sponsored by a grant from Novartis, a veterinary drug company that produces a number of very fine canine and feline arthritis medications, the article (a separate monograph really) was on multimodal approaches to treating osteoarthritis in small animal patients. In the section on “Top 10 Rehabilitation Tools” they wrote about and had photographs of multiple physical therapy tools that are used in managing osteoarthritis. They had photos of cats on balance boards, dogs coursing through ground level obstacle courses, dogs and cats on phisioballs, and cats getting low impact resistance training on underwater treadmills.

Now really.

The whole idea is that the cat walks on the treadmill at very gradually increasing speeds and/or slopes but since it’s underwater the impact on the joints is minimized. The water temperature is usually also manipulated so that the cat is walking in the equivalent of a kitty hot tub (increases blood circulation to the muscles doncha know!).
The author notes “Be prepared for the cat to verbalize an objection, but rest assured that this should be the height of its response.”
I don’t know what cats the author was working with, however knowing the response of the average cat to a bath, and especially remembering Scrum’s response to his last bath wherein he actually climbed the walls of the tub surround in the front bathroom of our mobile home in Pullman, the cats either had to be sedated or the author did.
The author goes on to comment “I have worked with more than 35 cats on the underwater treadmill and none have reacted negatively.”
Yup. Cat won’t react too badly if you’ve got it gorked off its brain before you put it chest deep in water and ask it to walk.

I have GOT to find out what Novartis is putting in their up and coming feline arthritis medication. If it’s enough to make a cat willing to walk on an underwater treadmill it has got to be some gooooooood shit!