Dogs and cats can’t have pumpkin spice lattes or Halloween candy, but not all foods that we associate with fall are off the menu for our pets.
 
If you’d like to give treats to your pets, keep these precautions in mind:

• Food ingredients that aren’t safe for dogs and cats include chocolate, xylitol sweetener, raisins, grapes, fatty food (including poultry skin and pie crust), oils, onions, bones, raw meat, raw eggs, and raw yeast dough.
• According to Pet Poison Helpline, small amounts of nutmeg can cause mild stomach upset in animals. Large amounts of nutmeg and cinnamon can cause more serious problems.
• Treats should be only a tiny percentage of a pet’s daily food.
• Keep treat sizes small. Pets can’t measure food and don’t care if their brother got a bigger piece.
• Suggestions for treats don’t apply to pets that have dietary restrictions because of food allergies or another medical problem. If you’re not sure if your pet should have a particular food, ask your veterinarian.

 
Homemade and store-bought pet treats
Many recipes for homemade dog and cat treats are available. Making your own pet treats can be a fun family project and a great outlet for creativity. Kids might be surprised that their dog is so enthusiastic about a baked dog biscuit that tastes like cardboard to them. It’s a good reminder that pets don’t need the sugar, salt, and flavorings that humans prefer.
 
Pet food manufacturers know a marketing opportunity when they see one, so you can also find themed seasonal treats for sale. Store-bought pet treats are fine as long as they don’t contain a problem ingredient (always check labels).
 
Pumpkin
Plain cooked or canned pumpkin is safe, and dogs and cats tend to like it. If you use canned pumpkin, be sure to get plain pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling. The sugar and spices in pie filling can cause problems. Likewise, don’t give a pet a piece of pumpkin pie—and especially not sugar-free pie, which might contain xylitol.
 
White potatoes and sweet potatoes
Most dogs love potatoes of any type. Skip the butter, salt, and toppings, though: no loaded baked potatoes or sweet potato casserole for pets.
 
Other vegetables and fruits
Many vegetables and fruits (not grapes!) are safe, tasty, low-calorie treats for pets. As always, stick with plain, unseasoned items for animals. Avoid casseroles, which might contain problem ingredients like onion and fat. To avoid a choking risk, cut raw vegetables and fruits into small pieces and remove seeds, cores, and thick peels. These are some good options:

• Carrots
• Celery
• Green beans
• Peas
• Squash (winter and summer varieties)
• Apples
• Bananas

 
Turkey
A bite of cooked lean poultry meat is safe for dogs and cats. Avoid giving pets skin, fat, bones, pan drippings, raw meat, or meat seasoned with onion.
 
Popcorn
Is popcorn a fall food? I think it depends on which Thanksgiving cartoons you watch. As with other foods, don’t add butter, salt, or seasonings to popcorn pieces you toss to your pets. Air-popped popcorn doesn’t have added fat, so it’s safer than oil-popped or microwaved popcorn for animals like schnauzers that have an increased risk for pancreatitis.
 
Photo by Amy Starr on Unsplash

Osteoarthritis is very common in cats but often goes undetected. In most cats, joint pain doesn’t cause obvious signs like limping. Instead, it causes changes in mobility and behavior that can be misinterpreted as normal aging. Cat owners’ recognition of these changes is the first step in diagnosing and relieving joint pain.
 
Cause
Osteoarthritis is a chronic disease in which the protective cartilage in a joint wears down. Eventually the bones and other structures in the joint deteriorate, causing pain that worsens over time. Degenerative joint diseases like osteoarthritis can be caused by trauma or by problems with the structure of a joint, but often the cause is not known.
 
Senior cats are by far the most likely to develop osteoarthritis. Younger cats can be affected too. Osteoarthritis in cats most often involves the hips, elbows, knees, and hocks. Cats can also develop degenerative joint disease in the spine. Various studies have shown that between about 60% and 90% of cats have evidence of degenerative joint disease on radiographs (x-ray images).[1-3] Not all of these cats have pain, though, at least not at first.
 
Signs
In cats, signs of joint pain are subtle. Cats tend to hide signs of pain. Osteoarthritis often affects joints on both sides of cats’ bodies, so they don’t develop lameness—it’s hard to limp with both front legs or both rear legs at the same time. Signs of osteoarthritis in cats reflect their limited mobility, reduced activities of daily living, and general grumpiness caused by chronic pain:

• Reluctance to jump up or down
• Missing jumps or jumping less high than usual
• Slowness or difficulty going up or down stairs
• Stiff movements unlike the usual fluid movements of a healthy cat
• Urinating or defecating outside the litter box
• Sleeping or resting more than usual
• Lying in the same spot longer than usual
• Playing less than usual
• Matted or unkempt coat caused by grooming less than usual (some cats overgroom painful areas)
• Overgrown or flaky claws caused by scratching less than usual
• Avoiding interaction with people or other animals
• Spending more time alone
• Intolerance to being petted
• Intolerance to contact with other animals[4]

 
Diagnosis
The most important diagnostic tool is cat owners’ observations of signs of joint pain at home. Treatment is often started just on the basis of behavior changes consistent with pain. Cat owners can use questionnaires like the Feline Musculoskeletal Pain Index (https://painfreecats.org/) to record and score their cats’ signs of pain. These assessment tools help veterinarians diagnose joint pain and are also very useful to track changes over time and monitor response to treatment.
 
Cats with signs of pain should receive a physical examination to be sure the signs are caused by joint or back pain and not by something else. A full orthopedic examination of a cat is challenging (sort of like examining an uncooperative bowl of jello that doesn’t tell you when it hurts and won’t trot on leash), but sometimes an examination reveals joint thickening or other physical changes of osteoarthritis. Radiographs can show evidence of degenerative joint disease but aren’t always needed. The decision to use imaging depends on the individual cat.
 
Treatment
Never give a cat pain medication, including nonprescription over-the-counter remedies, without consulting a veterinarian. Some medications that are safe for people and dogs are very dangerous for cats.
 
In cats, joint pain is managed with a combination of nondrug and drug treatments. A multimodal approach (using several strategies) tailored to each cat’s pain level and living conditions is the best way to help relieve chronic pain in cats.
 
Nondrug treatments include weight management, adjunctive therapies like acupuncture, dietary supplements such as glucosamine, and environmental modifications like ramps, steps, soft bedding, and litter boxes with low sides. Drug options are more limited for cats than they are for dogs, but a number of drugs are available. A new injectable treatment for osteoarthritis pain avoids the need to give a cat a pill by mouth.[3]
 
References
1. Lascelles BD, Henry JB 3rd, Brown J, et al. Cross-sectional study of the prevalence of radiographic degenerative joint disease in domesticated cats. Vet Surg. 2010;39(5):535-544. doi:10.1111/j.1532-950X.2010.00708.x
2. Slingerland LI, Hazewinkel HA, Meij BP, Picavet P, Voorhout G. Cross-sectional study of the prevalence and clinical features of osteoarthritis in 100 cats. Vet J. 2011;187(3):304-309. doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.12.014
3. Gruen ME, Myers JAE, Lascelles BDX. Efficacy and safety of an anti-nerve growth factor antibody (frunevetmab) for the treatment of degenerative joint disease-associated chronic pain in cats: a multisite pilot field study. Front Vet Sci. 2021;8:610028. doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.610028
4. Bennett D, Zainal Ariffin SM, Johnston P. Osteoarthritis in the cat: 1. How common is it and how easy to recognise? J Feline Med Surg. 2012;14(1):65-75. doi:10.1177/1098612X11432828
 
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