Thanks Emily. Litterbox seems fine, though he shares with two other cats so it's hard to see what he's producing all the time. But his urinalysis came back normal. He does seem to be drinking a lot but his kidneys came back normal too. The vet specifically did some extra tests to make sure the kidneys were fine.

Appetite is fine, he's sleeping a lot too but I think that's correlated with moving less. He doesn't hesitate to jump up and down on things.

We had an incident over Christmas break where another cat of mine got loose (he's separated and has his own room because he attacks my other cats) and got into a huge fight with this cat. The mean cat was chasing this cat all over the house, attacking, and i'm sure they both flew down the stairs. We were able to get them separated after a few minutes, and this cat seemed fine but I'm wondering if he was injured during that attack. This seems to be about the time when things started changing. But 2 months seems like a long time to have an injury that doesn't show up on xrays. The vet said xrays aren't really helpful in showing soft tissue problems.

I'm just frustrated because he seems to be in pain but I don't know what to do for him other than continue the supplements. He doesn't need to use the stairs but unless I lock him in a room, he's going to keep using them. All his stuff is upstairs but of course he wants to be downstairs with the family so he ends up going up and down the stairs at least 10 times a day.

It's probably a good sign that he wants to go up and down them though, right? Could you bring more of his stuff down to where you guys hang out? That might give him a chance to heal if it's painful for him.

I think it's good that he's using them. He could just be recovering from an injury and just being extra careful. He seems to spend most of his time upstairs during the day, popping downstairs every once in a while, but I could try bringing his litter box and a bed downstairs and see if that helps so at least he has the option to use the stairs less.

Could you find a vet that does acupuncture, massage, homeopathic treatments? My boy is 16 and he doesn't move like that. We have a big flight of stairs and he bounds up those easily, and he has kidney and heart problems as well. I went to a holistic vet for a few sessions and both vets (original and holistic) were very accommodating of the other's treatment.

Thanks Carthief - did you see good results from the holistic vet? There's a holistic vet nearby that has chiropractors on staff that I'm considering. They could probably tell me more if it's a muscle or joint issue. I love my vet but I don't think there's much else he can do as all the tests he ran came back normal.

I really think it's an injury given how quickly it developed. My suspicion is he injured himself a few months ago but hasn't properly healed, most likely because he keeps going up and down the stairs. I'm going to keep supplementing and keep him confined for a week or two and give his muscles a chance to heal. If there's no improvement I will look into some alternatives.

I did have good results and I believe it was a combination of a bit of acupuncture (only because he wouldn't stay still for too long) and some tinctures. I love my regular vet too, so I think you are being very sensible considering everything has come back as normal so far.

Thanks, there's a vet nearby that is a certified vet acupuncturist and chiropractor so I may have a consultation with her. I think I'm at the limit of what my regular vet can do, but I'm going to call him tomorrow and see what he thinks of the idea.

Here's a short video of my cat walking. He was following me around looking for his dinner, which is why he's circling me, lol. I think he's walking fine which is a good sign.