Arthritis Advice

[MooBoo]

Hi I'm just after some advice from people who have dealt with arthritic dogs.

My Bella (avatar pic) has been limping on and off for a while, usually only when she gets up and never for a long period of time. The last couple of weeks it has become more pronounced and lasts longer (it is her front left leg), so I took her to the vet yesterday and she manipulated all the joints and said she could feel crackling in her joints and suggested it was the onset of arthritis.

She gave me some pain killers to use if it looks like Bell is hurting, gave her an injection (can't remember the name of it) and she is to have one a week for the next three weeks and also gave me a powder (Glyde) to put in her food.

Bell does need to lose a little wait, so will be cutting back the amount she gets and switching to a lite dry food. She isn't overly active. She loves her walks and will have a bit of a play with you and the other two ever now and then but is really just content to spend her days laying around.

Are there other things which I can do that you have seen work for your dog?

Any advice would be great.

Oh, she is a 6 year old Dogue de Bordeaux.

Thanks

[Sankari]

My previous dog had arthritis, hip & Elbow dysplasia from 10 months of age.

I found natural supplements in the beginning really helped her, I tried Vets All Natural Joint Formula, I then switched to i think Wagner brand human grade Glucosamine and Chondroitin powder mixed into food bought from Chemist.

Swimming is supposed to help for dogs who like swimming of course! My girl hated water so we couldnt explore that option for her. I do know of people who have had very good results with dogs with arthritis and swimming helps. There are dog pools around where you can teach your dog to swim, unfortunately at the time I couldnt do that as we did and still do not live near a dog swimming pool. Not having a license puts alot of restrictions.

We also tried various vet medications. The one i found best for her was Cartrophen, she also over the years had Metacam, Mobic and she also had Rimadyl. Due to long term use of the last three medications i mentioned, Lucy did have stomach upsets at least 2-3 times a week. In the end we had to go back to the natural side as well as a hit of Cartrophen every 3-6 months. Cartrophen is a course of 4 injections one per week. She did well on them.

She also had a massage therapist every 4 weeks come and massage her for a few years as well. It helped for about a fortnight or so each massage. It was expensive but it did help her in that time.

Hope this helps.

There's plenty of things which may help your girl. Good Luck with her and hope you find something to help her.

[Kelly_Louise]

My old girl has a combination of Cartophen injections (that work wonders) periodically throughout the year, I give her Sasha's Blend for a supplement (along with some joint care biscuits - Osteocare or something), and she has Previcox tablets for really bad days when she's way over done it, they work quickly and don't have much side effects.

It's seen her through many years of arthritis, unconfirmed mild elbow dysplasia since puppyhood, and 2 cruciate ligament surgeries. Her joints are shot, but you'd barely notice.

She does not do high impact exercise (she's quite lazy now anyway) and hasn't for many years - which is tough for a ball loving ACD, but we substitute for anything that won't hurt her joints and she got used to it. Even if that means long lazy walks in the grass/sand/soft surface rather than quick walks on cement paths. She gets rest breaks during her walk as well. Swimming is good too.

I also bought her a Pet Step for stairs, but she doesn't use it and doesn't really need to. She takes a run up and zips up them. But it is good to have for places we can't get her up to or can't lift her.

[corvus]

Penny just had Cartrophen shots and it didn't do anything for her. I wasn't especially surprised because she's 13 and arthritis first appeared when she was about 8 or 9. She was on a Metacam for a while, but when I changed her diet from kibble to homecooked her arthritis went away quite miraculously. Soon after, I had her on Sasha's Blend every day. Her arthritis first came back probably when she was about 11. She would get a little Metacam through the winter. When I took her in for the Cartrophen late last year she had become very sore and the warming weather wasn't helping. I honestly think we were on borrowed time since she was 9, so I'm happy we got this far. The Metacam also stopped working, so now she's on Rimadyl, which is working well, although she has to have it pretty much every day. We do 2 days on and one day off, but you can tell the day she doesn't have it. We keep her warm, give her lots of soft, yet supportive things to lie on, and she gets the run of the house during the day. She sleeps a lot. It's really important to keep them moving, though. A gentle walk every day keeps the joints from stiffening up a lot.

Just make sure you know about the long-term effects of arthritis medication. The cat I grew up with was on Metacam for ages and ended up with serious kidney troubles. Our vet said as long as Penny is on the Rimadyl they will test her kidneys regularly to make sure they know if we need to stop.

[puggy_puggy]

I've found Sasha's blend helpful for my 7 year old pug that was limping from front elbow sorness.

He had a course of Procaine injections which somewhat helped but did not completely get rid of the limping. i have had him on the Sasha's Blend for the last couple of weeks and I would say the limp is 99% better.

If your doggy is even slightly overweight get that weight off her as it will help as well. Use veggies and fruit to help fill her up.

[Bouledogue Français]

I have found Joint Guard to help, keeping the dogs weight down, Fish Oil caps ( omega 3 ) can help as an anti-inflammatory, monthly Cartrophen injections ( depending on the dog, and you will need periodic bloodwork done ) also Previcox tablets.

There is also the J/D prescription food.

[goldens]

My old golden developed arthritis in his sine from mid back on down to tail and in his hips. I had him on Osteo Biflex, fish oil, Ester C and Vitamin E. When Ilearned about Knox Nutra Joiint, I started him on 1/2 scoop each day. Callie said itv would take about 3 months to see any difference, but he had only been on it about 2 /2 months when he stretched his rear legs out behind him for the vfirst time in many many months, He was really improving when I lost him to heart attack May 15, 2007.

After seeint the improvement in Buck, I started KayCee on it at age 7 1/2. She had had swurgery for luxating bpatella at age 16 months, then 14 months katerm same surgery on other vknee.....only this time she aqlso required a little repair to the vACL. I started her on joit sups back then, but we still expected tp see srthritis by age 5 or 6. When I mlost her to cancer this past May, she had no signs of arthritis and she was 8 yrs, 9 mons and 1 week old.

yes, it is important to keep you dog as thin as is heathly possible

[MooBoo]

Thanks for all the replies.

The joint guard and sashas blend, can they be bought outside of the vets? The Glyde powder which I have cost me $110 so anything else I can get that is cheaper would be great.

We can take her to the river for a swim, so I might see if we can make it more often. We've just spent the last 3 weeks at the beach so she was swimming nearly every day.

I will also look into a massage therapist.

Thanks for the ideas.

[CavsRcute]

My girl has Jointguard,about to start on Esther C, Traumeel which is a homeopathic anti inflammatory and monthly acupuncture, as well as 3 monthly trigger point therapy. I find that she is sorer in the humid weather. I didn't find that the Cartrophen did much for her but it helps others

[Bouledogue Français]

The joint guard and sashas blend, can they be bought outside of the vets? The Glyde powder which I have cost me $110 so anything else I can get that is cheaper would be great.

I have found Petstock to be the cheapest for the Joint Guard, although it is not cheap, I found it better than the Sasha's Blend, but again, each dog is different.

I heard acupuncture can help so anything is worth a try.

[CavsRcute]

The joint guard and sashas blend, can they be bought outside of the vets? The Glyde powder which I have cost me $110 so anything else I can get that is cheaper would be great.

I have found Petstock to be the cheapest for the Joint Guard, although it is not cheap, I found it better than the Sasha's Blend, but again, each dog is different.

I heard acupuncture can help so anything is worth a try.

You can buy Jointguard on line. If you google it you will find places like The Vet Shed etc. Acupuncture is well worth it

[Quirkyhound]

Thanks for the ideas.

Hi Moo, I agree with the fish oil and other good oils and a good natural diet. Of course you may need pain killers in the interim. I reversed arthritis in a 12 year old Border Collie years ago by switching from the commercial diet I was led to believe was COMPLETE, to a natural diet of raw meats of all kinds, (except pork) raw bones, veges and a few fruits and some GOOD OILS. The veges consisted of some OMG---table scraps-heaven forbid---left over mashed spuds, sweet spuds, beans etc. When the kibble was tossed, she blossomed! She virtually ate from our table, only I didn't cook her meat, that was served raw.

Be VERY wary of LITE DIETS----they are LIGHT on nutrition, and nutrients is what any dog needs, especially one suffering arthritis. I feel it's better to 'diet' a dog by giving it the right amount of nutrients it needs to be healthy, and curbing a 'crocodile's appetite' with some very lean bones to chew. The bones will take their mind off an empty stomach as they create a kind of 'bone bliss'. The chewing satisfies them to the point that they will not miss a big bulky feed of biscuits loaded with grain as filler. You can then feed them small amounts of things that actually have good nutritional value. Be careful with the oils, they are full of calories and they are an oil, which can bring on a bout of pancreatic stress, as can bones that are too fatty.

On the above diet, give or take, more or less, my 8, 9, 10, 12 and 14 year old dogs still barrel around the paddocks like two year old racing dogs so it must have some merit.

Best of luck.

[kermat]

Joint Guard is great and I've found it cheapest on ebay - around $60 for the 400g tub (it was $70+ when I saw it in Pet Stock). Since we've been putting that in Judd's dinner I haven't noticed him limping although he's a little wobbly when he first gets up from a sleep (aren't we all!!!)

Also fish oil capsules are good too, I buy the Blackmores odourless ones and you can usually find them on special at Chemists and Health Food stores, I think the 400's are usually around $30. I was told to give one 1000mg tablet per 5kg of doggie (barring any adverse effects of course, if its too much fish oil for them I think they can get the runs), Judd is about 20kg so I give him 4 tablets in his dinner.

The combination of the fish oil and the Joint Guard has really helped, fortunately we haven't needed to resort to Cartrophen injections yet. Judd has his arthritis from a luxating patella which we are going to get checked again in a couple of months, and because he's only a young dog we'll be considering surgery. Unfortunately its already caused the arthritis in his back leg but I'm happy that it can be managed by using these natural supplements and making sure he doesn't get overweight.

[puggy_puggy]

Have found Sasha's Blend online for $46.

[MooBoo]

Hi Moo, I agree with the fish oil and other good oils and a good natural diet. Of course you may need pain killers in the interim. I reversed arthritis in a 12 year old Border Collie years ago by switching from the commercial diet I was led to believe was COMPLETE, to a natural diet of raw meats of all kinds, (except pork) raw bones, veges and a few fruits and some GOOD OILS. The veges consisted of some OMG---table scraps-heaven forbid---left over mashed spuds, sweet spuds, beans etc. When the kibble was tossed, she blossomed! She virtually ate from our table, only I didn't cook her meat, that was served raw.

Be VERY wary of LITE DIETS----they are LIGHT on nutrition, and nutrients is what any dog needs, especially one suffering arthritis. I feel it's better to 'diet' a dog by giving it the right amount of nutrients it needs to be healthy, and curbing a 'crocodile's appetite' with some very lean bones to chew. The bones will take their mind off an empty stomach as they create a kind of 'bone bliss'. The chewing satisfies them to the point that they will not miss a big bulky feed of biscuits loaded with grain as filler. You can then feed them small amounts of things that actually have good nutritional value. Be careful with the oils, they are full of calories and they are an oil, which can bring on a bout of pancreatic stress, as can bones that are too fatty.

On the above diet, give or take, more or less, my 8, 9, 10, 12 and 14 year old dogs still barrel around the paddocks like two year old racing dogs so it must have some merit.

Best of luck.

This is what Bell eats, let me know what you think,

Dinner includes a mixture throughout the week of 500g of beef mince raw or 500g of cooked chicken (she wont touch raw chicken), 500g of beef or ox heart or a can of tuna in springwater or brine, this is mixed with 1 cup of dry.

She gets bones once or twice a week and a rawhide treat a couple of times a week.

We've tried her on vegies and fruit but she wont have any of that either.

Also fish oil capsules are good too, I buy the Blackmores odourless ones and you can usually find them on special at Chemists and Health Food stores, I think the 400's are usually around $30. I was told to give one 1000mg tablet per 5kg of doggie (barring any adverse effects of course, if its too much fish oil for them I think they can get the runs), Judd is about 20kg so I give him 4 tablets in his dinner.

I totally agree with the fish oil capsules as I have been reading up on them but Bell weighs in at 58kg, so that would mean she would have 12 capsules at one time, that seems a bit excessive. Would it still benefit her if she had less then this?

[dogbesotted]

I would also be keeping in mind chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture . My dear departed girl The divine Miss Sophie was kept comfortable with a combination of homeopathic remedies, chiro, acupuncture, salmon oil, gl;ucosamine etc as well as more heavy duty drugs when needed.

The dear old thing did well for almost 12 years which is not bad for a great dabe x irish wolfhound who was born with deformed growth plates in her stifles.

H

[MooBoo]

Bella had her second injection today and she has lost 1/2 kg this week. Vet was very happy.

Just another 7 1/2 kg to go!