Osteoarthritis: Dogs Vs Humans

[sandgrubber]

I'm trying to compile a family medical history cause I'm seeing a new doctor. My sibs say "osteoarthritis runs in the family". But it doesn't seem to be particularly focused on one set of bones or another. An aunt here with crippled hands, a hip replacement for my father, Mum had a lot of aches in her shoulders. I seem to have stiffening of vertebrae L2 or L3.

With dogs we seem to consider the hereditary risk as specific to a particular joint, and focus heavily on hips and elbows (though I've seen crippling arthritis of the forepaws and I gather some dogs get bad arthritis of some vertebrae).

I'm wondering, is there a fundamental difference between K9 arthritis and human arthritis? Or is the human version subject to heredity in specific joints, and we just don't look at it that way.

[Rappie]

I think one distinction to make is that with specific joints it is the anatomy of the joint that leads to degenerative arthritis due to abnormal wear, not that the hereditary factor is the arthritis per se. The other thing is that rheumatoid arthritis is more common, or at least more commonly identified in people and there are genetic / hereditary factors that make some people more susceptible.