My seven year old Labrador has arthritis in his rear right leg which makes it difficult to get up after sleeping, and uncomfortable when he starts to walk. He has had x rays that show little deterioration in his joints, is on anti inflamatories and occasional painkillers .
It breaks my heart to see him in pain, although this is only very occasionally, the vet is less than optimistic, and I would like to act pro actively to make his life as long and pain free as possible.
Do you have any similar experiences where you found a remedy?
My GSDs have glucosamine & chondroitin I buy the human one from Zipvit on line - on my vet's advise.
Give your dog plenty of steady exercise - lots of short walks and limited running around. The better muscled he is, the more the muscles will support the weak joint.
Hydrotherapy might help too - there are quite a few hydrotherapy pools around the country, it's quite expensive but worth it if it helps him.
Good Luck
My gsd had arthritis in her elbows caused by ocd and I found that glucosamine and chondroitin helped her enormously throughout her life.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com I use Joint-Ease which is for humans and Its mail order from Healthspan who have a website. Although it is meant for humans it never had any adverse effects on my dog and is all natural ingredients including devils claw which is a well known Arthritis remedy . Or you could try a Glucosamine formula especially for dogs. All the pain killers i tried from the vets did not have any effect on her but I put her on Joint ease pills and within 10 days she was walking without pain. I kept her on these for almost 7 years until her demise. I hope you find something to ease your dogs pain. Good Luck.
Have you though of trying things like acupunture and hydrotherapy which can often help in conjuction with regular vet medication. It is worth talking to your vet about as it may help but it is very important if you do do them that you make sure that the places and satff are registered. I don't kow if you sure a seris the BBC did this year called The Bonic vet which was about the amazing work a vet called Noel Fitzpatrick does. If i remember he help a dog with very bad arthritis with a major operation. It might be worth looking on the web to find out about him as vets from all over the country refer animals that they can't help as he is so specialised.
I've had many dogs with arthritis and I've found this worked the best and was the safest to use;
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Glucosamine DS/MSM with Chondroitin
http://www.kvpet.com cost is $ 19.95 for 120 chewable tablets and the item number is 43081
Phone number;
1-800-423-8211
Wonderful company to deal with.
The bottle tells you how to use it, the flavor is well taken by all my dogs, and after about 3 weeks on this I couldn't believe the difference it made.
I had a German Pinscher who had arthritis for over 7 years until she died at 15. We had anti-inflammatory's from the vet and I used to add a little Sunflower Oil to her grub. The best advice we had was to keep her weight down and it did make things a lot easier for her.
There is no cure for arthritis (I have it) so you can only manage the symptoms and the best advice is from your vet.
I agree with the last 3 posters. Also make sure your dog isnt overweight as this means he has to carry more weight on his already painful weakened joints.
yes i used collagen liquid form from the health shop this worked for my old lab dog.
Good suggestions here. I second them. I have an older dog with arthritis and he gets a supplement with glucosamine. It helped. He didn't improve with it, but he's no worse than he was when I got him 3 years ago. He's a little stiff sometimes but it doesn't stop him from wanting to go on walks, or most other things he really wants to do. Keep the dog's weight down, give him gentle exercise. Short walks or spells of activity are better than overdoing it. Avoid rough ground, it seems to be a bit harder on them. Swimming is excellent exercise for arthritic dogs and in some places there are therapeutic pools especially for dogs. expensive, but maybe worth it. Just make sure he doesn't hang around cold and wet. Make sure he has a soft warm place to sleep. Check in with your vet on this from time to time in case there are other effective medications.
