GinDog has arthritis - how can we make him more comfortable?

[GinBunny]

Poor GinDog has been hobbling around for the last couple of weeks and an x-ray has confirmed he has arthritis. He is a rescue, his previous life was on the streets so he hadn't had a healthy life before coming to us. He is about 10 years old.

The vets have prescribed pain relief but it is making him vomit. This is apparently the most effective medication but they have said they will change it if this happens, he does have a sensitive tummy. He's a bit overweight and is now on vet-prescribed dog food to help him lose weight.

Do any of you have experience of arthritis in dogs? Massage, alternative treatments, anything we can do to help him feel more comfortable?

Change NSAID, there are plenty of different drugs available. If he really can't tolerate them, there are other options ( tramadol, pardaleV, PLT)
Start a joint supplement with glucosamine, chondritin and omega fatty acids, non-prescription but your vet will recommend one, we use Synoquin.
Get his weight down to the slim side of ideal.
Moderate exercise to keep him moving every day without overdoing it on weekends, avoiding ball throwing and leaping about.
Comfy supportive bed. Minimise stairs. Lift him, or use a ramp if he's big, in and out of the car.
Swimming/ hydrotherapy if he likes water.
Acupuncture can be helpful.
See a veterinary physio for advice about massage, stretches, applying heat etc that might help - will depend on which joints and how badly affected.

Thank you Milo that's a really helpful list.
He's taking Previcox at the moment, but we were warned that vomiting was a possible side effect. We will ask for an alternative.
He's been taking a glucosamine supplement since we got him, you've reminded me that we were supposed to take it with us tonight so they could look at the ingredients but forgot.
Yes, weight - I know that being overweight is bad for your joints from my own experience
Exercise, yes, enough to keep his muscle mass up but not enough to hurt his joints. We will have to learn from him what he can do.
We're trying to lift him as much as we can, he's medium/12 kilos. But he wants to do his thing! He's not short of comfy things to lie on, bed, sofa bed, sofa, 2 beds of his own...!
He hates water. Unfortunately.
Acupuncture I will look into, as physio.
Thank you so much for posting

Sorry just to check, when you say...is making him vomit?... You have stopped giving him it?

As milo said, even if he ends up not being able to have any NSAIDS, there are quite a lot of painkillers to try. (I can add another two at least to that list just that my dog had had instead of NSAIDs, lol)

Weight is a big one that's helpful and you get veterinary chiropractors as well as physios.

We had a cat with arthritis. We put a whelping pad (aka electric butt warmer) where she slept. That helped.

Has anyone used the back on track coats/rugs? Ddog has mild hip dysplasia which so far isn't causing any problems but he's obviously more prone to arthritis in the future. He's having a joint supplement plus fish oil and we keep him very slim and swims as often as he can but I'm keen to keep the arthritis at bay for as long as possible

I haven't tried coats, or bioflow collars, though I've heard good things about those too.

I forgot laser therapy, it didn't do much for my dog (it's more complicated issues he has than arthritis) but my vet has had some really good results with it on arthritis she says.

Another vote for back on track coats - they seem to work really well or on some dogs not at all but really worth a try.

We used to used Yumove and synoquin but on vets recommendation moved over to Riaflex the results were amazing maybe worth discussing with your vet

riaflex

green muscle

Thanks for all your posts, will read properly when I have more time tomorrow. GinDog was sick but there was another factor that could have caused it so we've carried on with the meds and touch wood hasn't happened since the first day. Has anyone come across turmeric or aloe vera as helping?

Nope, well that is I've heard of giving turmeric, but since the can't have NSAIDs anymore incident I'm very careful about anything that could be an irritant and forever living has put me off aloe vera for anything except burns, lol.

I do give yumove, vitamin e and salmon oil though.

my dog who lived to 17 had arthritis and like yours he was not doing well on meds so for the last year and half of his life I took him off everything and did it my way and he was so much better on this -

electric heat pad in his bed, from Amazon, like this one - here

Turmeric in his food, natural anti - inflammatory. Id give a teaspoon twice a day.

High strength Fish oil capsules, one twice a day. tesco sell them, also aldi.

Yumove Advance tablets here

Hydrotherapy once a week was good for my boy.

Lastly a carrier harness for stairs and cars -

here or other online shops

Tumeric golden paste seems to be the cure all at the moment.

I haven't used is personally but a lot of agility friends use it on themselves and dogs. There is a facebook page Tumeric User Group which helps you make the paste and dosage etc.

I think though that it interacts with some drugs so do your research

Google Golden Paste (turmeric, pepper and coconut oil) brilliant for my ancient JRT with a super sensitive stomach. Also we need low dose steroids which helped when NSAIDS simply didn't touch the issue and Tramadol Diazepam he reacted badly too. I know long term use has issues but at 16 I am going for quality of life not quantity.

The Golden Paste means he can still walk around the block before he could get to the end of the road!

Realise in coming to this thread late but my old ( very big-not fat just big boy)Labrador had arthritis and my vet did acupuncture on him and the results were fantastic. He couldn't take the Meds as he'd had gastric bleed so acupuncture was the option we chose. After weekly treatments for 4-6 weeks we noticed HUGE improvements. We then did monthly maintenance treatments.
Definitely worth a go