Hip displasia/arthritis and pain relief

[NewBrian]

My 11year old dog is on carpofren which doesn’t always seems to do the job. Vet won’t give us anything else but say I can give her half a paracetamol twice a day, which I won’t. Interested to know what medications other dogs are on/any good supplements.

No you can't give paracetamol without veterinary advice, dog's tolerance levels are not the same as humans and it's really easy to overdose them.

Doesn't matter I misread the say bit...

There are many other pain medications for dogs. Different ones suit different individuals, so if carprofen doesn't seem to be doing much, ask for an alternative such as meloxicam or robenacoxib.

Do NOT under any circumstances be tempted to use ibuprofen.

The evidence for joint supplements is pretty weak, but there is no harm in trying a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement. There is more evidence for the fish oils being beneficial but you need pretty high doses to get the effect, which can cause diarrhoea.

Metacam is the go-to drug for stiffness etc IME. Tesco do a canine glucosamine supplement which i give my dog daily

DDog2 has arthritis in her hips and is currently on Tramadol (she can't have NSAIDs) which has worked reasonably well for her.

We've tried various supplements in the past (with her and DDog1 who also had arthritic hips) without much success however recently we've tried Flexadin Advanced and the difference in her has been amazing.

I have two 11 year olds who have done incredibly well on Yumove.
They had started to slow down and hesitated to jump in the car. (Only one of them has been xrayed but she has a very bad hip) In the space of a few weeks they really looked like their old selves again.

Not medicinal but I have arthritis myself and find being in warm water helps massively - would your dog tolerate baths?

I'm back after my kneejerk misreading, lol...

There are lots of painkillers available, the thing is, they're all heavy duty ones compared to NSAIDs... not necessarily stuff you want to be giving until you have to.

Weight can make a huge difference, could she lose some weight?

I use yumove and salmon oil, honestly I have no idea if it actually makes a difference, but they won't do any harm, so...

Some people swear by turmeric, I haven't tried it.

Hydrotherapy is usually fairly successful as well, you're exercising the supporting muscles without weight on the joints.

Cold weather usually makes it worse, is your house warm enough? Would she tolerate a jacket?

Her bed, is that comfortable enough? Memory foam can help a bit.

They are all tweaks though, really you want to go hassle your vet and see if another NSAID is better.