Arthritis relief suggestions.

[honeyroar]

We have a 9yr old lab. He was a rescue that we got around 12 months old, so we never knew breeding or joint scores. He's always been a high energy, hyper and athletic dog. From the age of 4 he started going lame occasionally. Initially it was after swimming in cold water, so we stopped him swimming in winter. Then he'd be lame after playing fetch (he is totally retrieve/ball obsessed), so we've stopped throwing balls for him. Then he was stiff after longer walks, so we shortened walks and kept him on the lead so he wasn't running around as much. Lately he's been really stiff in the evenings even after shorter walks (1 mile).

He's currently on a glucosamine and chlondotrin (sp?) tablet and omega 3 capsule, plus a dose of metacam. Our house is very cold, so he has a fleece on at night and an extra fleece blanket in his bed. He wears a waterproof rug outside if it's raining/snowing and we towel him off.

Any other suggestions? I was wondering about magnetic rugs perhaps.

Sorry for the long post. We lost our other 11yr old lab recently, and I guess I'm worrying that we're getting closer to losing this one too. He could hardly walk this evening when he first got out of his basket.

We have a similar issue with our dog. He is also 9. Our vet advised 'yumove' which is a green lipped mussel supplement ( from Amazon) that she uses on her own dogs. She suggests better than other supplements. We also changed to a senior dry food for joint issues with green lipped mussel in too. It seems to be helping. When he does limp or chew at a foot we give him tramadol ( on prescription) and put him on lead walks of just 10 minutes ( usually he does long walks). We have also bought him a poncy bed which is allegedly orthopaedic and gets him off the cold floor but tbh the cats sue it more than him. Vet also said no more stairs ever but we don't enforce that as our DD is bedbound and they would never see each other. What we do is walk him up and down so he doesn't bound at great speeds. We will take it as it comes, he has to enjoy his life. When he no longer can we will decide what to do.

Thanks, I will have a look for that, I've vaguely heard of it before.

Yes I think he's just going to have to potter around our field rather than walk him, particularly in winter. I hadn't thought about the stairs, he does hurtle up if he goes up (only on Sunday's!).

Yes it's in my head that we have to just see how he goes on. I never thought he'd be an old dog, as he's always had these issues, but had hoped our older dog would've lived a couple more years and they'd perhaps have been PTS together, but she died quite suddenly. This one has aged a lot since she died in December, they were best buddies. We do have a third, younger dog, who is going to have to be walked alone.

YuMove & a magnetic collar clip. Sounds bonkers but did my 9 year old staff the world of good, she could barely get out of her bed some mornings before we started. The YuMove in itself was brilliant, but i did some research about magnets (i have a magnetic bracelet for back pain) & that was brilliant. Sounds very mumbo jumbo but there is a science to it

My friend’s dog has turmeric paste. She says it’s helped him enormously. I’m going to try it for the mad Springer when I can get hold of a decent sized pack of turmeric.

No it doesn't sound mumbo jumbo - I asked about magnetic rugs in my opening post (think that's probably more equestrian - I've two elderly horses with arthiritis too, we're all falling to bits here!). Do you know where you got the collar from?

My 13 y/o Labrador, rescue that weighed 44kgs when we got her , has had a drug/ alternative medicine progression. We’ve been lucky in the sense that we have comprehensive insurance cover so nothing has been out of our reach. As time goes on each became less effective than originally so we’ve added or changed as appropriate. She’s still such a happy dog we feel it’s well worth it. She started off on just Yumove (6 tabs a day), progressed to that plus daily dose of Metacam (just had to stop this recently though as long term use affects the kidneys), progressed to monthly injection of cartrophen. All worked well for some time but about six months ago it was obvious that the three together wasn’t quite enough. Vet suggested Acupuncture. We were very . Seriously, I cannot tell you how amazing it has been. The effects were almost immediate. She now has one session a month, which she loves, snores throughout. She’s like a new dog. I realise it probably wouldn’t work for every dog, last it doesn’t work for every human, but it was worth getting over our scepticism and giving it a try.

Ps we’ve been given tramadol because she can’t have the Metacam anymore, so far we’ve not had to give it to her.

Has your vet suggested cartrophen? It’s worked wonders on my old horse (it’s irigibally a dog licences product). Other than that, turmeric is a good one to try - the turmeric user group on Facebook is good to get you started.

Funnily enough both my horses have cartrophen injections for their arthiritis and it does work wonders.

Another vote for Yumove. I give the Working Dog version which is exactly the same as normal Yumove but vat free.
I started when ddogs were just starting to show reluctance to jump in the car, and within a fortnight they were back to their old selves bouncing around like three year olds - it was dramatic.

Watching with interest!
I have a 2.5 yr old rescue who is due for X-rays which will probably confirm she has arthritis
I haven't really discussed diet/supplements with the vet yet, so all these suggestions give me a bit of hope. My DDog is too young to just sit on the sofa all day with no walks/stairs (vets advice) although she seems absolutely fine with this

My 13yr old springer has the yumove tablets. I get them from amazon on automatic delivery. She only has 2 a day as she is small but they have made a huge difference. She was getting really stiff and hobbling a lot as she runs around like a lunatic and won't be slowed down but now she's back to her old bouncy self!

Honey it was literally just a little magnetic clip that went on her collar, she had to wear her collar all the time but the difference it made was unreal. I got mine from somebody local, but they have a FB page. I'm pretty sure I have a couple of them here if you'd like them, sadly my lady had to be PTS last year & we aren't getting any more pooches for the foreseeable

Our vet said that big dog breeds should never use the stairs. Ironically he never did until DD became ill almost 5 years ago and we had to bribe him to go up and down to Start. Are working dog yumove tablets same formulation? If they are and cheaper we will switch!

Ive just been looking on the Viovet and Animed sites and it said that the working version had slightly larger dose of the supplement that increases stamina (sorry I can't properly remember).

Mustbemad17 that's very kind of you, but I'd feel
cheeky unless I bought them, and also you may need them in the future if you did get another dog.

I don’t know if this is available for dogs but my cat has just started laser treatment at the vets for her arthritis. She walks a couple of steps then hops and stops. They said it takes about 6 treatments to see any effect

Thanks everyone, it's been very useful to hear your experiences.

honeyroar it might be worth looking up a website called HackUp. They make up an individual supplement based on the answers you give to their health questions and what you want it to achieve.

My dog has a permanent disability and has had an operation and I was advised to try Youmove by my vet to fend off any future problems. I have swapped now to the supplement from HackUp and I'm really pleased with how he's doing. You can ask for something to be made up and you don't have to buy it - gives you a chance to have a look at what they suggest, and you can also feed it alongside what you're using currently if you wish.

I was originally recommended it for my horse and her arthritis but decided not to buy the one for her, but have bought the one they made up for DDog. Might be worth a look- it won't cost anything to get them to make something up for him.

Good luck

Thanks I will bear that in mind.

I've ordered the Yumove working dog so will see how that goes initially.

Ddog started on cartrophen injections today. The vet said in her experience most dogs have been able to stay off anti-inflammatories for longer by using this.
I have booked her to start hydrotherapy next week as well, so am hopeful this combination will help.
I know from an xray three years ago that ddog's hips are in a really poor state but I definitely think that Yumove tablets have kept her moving really well until now ( age 11)

How often does the dog have them? My horses have four injections a week apart every six months or so. Not cheap!

It's once a week for a month to start with, then less frequently ( she might have said once a month?)
£18 a shot..

That's not too bad. With my horses I notice it wear off after six months has passed. (With them it's £400 every six months - each horse).

I don't think my vet prices are too outrageous thankfully, as we're quite rural and most people don't have insurance.

Golden paste?
Heated whelping pad?
I know a vet who does acupuncture! And a Bowen therapist too!