Experiences of arthritis?

[hosernoser]

My large breed (75lbs) dog is 5.5 years old. He's been diagnosed with some probable arthritis in one paw and his lower back. I am surprised this has happened so young but vet wasn't surprised. Breed standard is to live until about 12.

We've always exercised him everyday except when he's limping we give him weeks to heal and slowly start up again over a period of months. He had a good 6 months problem free and now is back to limping.

Vet says we should be giving glucosamine which we will do. We also have ramp we use to get him down from the bed or out of the car.

I don't know a lot about this.

Anyone got any tips or advice based on experience?

Visit CAMs they will have all the info you need.

Best supplement is Riaflex HA Canine joint plus and Green Lipped Mussel

Okay thanks I didn't know about that website.

There's a new treatment out now called Librela. It's a monthly injection but seems to work well.

Just check what exercise they're doing. No ball throwing. No rough play with other dogs. No fast running / turning as all these movements aggravate the joints.

@PollyRoulllson

Visit CAMs they will have all the info you need.

Best supplement is Riaflex HA Canine joint plus and Green Lipped Mussel

Came on to say this.

The CAM website is really useful and they have a FB page and support group as well. Their approach is to treat arthritis via a multi-modal approach, so, veterinary medication, supplements, diet, weight control, exercise and environmental control (rugs on hard floors, anti-slip tape etc) plus options for things like physio, hydrotherapy, acupuncture. There’s far more out there than a lot of vets will suggest.

My boy’s mobility significantly improved after a couple of months on the above, plus high strength omega oil and turmeric for dogs, alongside his veterinary meds. If you do start him on any supplements, make sure you give a list of them to your vets, as some can interact with veterinary medication.

Placemarking
If your dog isn’t insured, try and do it. My dog tore his cruciate, it’s expensive.
My Lab is 11, takes Galliprant daily. We now have large rugs, limit steps, limit treats, no going upstairs, no jumping up, be careful if dog goes for a groom (slippery) hydrotherapy is good. Brace’s can be useful if limping, try Orthopets.

Your vet should be able to help you with what supplements you can give, fish oils, glucosamine, joint supplements etc, pain relief etc. You could also try aquatherapy to keep the joint moving but not under any weight.
My boy developed arthritis about 5ish, he's now 14 and we are quite far down the line but managing it along with his other issues.

Librela is a wonder drug, if you can get it, but it only masks the pain, so the wear and tear continues.
Physio, hydrotherapy, supplements, possibly acupuncture can be as useful, if pain can be managed.
My dogs physio suggest warm coats such as equafleece, for winter months , and ensuring he has a gentle warm up before each walk.

We managed our small dog's arthritis for several years with Galliprant, latterly Gabapentin, Yumove supplements (vet strength), and paracetamol - plus weekly hydrotherapy to strengthen the muscles around his 'bad' leg and also to give him the joy of splashing around without too much pain. A monthly therapy massage also seemed to help, as did rugs around the house, no stairs ever, and a memory foam bed in every room. What we couldn't do was reprogramme his brain to stop him charging after birds in his garden but we did what we could...

for you. It's tough seeing them slow down.

I don't know what I will do about stairs. He likes to sleep up in the bedrooms with us at night. He doesn't go up and down repeatedly, maybe 3-4 times per day. (I wish we lived in a bungalow!)

Is limiting the stairs worth it at this point? Maybe only let him come up for bedtime?

Vet hasn't recommended any serious medicine yet, just anti-inflammatory. So I am hoping supplements, etc, will help.

I would only go up for bedtime and consider a full body harness possibly - this means you take some of the load i.e lift him. My Lab is 40 plus kg though and 11 years old, I know yours is considerably larger. DDog used to sleep upstairs but the vet said this was a bad idea, we stopped it from a young age as a result. You can’t carry a huge dog upstairs when he can no longer do them himself- meaning it’ll be worse and he will cry etc.

I’d try and limit it now personally. Does he sleep on the bed? Do you lift his back end? You may need to at some point ….

We have a 6kg dog who's 12 and has pretty much always had arthritis. We managed it initially with Yumove, more recently she has been on half and lately full doses of Onsior daily. She has a coat with back legs to it to give her a bit of extra protection when it's cold. We also take great care with her weight, I think this is one of the best things you can do for them, along with limiting high impact exercise, so I'd be taking the vet's advice on stairs and making sure DDog has enough comfy insulated beds on the floor that he doesn't have to jump on and off the furniture.

I have only recently noticed that she's having difficulty jumping up into the car, but then so is our other dog who's the same age and has no signs of arthritis. (Incidentally we use one of the large plastic folding stools like this www.aldi.co.uk/large-pink-folding-step-stool/p/713340553484101?gclid=CjwKCAiAl-6PBhBCEiwAc2GOVNVx5abbgkV6a01Eg2VClOybTzi_qGew_bJqs-qpd7ytlw4kh8CyoxoCfEQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds for the car, but I doubt it would work for a big dog). I think that just like people, you have to accept that it's a lifetime management thing but it doesn't have to impact their quality of life.