Advice about arthritis in young dog

[4Tornot4T]

Hello,
Our 5 yo Sheltie has had stiffness and a limp in his left front paw after resting, particularly in the evening, for a couple of months. It goes quickly after he stretches and walks a few paces then he’s back to his usual high energy self. The vet thinks it is probably arthritis and put him on Metacam but he had a seizure so it was stopped but his paw was too painful and he was given Gabapentin which has helped with the pain but he is still limping. He does sometimes bite the top of his paw.

We have restricted him to 15 minutes walking a day on the vet’s recommendation, stopped ball play and carry him up and down stairs. We’ve also just started him on Riaflex Joint Plus and Green Lipped Mussel which hopefully will help.

Does anyone have other experience or suggestions of what else we could do? I’ve read that Omega 3 oil is good and wondered if anyone had experience of that.

We absolutely heartbroken this has happened in such a young otherwise healthy and active dog and are desperate to do anything to help.

Thanks for reading.

My dog has osteoarthritis. He now has monthly injections of Librela. He's almost 14 and this has transformed him. It can take up to three months to take full effect and there'll be some it doesn't work for but worth asking your vet about this. It's not the cheapest and so it's a long term commitment for you with your dog being so young. My first dog was a sheltie - still have a soft spot for them.

I recommend librela too. Our elderly lab has had the injections for about a year, and she has an amazing quality of life because of it. It’s not cheap though, happily we can afford it but I can imagine it might be difficult for many.

Thank you both so much for your replies. I mentioned Librela to our vet but she didn't seem keen. I'll ask again though and push for a bit more of a discussion about it. We'd be prepared to make the financial sacrifice if it worked - I can't stand the thought of seeing him in pain or losing him early. Do you mind if I ask how much the Librela is?

Shelties are lovely aren't they? I had them as a child and never encountered arthritis and can't believe this has happened to our boy. We're terrified it's going to get so bad it'll be unkind to continue and we're absolutely devastated.

Do you have experience of Omega 3 oil by any chance?

Op, Librela for us is £93 per shot, but could last longer than a month. We happen to know a couple of vets socially who don’t benefit from our payment - they told us they would recommend it. I’m wondering with a young dog whether the injections could be longer apart but still be beneficial?

I read somewhere that librela isn't so good for younger dogs because of long term side effects (librela experience board on Facebook maybe). Our old collie is on it and does very well but she does suffer occasional urine incontinence (which stops when she stops librela)
For our 20kg dog it's £90ish a month. I would suggest further investigation (X-ray) to confirm/rule out diagnosis of arthritis.

We tried librela for our relatively young dog but it didn't make any real difference to his stiffness. I read that if it works for your dog you typically see a difference in about 2 months so you could give it a short trial.

Stick with the Rhiaflex. Our 9 year old lab has elbow dysplasia & limped badly. The Rhiaflex has been a game changer for her.

Thank you all for your messages. We'd be happy to pay for Librela if it was right and £90 ish sounds ok. We do have insurance so maybe they would pay for it if a vet recommended it. They have been pretty good so far......

ThroughThickAndThin01 It's interesting to know your vet friends recommend Librela - I suppose different vets have different opinions but we're seeing our vet on Weds and I'll discuss it then.

LBF2020- thanks for mentioning the side effects and the Facebook group. I'll take a look at it. It's a minefield working out what's best - I've read so much about all the different options my brain is starting to fry and I'm feeling very overwhelmed ..... The vet wasn't keen on an X-ray at the moment as DD has a seizure after the Metacam a few weeks ago and as he'd have to be sedated she wanted to be sure she wasn't putting him at unnecessary risk. Hopefully that will change as time goes by - I'm hoping the seizure was from the Metacam rather than the onset of epilepsy.

BiteyShark Do you mind if I ask what you use now? It's good to hear about what works particularly in young dogs.

I think he really needs some investigation. That sort of dog and age - arthritis really quite uncommon. You need some X-rays and possible referral to specialist

Our vet suggested stem cell therapy for our then 3 year old rottie, it took 9 months to see a difference but it has changed his life x

Thank you Todaypicard I was absolutely stunned when the vet mentioned arthritis as I also thought it was unusual in a young sheltie - who is very active and definitely not overweight. I feel that it might be some sort of injury but not sure what would take this length of time to heal.

We did see two different vets in the practice who mentioned arthritis but I'm aware that once it is in the notes it can subliminally influence anyone who then read them.

spring78 I read about stem cell therapy and thought it looked like a possibility but wasn't sure how established it was - it sounded too good to be true. I'll investigate further though. Do you have ongoing treatments or was it a one off?

At the moment we aren't using anything.

After we decided not to continue using it we didn't pursue anything else as we unfortunately had to deal with more urgent problems with our dog requiring vet treatment.

I am not sure what to do as he is stiff when he gets up and can be reluctant to jump down off beds/sofa but I don't want to put him through investigations given how many he has had for accidents and illnesses.

I should also say the vets suspected arthritis in him because he has had two big injuries to his back in the past.

I would want xrays to see exactly what the problem is.

With our dog yumove advance 360, a supplement only from the vet, was effective for years. However now she is older we have added librela injections.
Keeping her weight down and regular, appropriate exercise has helped her.

I'm sorry to hear your poor DDog has had such a rough time BiteyShark - I hope he's doing better now. Sending a big hug to your boy x

Thank you and I hope you find something that works for you. It's horrible to see them in pain.

I remember your original post OP. I really hope your dog has not had any more fits.

Have you looked at Caninearthritis site? They are great and will give you loads of advice.

Thank you Happydays321 It has been a couple of weeks since his seizure so it should be safer to have an X-ray - I realise a second seizure could happen anytime if it's epilepsy but I'm hoping it was just a reaction to the Metacam.

Thank you BiteyShark It' is absolutely desperate seeing them in pain. Our DDog has been such a support to me over the last very difficult year and I feel helpless that I can't do more for him now.

My spaniel used to get a lot of stones and limping after resting. Particularly if he had run off lead, as little as 10 minutes off and we would see the impact the same afternoon. He now has yuMOVE tablets everyday and the difference is incredible, very rare to get any stiffness and definitely no pain anymore. Worth a go maybe before seeking out more invasive treatments.

I would ask for a second opinion and I would want some x rays. I do know that physical damage of joints does not relate to pain but it would also give you a bench mark to see how things go.

General things that help

Riaflex is fab keep at it - it can take a while to kick in

Keep weight low on the lowside

Hydo therapy if you can - the dog needs exercise as this will lessen pain but it has to be the right type of exercise

In the house use rugs to stop slipping, use ramps instead of stairs etc

Think of the terrain where you walk your dog, avoid tarmac and hard surfaces choose soft grassy area.

Shingle beaches will be painful but wet firm sand may be fine.

Walking up hill can be painful so look for flatter walks

No ball throwing but ball scenting is fab

Several short walks is better than one long walk

Just seen he has not had any seizures for a couple of weeks - that is fab news

Librela is a pain blocker. Nothing more, damage will still be done if the dog can’t feel pain. It’s ok for older dogs, last chance saloon … my Lab has it but he’s 12.

We used Galliprant for years and he was great on it. We also use human paracetamol as per the vet.

Id start with an X-ray and go from there. A lot of people swear by green mussel extract.

Good luck hope your dog feels better soon.

Knowivedonewrong Sorry I missed your pp. Thank you. That's really good to know. We've only been on it for a few days so it is early days but I'm hopeful. A friend has a golden retriever with hip problems and she swears by it. I have a bit of osteoarthritis myself and am tempted to try it myself - the human version that it!

IngGenius No, thankfully not. I really am hoping it was a one off reaction to the Metacam which I've since done more research on and found can lower the seizure threshold.

Thanks for recommending CAM. We've been reading it and it looks fantastic. Definitely full of useful information.

Thank you everyone for all your helpful replies. I think we're going to push for an X-ray unless the vet is really against it because of the seizure and we'll keep going with the Riaflex and see how DDog gets on with it. It's early days but he's eating it which is a good start as he's the fussiest eater I've ever known - if it's not chicken it's not happening......

IngGenius Thank you for all your helpful pointers. We've put rubber backed rugs on all the floors and are carrying him up stairs (which he loves!)