Potential arthritis / Rheumocam?

[Cauliflowersfloofy]

Ddog has been quite out of sorts recently just quite subdued and not as lively - vet has ruled out a lot of other stuff and suspects she may have a touch of arthritis which as she's 10 and a bit of a chonk so she said it wouldn't be totally unexpected.

So she is now on a diet, and about to start taking Yu-Move, but the vet also wants to put her on Rheumocam. We are a bit tentative about this as:

a) diagnosis seems to be purely on her age plus the fact she found it difficult to extend one of her back legs when being examined, although tbf she is sometimes a bit slow getting up when she's been lying down; and
b) we don't want to give her medication if it's not totally necessary

I'm a bit stuck - I hate the thought of her potentially in pain so if the Rheumocam can help with that I think she should have it, but at the same time the diagnosis seems a bit vague and we could be giving her medication for something we don't definitely know is the problem.

Can anyone offer any wise words / advice please?

I expect your vet is pretty sure it is arthritis.

You could pay a lot of money for more extensive tests to be sure but tbh it is hard to diagnose the impact of arthritis even if you have the x rays and scans. Eg an appalling scan result may not equate to more pain in a dog than a better scan result.

You could do a medication trial see how your dog gets on and if they seem happier and are more active then stick with the meds if not have another check with the vet.

Dogs cope with a lot of pain before it is noticeable to us so if they are slow to get up or a bit creaky they will be in considerable pain.

Rheumocam/Metacam is a NSAI, like ibuprofen. Whatever is causing your dog's pain needs to be stopped, whatever the cause.

Vets are not infallible but they do see a lot of arthritis and are good at identifying pain in a dog. So as pp suggested, I would go with a trial of the drugs and see what change it may bring.

Thanks all - I'm going to ring the vet today and ask for the prescription and see if it helps. It was DH that was more resistant than me to the idea of giving it to her, but we had a good chat last night and he's agreed.

What not try yu move & seems how that goes, my dog had quite bad arthritis & I'm sure that stuff gave him a couple more years. RIP my handsome fella 💞