Arthritis in 5 year lab - what would you do next

[Custardcreamsandbourbons]

So i have the most gorgeous lab who sadly has a arthritis in both front paws his shoulder and elbow., he is gorgeous and never complains but go near his feet and he's not happy so i think he's just stoic. He had a sceptic elbow at the end of last year but prior to this we were in the process of going to see a specialist to find a management plan for his condition. We put that all on the back burner whilst he recovered from the sceptic elbow
We are due a routine vet visit today to have his usual monthly librella injection which he's been having for last year or so
I know the subject of what to do next will arise
We have insurance but to max £2000 per condition and his this is pretty much taken up with his monthly injections. His sceptic elbow, treatment, xrays and drugs cost £4000 We will of course pay whatever is needed but given he had xrays in October i think its best to see specialist now whilst these are still fairly recent to have new ones of all limbs is at least £750
My question is really what long term management does anyone have on their arthritic pets
His current regime is gabapentin x 2 a day as painkiller and 1 previcox as anti inflammatory, plus YU move pills , Salmon oil on his food and monthly librella plus we have given up ball throwing exercise which he absolutley loved and are keeping his weight healthy
Would hydrotherapy be a good idea - we have an allowance for alternative therapies which this is classified as
Any success stories welcome, we're london based if anyone has specialist recommendations.

He’s young for that level of pain 😕 Do you know why? Is it deformity in the joints or developmental?

Id personally be asking for referral to a specialist clinic for assessment and then potential physio/hydro/massage.

Being blunt, that much pain and medication at that age is really going to be life limiting for an active dog. Do you know how his littermates are getting on?

thanks @survivingunderarock i think we'll go and see specialist and get some good solid advice. When he was 1 he had an op on his elbow a kind of dysplasia, he came from a very good breeder so its a bit of a mystery i guess as to why him
He loves running and walking and its no impeding him at all apart form not being able to play with the ball which he was obsessed with

My labrador has just started a bit of arthritis (he's almost 12, and has had two TTA surgeries) and I'm a scientist so I went all in on the research to find him some support.

Best evidenced supplement is UC-II for joint pain/osteoarthritis.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4015808/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7222752/

I buy the NOW foods UC-II and my guy seems good on it. He's still doing big walks at least twice a week, he did a munro last weekend no bother and he manages at least an hour off lead daily - this is after being reduced to TWO MINUTES a day post surgery in 2023 so he's definitely come back strong. Worth a go.

@shrodingersvaccine really interesting just googled it - so this is a supplement to add in - what wet and dry food fo you give your boy ?

I've used both Hydrotherapy and Acupuncture (yes, I was sceptical at first) for Labradors with arthritis - alongside drug therapy - to good effect. However, they were both at the limit in terms of amounts/types combo of drugs they could have as they were elderly by the time it was required. Acupuncture on a 12-14 year old female and Hydrotherapy on a 12-15 year old male. Can't remember exactly what else they were on but definitely Cartrophen injections, Yumove supplements, Gabapentin. They'd been on Metacam before but obviously that can only be used for a limited time before it being detrimental. Weight management is essential - how much does he weigh? Sniffy walks replaced ALL off lead running, brain games replaced ball games and agility course. Also bought ramps for getting in and out of car, and even the relatively low door thresholds to the garden. No jumping whatsoever - including on to sofa/bed - they were lifted up and down where necessary. However, again, all these were with elderly dogs, I'm not sure I would have thought these were appropriate measures for managing a dog that was only 5 years old.

Get a referral to a qualified canine physiotherapist. Ours offers various therapies , including swimming, but before that starts she will do a diagnostic, probably using thermal cameras to see where his hotspots are. Cannot recommend highly enough.

I have found bone broth was helpful too, and I have heard that CBD oil can help, but there is nothing specifically licensed for dogs yet in the UK, ( I think) so get the vets advice on that.

Poor soul, that’s young for such a level of pain.

I would suggest getting your lab down to his minimum healthy weight.
This can make a huge difference

Hi @Custardcreamsandbourbons Apologies I just saw this! My boys are on CSJ FitnFast - a basic salmon based dry food that works for all 3 of them as we have some allergies to contend with as well. Aside from the biscuits they get salmon oil daily (cold pressed stuff), sardines 1-2x a week, carrots, apples, broccoli and various disgusting dried bits of animals (pigs ears and the like!). That's it and they're all a good weight -I just put the UC-II tablets in with their breakfast!

@Anonanonanon1 trying hard with this he's not over weight but is putting weight on easily now as not as active now he's not chasing a ball !
if anyone can recommend a dry and wet food combo that helps with weight that would be great

We have been referred to the Ralph so will see what they have to say

thanks @shrodingersvaccine concerned this food is for very active dogs and he might gain weight ?

@Custardcreamsandbourbons One of my guys is a bit prone to weight gain (pure lab, he's basically a prop forward!) and he doesn't get chubby on the FitnFast BUT you know your dog best. CSJ do have some lighter foods if that's a concern - Lamb Lite gets good reviews but I've never used it myself.

We had a lab with exactly the same history - operation age 1 with elbow displacia and then a few years later diagnosed as arthritic. We had a regime of injections every 6 weeks (sorry can't remember what they were!) which as he got older moved to 4 weekly. Also daily glycusomine tablets. He hated water so never tried hydrotherapy!

But by far the most important thing we did was keeping his weight down. We fed dry food only (James wellbeloved) and were very strict on treats.

We only went onto painkillers once he was around 10 and then he lived to 13 which considering his problems was amazing. He could never do a 5 mile trapse across a field but lived a very happy and pain free life

The best way to get them to lose weight is to just reduce the amount of food they get.

@catelynjane thanks reduced him right down he’s 32kg and has a waist but I would like him closer to 30.5kg

My boy had a mystery limp for months last year at only 3 years old which I was terrified would be dysplasia leading to arthritis. In the end after scans and specialist opinion it was deemed not to be, no cause was ever found and he just stopped limping one day but whilst I was desperately trying to fix anything that could be fixed I did the following:

• started him on Yumove supplements. No idea if it helps but he is happy to eat them.
• got him a really deep orthopaedic memory foam bed. Again no idea if this will actually help him but he loves it and seems really comfy
• got rugs for all the hard floors. I think this might have been important as he did slip sometimes before
• switched to a high protein low fat kibble and cut the quantity right back and cut out any high fat treats like pigs ears or chicken. He lost 2kg and has kept that off and in retrospect I can see he did need to.

I feed him AVA weight management. It comes as kibble and as wet food. It is Pets at Home own brand. It's not one you hear recommended a lot but I picked it because it has a good score on All about dog food. He polishes it off (although to be fair he'd eat anything) and it seems to have done the job.

My 9 year old spaniel has responded the best to you move, a big old diet to slum him down and physio twice a day that the ordinary vet taught us how to do. My 11 year old does it with him every day he picked it up quick. He is back legs arthritis and muscle wastage and he's been banned from most of his favourite walks sadly (leaping up tors over boulders) but he's made a huge recovery. Vet has put off meds for another year.

Thanks @ThePure will try AVA
hes not over weight but definately almost needs to be the least weight he can be which I think is 30.5kg to help his joints

he def has arthritis has had scans on all limbs it’s both front paws and elbow and shoulder
he is happy in himself which is a good thing and a pots around park but limp is there and we need to sort what to do as will only get worse with age and that breaks my heart

current regime
yu move x 3 per day (for at least 3 years)
2 gabapentin and 1 previcox (painkiller and anti inflammatory) since nov following sceptic elbow)
salmon oil on evening food
librella monthly injection

i am now waiting to see orphopaedic specialist to discuss arthritis management

in meantime I’ve spoken to stem cell specialist who sounds great but it’s nearly £7k 😬

anyone any experience of this ? It’s a lot of £s that I would somehow need to find …

Riaflex HA and green lipped mussel has the highest concentration of glucosamine and better quality than yumove.

Cut food down by 10% it is generally too much food not exercise that will affect weight gain. Weigh all food out for the day (and treats) ideally use food allowance for the treats in the day.

Salmon oil is very high in calories so again weigh it out carefully. It may be that losing the weight is more beneficial than taking salmon oil so monitor this carefully.

Personally I would not be looking at stem cell treatment until I have tried having my dog slightly underweight and tried hydro and physio

Recently been to a top specialist lecture on pretty much this subject. I know everyone is saying weight and they are right , it's the crucial thing. Not just a good weight but lean. It's not just the extra carrying weight, it's that fat cells are producers of inflammatory compounds. In studies in humans for example, they found that overweight people were more likely to have arthritis in non weight bearing joints, such as hands, for exactly this reason.
There is also a cheaper version of stem cell therapy, where rather than harvesting your dogs cells, they use a ready made synthetic sort of thing. It's still expensive but a lot less. It's called dog stem I think.

I've had astonishingly good results with Joints from Vince the Vet. Dog was on YuMove and Onsior, Onsior eventually stopped working and dog could hardly get up. Vet wanted to give a week's break before starting her on alternative meds, I took the opportunity to try the supplements and within a week she was running round like a puppy. She's 14 now and still up for anything, and all I give her is Joints powder and Joint Support drops. I still don't quite believe it but what have you got to lose? https://www.vincethevet.co.uk/search/products?keywords=joints

If you join CAM you will have a wealth of videos that will help you.

Watch the amazing Mike Farrell videos an awesome vet with so much knowledge and experience. Tongue in cheek he taught Fitzpatrick all that he knows!