Advice for young dog with arthritis

[Lemonyyellow]

Hello.

my 3 year old lab cross has just been diagnosed with arthritis in the back hips. She’s now got youmove supplements and is on an exercise management plan- no more sprinting after the ball! We are just doing 2/3 small on lead walks with lots of sniffing.

the vet mentioned Librella but we changed insurance providers last year to a cheaper one and she had X-rays when she was one which informed us she had mild hip dyspalsia. So I don’t think we’re covered as it’s a pre existing condition. Also, my dog is a bit stiff at times but she still is able to run up and down the stairs and jump onto the sofa etc so I think she’s doing ok at the moment. So am thinking of holding off on the librella for now as the vet says it just masks the pain. I’m also thinking if it does mask the pain, she might hurt herself or do too much without realising.

with her being only 3, im wondering what this means for her future? Will she be in agony by the time she’s 6?! Will she be getting progressively worse no matter what we do? Is there anything we can do to aid her? Any advice at all is much appreciated. Thanks

I’m sorry for the bad news, OP.

IME it varies dog to dog. My flatcoat as a child had arthritis from when he was 4 and lived until he was 15(!!!) and had an amazing life and rarely showed any sign of stress.

I’ve had other dogs since that have clearly been in significant pain and I’ve had to PTS because their quality of life wasn’t good enough.

I would, however, not encourage running up stairs/jumping - there’s a reason people say not to let puppies do it and same, IME, for dogs with arthritis/joint issues.

I would get a referral to a canine osteopath

I've just been posting about my dog with arthritis. She's had it for a few years and is nearly 10 now and it's only just starting to really affect her. Keep her weight under control; avoid jumping up and down from heights - either get a ramp or lift her. My dog walks off the lead and that's fine as she's not one to play with other dogs anyway. We give her green-lipped mussel powder and rosehip powder from Aniforte rather than YuMove, which is (I think) overpriced. My friend's dog has had physio and hydrotherapy, both of which helped her (if your dog likes water). Avoid too much cereals in her diet. Some poeple swear by raw food diets but I haven't tried this.

Join Holly’s Army on Facebook. It is a sister site to Canine Arthritis Management and will give you evidence-based advice. Arthritis in young dogs is sobering common, well done for picking it up. There are loads of options and if money is tight I'd always go for treatments with clinical evidence. If you don't get pain really under control, especially with young dogs they will change how they move and end up damaging more joints. If you can see a physio, even once, that is well worth the money. They can tell you exactly what movements will cause stress, what to look for which indicates breakthrough pain and give you exercises to improve the core strength to support the diseased joints. Keep her slim (hope she is more "cross" than lab!), rugs everywhere, shorter but frequent walks

I’m sorry to hear about your doggy 🙁 it’s really common in the breed, but must he very upsetting when she is so young.
Agree with the above- avoid jumping in and out of the car, on and off the sofa and minimise staircases. Keep her as slim as possible. I don’t really agree with the ‘masking’ of the pain. Arthritis is an incurable condition and part of the management of it is to keep them as comfortable as possible.I have had 3 labs with arthritis (1 currently who has librella amongst other things) and my main thing has been, are they comfortable? I won’t have a dog that’s limping around, or stiff, because they are in pain. I certainly wouldn't leave them in discomfort just to restrict what they are doing.

Is hydrotherapy an option? One of mine does this once a week to keep his weight down without high impact exercise - he doesn’t have OA but we used it as part of his rehab plan post surgery for another condition and I’ve just kept up with it.

Thanks so much for all the replies. Really really useful advice. She woke up the other day and was kind of stuck. She was trembling and wouldn’t move, not even for her food. It was awful to see. Once she got moving, she was fine and it hasn’t happened since. I was thinking maybe she slept funny and it aggravated the painful joints. She is currently very trim but I’ll be keeping a close eye on her weight. And getting a ramp for her for the sofa- I tend to lift her in and out of the car because she’s always been reluctant to jump in