Golden retriever aged 9, first signs of arthritis

[BB49]

We took our gorgeous girl to the vet yesterday as after her walk she was suddenly struggling to get up from lying down and was limping when she started walking. Vet said she has a soft tissue injury in one paw, and a little stiffness in joints indicating early arthritis. She has given some painkiller for a week.

I’ve just ordered some joint supplements for her, Nortons Joint Aid. I’ll also try her with some hemp oil too.

But I am wondering about her running with me. She’s been running off lead with me since she was a pup and appears to love it, we both do. We maybe do around 1-2h, anything from 4-6 miles with plenty of stops. I don’t want to carry on doing that with her if it’s putting extra load on her joints and causing more wear and tear? I didn’t get a conclusive answer from the vet.

Sorry to hear of your girl's diagnosis. I would ask for a referral to a physiotherapist. They would be better placed to advise on exercise and other things that can help, eg raised food bowls, wedges for getting on and off furniture, ramps for the car.

What surfaces are you running her on? Two hours sounds like a lot, to be honest, I would probably start cutting that down to half an hour or so, and soft surfaces only - never roads or pavements.

A mixture of surfaces, some softer trails with a little bit of hard surface - pavement - in between

You should never run dogs on hard surfaces, it’s so bad for their joints. Grass, trails and sand only.

Thanks @tumblingdowntherabbithole. I’ll obviously not do any more of the hard surfaces with her, probably safest not to run with her anymore at all 😭

I’m not a dog person and saw this thread by chance, so have no idea if this has been discussed before.

There was a great improvement in my old cat after a stem cell drug injection - from a cat that walked like a 90-year old to a cat that was able to jump again. The vet warned me that it doesn’t always work, sometimes one shot is enough, sometimes three are needed, and it’s not cheap either. It was a few years back and in a different European country, but I remember that the drug was also administered to dogs. So maybe something worth checking out.

Have a look at Riaflex, the most expensive version. It is in my opinion far superior to Yumove and similar supplements. Also golden paste.
I had an dog with relatively early arthritis and regular visits to a canine osteopath kept him off pain killers . He was diagnosed at 8 and passed away at 13. Vet wanted to put him on metacam for life but with the osteopath that was not needed.
I also tried chiropractic and physiotherapy but osteopath covers both of these things and was money well spent.
We did swimming too.

I have a Goldie and have had 3 previously and they do tend to start with arthritis from 8 or so in some cases. My boy is 10 this year and he is on Librella jabs monthly and also oral painkillers.
Just keep the weight down and do little and often exercise