My Dog has Arthritis. What to do?
 

I've got a shih-tzu who is going on eleven years old. Poor thing has arthritis in her back legs. We've had her on baby aspirin and now she's progressed to Rimadyl, which is really hard on her stomach, which means we have to give her Pepto Bismol.

Any other solutions for my 11 pound baby?

Put her to rest.

Fish oil supplements help my mom...I've heard they have the same supplements for canines.

sorry to hear that raven. my 13-year old dog has arthiritis. we have her on cosequin (over the counter) and Previcox. Previcox is an anti-inflamatory that has the least side effects. She's been on it for about 2 months now with no stomach problems at all. It is expensive (up to $4 a pill if you buy it through your vet.) I would suggest getting a script from your vet and odering it online, where you'll find it for about 1.20 a pill. My dog is 60 pounds and gets a full pill so I'd imagine yours would get about 1/4 at most. email me if you need more info, you know where to find me.

Seriously, I'd try to talk to a vet. Many commonly used medications can be poisonous to dogs, you'll need someone to help you figuring out what dosage to use.

Glucosamine works well for one of my girlfriend's dogs. She has it in her back legs as well. 1 pill a day helps her.

I will, if she continues to be in pain. So far, the Rimadyl helps with the pain; but, the side effects are not pleasant for her.

Eleven isn't so old these days....but quality over quantity is what we want for our puppies.

Thanks, Rainey....I will talk to my vet about Previcox....I don't mind the expense...well, I do, but it's my baby...:)

Raven, I'm having the same problems with my 10 year old. I'm not sure it's arthitis as it's been a problem since I got him 9 years ago - per the vet, he has "loose legs" but I suspect in conjunction with that he's getting arthitis. I took them to my brother's for Christmas and everyone thought he was older than my 13 year old :(

I have him on the NutroMax for older dogs which has Gluwhatever in it, I started putting Synovi-MSM powder in his food about 3 weeks ago (they say it takes 4-6 weeks to see any improvement) and he gets a dose of Metacam every day. I talked to the vet about increasing the Metacam to twice a day since that seems to work for about 1/2 the day but he said increasing will cause liver damage.

It's breaking my heart :(

Get the glucoasamine tablets they give humans and put the powder on her food.. won't clear it up with it might help and will also help prevent other injuries. Be VERY careful with her back legs, make sure she doesn't have to jump up on anything, dogs that age are at MAJOR risk of tearing the ligaments in their back knees, and the surgery often can't help older dogs with this injury, the only choice is to put them down.

good luck, raven. my dog also has degenerative joint disease in her back legs, which required basically a hip replacement about 2 years ago. unfortunately, we've recently found out that she has terminal bone cancer in one of her front legs. putting her down will be a step we'll have to take soon, just a very, very hard one.

Well, she had something wrong with her patella from when we got her as a baby, so this is a problem that's been coming on for years. It's not fun watching that back leg when she walks..it's getting kind of wobbly.

She's a spoiled, whiney baby, so I think, if she were in pain, we'd know it....Miss Sensitive cries when she gets her temperature taken.....wuss....

I'll talk to my vet about glucosamine and chondroitin...I know plenty of humans who benefit from that....

And, she's already on Nutra Max for Seniors..has been for a few years.

Putting it in the food won't work because all five dogs share a food bowl and are picky eaters...they won't eat if we do that....:(

It sucks when dogs start to age.

Take him out back and shoot 'im :anon

awww that's horrible... i never really understood how people got attached to dogs till me and my gf got one... and shes on our minds 24/7 like our baby.. it was heartbreaking having to leave her at the vet to get her surgery, and i can only imagine how much it would hurt to have her put down :(

good luck with it

Raven, the Synovi-MSM also comes in tablets. The Metacam is a liquid that I fill a syringe with (it's measured according to weight) and squirt it into his mouth. It must taste good because loves it and licks the whole syringe ;)

My three pugs would kill each other if they shared the same bowl, lol! It's hard enough keeping whomever finished first away from the bowls that might have a morsel or two left :)

Vets can't seem to agree that Glucosamine helps at all. Studies go both ways. It's supposed to help lubricate the joints, but again there's no hard proof of this. That being said, I give it to my Rottweiler who had her hips basically removed (salvage surgery). Try to get it in the HCl (Hydrochloride) form and not in the sulfate form. It thought to be absorbed a little better.

I also use a human painkiller called Meloxicam on the same dog. It has to be dosed down for dogs but is much cheaper than the Veterinary equivilent when prescribed this way. Many dogs can get away with getting it every other day and it's not too bad on their stomach in this fashion.

Your Vet is the only person that can really help you here. If you listen to anyone on GFY without contacting a professional, you're making a bad choice.

We give our dog Glucosamine daily.

It's supposed to be great, I have noriced a small improvement.

Sorry to hear that, but you come to GFY for advice?

we give to our dog he is 8 and i thought its probably bullshit but we will try it and it made a big difference.
http://www.lvpets.com/shopping/food.htm
this looks promising i havent ordered it yet

i hate it when you beat me to posts!

Why wouldn't I? Most GFY'ers have dogs or cats.....I know many of those who post here...

What an odd question.

Raven, I'm very sorry to hear about your dog. I know its very hard to say goodbye to a pet. Its like loosing a child. However, if the pain does continue to get worse, I would suggest you to put her down. Its hard to loose a pet that you have had for over 13 years but you really have to think whats best for her. What side effects does Pepto Bismol have? If it doesn't have anything too bad, just use that but otherwise, its not a very nice life your dog is having.

Hope your little baby gets better though and that you don't have to put her down. :(

I can tell you've been down this road.....Pepto has virtually no side effects, other than the fact that we don't give it to her every day.....

So far, she's not in horrific pain...not even close....which is why we are not considering the final option....and, believe me, she would let us know....

I am with you, however. I do believe in quality over quantity...and, while it's the hardest decision in the world, I would rather her die than suffer just because I don't want to be without her.

Raven, I've just asked my mom if she knows anything about it (she's got a pretty handy book). This is what it says about how to reduce arthritis (this is for humans but wouldn't see why it wouldn;t work for dogs.)

#1
Cider vinegar has long been held in some country districts to bring ease to arthiritis. It can certainly do no harm to substitute cider vinegar for any other vinegar in the diet, but, as few peope use vinegar every day, those who want to try cider vinegar as a remedy should take a teaspoon of cider vinegar and a teaspoon of honey in hot water every day.

#2
A handful of Epsom Salts in a hot bath each day is another popular one.

Anyway, I'm no sure if your dog would drink the honey and vinegar stuff (the hot water is only so the honey mixes with the water so i think when it coold down its also ok?). I know from my animals that they hate taking medication but its worth a try.

Hope this helps.

my 12 year old german shepard is on a low dose of prednisone prescribed by the vet. for those two people saying put him to rest you can go eat a dick.

Well, if he isn't suffering too much, its ok but otherwise its kind of inhumane. It sucks when your pets are sick and its very hard to choose for the right thing. I've lost some pets and it really sucks.

I agree for the situation Raven's dog is currently in, but for a dog in extreme pain who can't find relief, it's the only fair thing to do :(

I really regret putting my dog to sleep. Can still tear up picturing his face when I did it. I'll never do it again.

Would you want to be killed if you had bad arthiritis? Let them go on their own at home :2 cents:

I've got a shih-tzu with the same problem, he used to get it bad in his back legs to the point where he wouldn't walk. We took him to the vet and got some vitamin supplements. The vet suggested feeing him more seafood too (my dog isnt fussy about what he eats!). Not sure which of the two helped most but now he's fine. :D

Occassionally he gets it again when the weather is really cold but a bit of a massage on his leg sorts it.

Hope you get it sorted!

If i had a lot of pain, yes.

Wait till your time comes. You'll probably be thinking otherwise.

Everyone is always so quick to except death over hardship, it's depressing.

I had a friend that was in a lot of pain and he wanted to get put down. I believe this was before euthanasia was legal in the netherlands i believe so he ended up taking his own life. I don't blame him. If you're in a real pain, it really sucks living. It just depends how much pain it is. I would be able to live with a bit but if it gets unbareable and nothing can be done, I would want to get put out of my misery.

If I was in constant pain that couldn't be controlled, I'd do whatever was required to end my life.

Can't say tha until you are faced with death. When someone is sitting next to you about to pull the plug you'll probably think twice.

Did you know most bridge jumpers who survive usually regret it the second they jump?

Considering I have a living will, that won't happen. I want to make sure that if I can't live a quality life, I won't have to :)

give her lots of love.

I was in the medical profession. Watching someone writhe in unrelenting pain is more than most of us could bear on a 24 hour basis.

I'm all for passive 'snowing', as we called it..if only to give relief and allow the body to slowly shut down.

Peaches is right. Yoshi is not at the point where we need to make the decision to put her down....but, I do need another solution to Rimadyl, which many of you have kindly provided...in order to keep from having to make that horrific decision.

Death is not always the enemy. I truly believe that.

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