Arthritis is a very debilitating condition of young and old dogs
In some cases medical therapy is indicated
Analgesics, weight control, moderate exercise, soft comfortable bed, nutroceuticals, and diet can be used to ameliorate clinical symptoms
What is it?
Osteoarthritis is a disease that results in destruction of cartilage covering the ends of bones within joints.
Arthritis begins as an injury to the cartilage.
The cartilage responds to injury by releasing compounds, which result in further damage to the cartilage, thus promoting a vicious cycle of cartilage injury. In addition the joint swells and becomes painful (illustration right)
As the cartilage injury progresses the joint loses its ability to bear weight efficiently and bone spurs form.
In dogs, there is usually some underlying injury or disease that results in osteoarthritis.
Examples include ligament injury (cruciate rupture), formation of a cartilage flap (osteochondritis), presence of a bone chip (fragmented coronoid process), developmental diseases (hip dysplasia), direct trauma to name a few.
In many instances surgery can be used to treat the underlying problem and minimize the progression of arthritis and resolve the stiffness/lameness.
Treatment
The cornerstones of therapy include
Analgesics (medications that control pain)
Weight control
Moderate exercise.
Nutroceuticals
medications such as Cosequin, Glycoflex, SynoviCre, and Adequan are helpful in many cases.
Diet
- all of the diets below (which are available from your veterinarian by prescription only) have chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine and a balanced ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acid and serve as a natural anti-inflammatory; these diets can potentially reduce the need for constant administration of nonsteroidal medications or the dose of the nonsteroidals may be decreased.
Eukanuba's Adult Plus diet
Purina's JM diet
Hill's J/D diet
Analgesic therapy
Aspirin like drugs are the preferred analgesic medications because of their ability to provide pain relief and anti-inflammatory functions. We don't particularly recommend aspirin as this medication has an increased incidence of stomach ulcers and will cause cartilage degeneration when used long term.
It is important to remember that dogs are more susceptible to the gastrointestinal effects of these drugs than are humans.
If you notice your dog develops vomiting, diarrhea, or stops eating, discontinue the medication and call your veterinarian.
It is also important to keep in mind that not all dogs respond to each medication therefore if you do not see improvement within 7 days please call so that we may try a different medication.
You may also take a proactive role and give medication to your dog if you anticipate doing an activity which may cause lameness in the past (i.e. going on a long hike).
Examples of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (in alphabetical order not preference order):
Deramaxx
Metacam
Previcox
Rimadyl
Weight control
It is very important to keep your dog "slim and trim".
You should be able to readily palpate your dogs ribs without having them visible.
There are several pet foods available that are reduced in calorie content, allowing you to feed the same quantity of food with less calories.
Another technique is to continue feeding your dog its regular diet but cut the quantity by 1/3. Check the weight in 2 weeks. If you do not see a reduction in weight, decrease the quantity of food again (usually to about 50% of the original quantity).
Weigh your dog on a weekly basis either at home or at a veterinary office. It is important to use the same scale to avoid variation.
Remember that the force generated across your dogs joints is directly related to its weight.
With this in mind, if your dog weighs less there is less force generated across the joint, which should make your dog more comfortable.
Exercise
Exercise plays a very important role in joint health.
Normal weight bearing forces are important in providing nutrition for the cartilage in the joint.
In addition, good muscle mass helps keep joints "tight" which can play a role in improving comfort level and cartilage injury.
Ideal exercise should be low impact, however let your dog direct which activities he/she can tolerate. For example if your dog is not lame after a leash walk of one mile (an excellent low impact exercise) but becomes lame after 1 ½ miles, the distance should be limited to one mile.
An exercise regimen may be implemented with planned rest periods. For example some dogs do very well if allowed to run on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with rest periods done on Tuesday and Thursday. The activity may be relatively high impact (chase a ball) on exercise days as long as your dog tolerates this regimen.
One of the best activities is swimming. It offers a low impact activity which provides resistance to range of motion. If your dog does not like to swim, this is not the time to "give swimming lessons".
Continue to try different activities with your dog to avoid boredom for either of you. Regular examinations are recommended to monitor progression of arthritis and modify recommendations in the treatment regimen.
Please note that recommendations for drug doses and weight loss program should be made by a licensed veterinarian.
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