10 Ways to Help an Arthritic Dog

When your dog is in pain, you want to help him feel better — fast. Luckily, there are quite a few things you can do to relieve the aches that are an everyday occurrence for dogs with arthritis:

1. Take your dog in for regular checkups so that your veterinarian can monitor your pet’s arthritis and make necessary adjustments to the treatment plan.
2. Getting or keeping your dog slim can help by decreasing the load on his joints. Your best bet: feeding your dog the right amount of high-quality food – we are always happy to help determine what your dog should weigh.
3. Controlled exercise is a must, but make sure you carefully monitor your dog while she plays, walks, or runs. Short amounts of more frequent exercise are better than long periods of exercise.  Low impact exercise such as walking or swimming is better too.
4. As much as possible, keep your dog warm and dry, since cold and damp conditions can aggravate arthritis. Consider investing in a padded dog bed and apply warm compresses to painful joints.
5. Ask us about rehab vets in the area – they can help alleviate pain using cold laser therapy and teach you muscle building exercises you can do at home with your dog.
6. Pain medication, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (commonly called NSAIDs), may help relieve pain. Talk to your veterinarian before giving your dog any medication.
7. The are many supplements that can be used to help improve joint mobility and support better joint functioning for dogs with arthritis. (Dasuquin, Adequan and Fish Oil to name a few)
8. Acupuncture isn’t just for people. This painless technique has shown some success in animals suffering from arthritis ask us for a recommendation for an acupuncturist in the area.
9. If your dog’s arthritis is advanced, surgery may be an option. Ask your veterinarian about the pros and cons of surgery and what you can expect.
10. Be sure to take steps to adjust your dogs environment at home. Some things that can help an arthritic dog include: providing soft supportive bedding for his achy joints, using ramps to help a dog get in and out of a car or up to a bed, and putting down carpeting and secure rugs to help him get traction as he walks.

article written by:

Dr. Lorene Rockwell
previously of Wolf Merrick Animal Hospital

Does my dog have arthritis?

With the changing weather, you may soon start to notice that your older dog seems a little “stiff” in the joints.  Arthritis is a progressive degeneration of the joints often seen in older dogs. It may start with subtle signs, such as your dog is no longer willing to jump up on the furniture or into the car, or maybe they are hesitant to use the stairs. You may also notice your pet seems very stiff when they first wake up, but then seems to loosen up as the day progresses. Cold or wet weather can make these changes more apparent.

If any of the above sounds like your pet, a veterinarian can help you determine if it is arthritis that’s bothering your pet. While we can’t undo your pet’s arthritis, the great news is that there are a number of things we can do to slow it down and keep your pup comfortable! The following is just some of the ways we can work to keep your pet comfortable in the face of arthritis:

1.  The biggest thing is weight loss! Excess weight puts excess strain on your pet’s joints. Ask your veterinarian about your pet’s ideal weight and how many calories per day your pet should be consuming to help reach that weight.
2. Dietary supplements, such as fish oil and glucosamine/chondroitin, can help with decreasing inflammation in joints. These can be obtained through your veterinarian (remember that human over the counter products were designed for people, not cats and dogs, so dose adjustment is needed!). You may also find these ingredients in some senior diets.
3. Anti-inflammatories, such a as Rimadyl or Deramaxx, are great methods of controlling arthritis. These medications help to lessen the inflammatory processes associated with arthritis. These medications can be used short or long term. With long term use, your veterinarian will likely recommend periodic blood work to check internal organ function.
4. Injections such as Pentosan or polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (PSGAGs) can be given to your pet weekly initially and then every month or so as determined by your veterinarian. These injections have anti-inflammatory properties and also help to stimulate production of hyaluronic acid (which helps to lubricate your pet’s joints).
5. Pain medication may also be incorporated into treatment protocols for pets who are not responding well enough to the above.

If you are concerned your pet is suffering from arthritis, reach out to your veterinarian. We want your pets to be happy and comfortable as they age!

article written by:

Dr. Erin Walsh

Companion Animal Hospital, Mount Prospect, IL

When to consider acupuncture for your pet

Acupuncture is a healing modality that has been used for thousands of years in animals, mostly horses, and people. Acupuncture did not become widely used in pets until the 1990's. Although it's an eastern modality, more acupuncture treatments are done on pets in Europe and the US than anywhere else in the world.

How does it work? Some of the mechanisms are well understood. For pain control, acupuncture stimulates the release of the body’s own Endorphins, which is our own internal source of Morphine, and Enkephalins which is our bodies own aspirin. Painful muscle spasms are also lessened by modulating the nervous system. The way I explain this to my clients is that placing an acupuncture needle in a spasming muscle is like turning off a light switch. I can tell you from my own experience, that this feels great! The ways in which acupuncture helps the healing processes are less well understood. Acupuncture modulates Qi, which is energy that circulates through our body. Qi flows through channels, or meridians. By placing needles at specific points in these meridians, we can alter the flow of Qi and assist our body (or our pets bodies), in the healing process.

The decision to begin acupuncture includes several factors. The most important to me recommending it is, does it work?, and have I used this effectively in the past?. I have performed about 10,000 acupuncture treatments in the last decade. I'm always open to trying acupuncture for something new, but most likely, whatever your pet is experiencing, I've tried acupuncture for this before. As a general rule, I don't use acupuncture as often on young pets or for acute problems. For me, the specifics of your pet’s physical exam and history are extremely important in deciding if acupuncture can be of help.  Another factor to consider is your pet’s response to previous medications, or problems associated with specific medications. Cost is always a factor in considering treatments. A few hundred dollars may be a lot to pay for a case of simple urinary incontinence when an inexpensive medication may do the trick. On the other hand, an MRI that costs $3000 or more for a neurological problem that may not yield a diagnosis, is a lot to pay for a procedure that won't make your pet better.

Here are the conditions I treat with acupuncture: Neurological problems including disc disease, Degenerative Myelopathy, seizures, fecal and urinary incontinence and strokes, arthritis, bronchitis, asthma, inappetence, organ related disease like Liver and Kidney problems, and any night time problems.

The problems I usually do not try acupuncture on are skin and ear problems. Herbal medications, supplements and diet changes can very often be helpful with these problems.

As a general rule, I'll perform acupuncture weekly for 3 weeks and if we do not notice some significant change, we try something else.  

article written by:

Joe Whalen

Hyde Park Animal Hospital & Clinic

Companion Animal Hospitals

Does my dog have arthritis?

With the changing weather, you may soon start to notice that your older dog seems a little “stiff” in the joints.  Arthritis is a progressive degeneration of the joints often seen in older dogs. It may start with subtle signs, such as your dog is no longer willing to jump up on the furniture or into the car, or maybe they are hesitant to use the stairs. You may also notice your pet seems very stiff when they first wake up, but then seems to loosen up as the day progresses. Cold or wet weather can make these changes more apparent.

If any of the above sounds like your pet, a veterinarian can help you determine if it is arthritis that’s bothering your pet. While we can’t undo your pet’s arthritis, the great news is that there are a number of things we can do to slow it down and keep your pup comfortable! The following is just some of the ways we can work to keep your pet comfortable in the face of arthritis:

1. The biggest thing is weight loss! Excess weight puts excess strain on your pet’s joints. Ask your veterinarian about your pet’s ideal weight and how many calories per day your pet should be consuming to help reach that weight.
2. Dietary supplements, such as fish oil and glucosamine/chondroitin, can help with decreasing inflammation in joints. These can be obtained through your veterinarian (remember that human over the counter products were designed for people, not cats and dogs, so dose adjustment is needed!). You may also find these ingredients in some senior diets.
3. Anti-inflammatories, such a as Rimadyl or Deramaxx, are great methods of controlling arthritis. These medications help to lessen the inflammatory processes associated with arthritis. These medications can be used short or long term. With long term use, your veterinarian will likely recommend periodic blood work to check internal organ function.
4. Injections such as Pentosan or polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (PSGAGs) can be given to your pet weekly initially and then every month or so as determined by your veterinarian. These injections have anti-inflammatory properties and also help to stimulate production of hyaluronic acid (which helps to lubricate your pet’s joints).
5. Pain medication may also be incorporated into treatment protocols for pets who are not responding well enough to the above.

If you are concerned your pet is suffering from arthritis, reach out to your veterinarian. We want your pets to be happy and comfortable as they age!

article written by:

Dr. Erin Walsh

Companion Animal Hospital, Mount Prospect, IL

I never knew Fido was painful!

Almost daily I find dogs on routine physical exam that show signs of chronic pain unbeknownst to their owners.  Arthritis and back pain are two very common causes of chronic pain in middle age to senior dogs, yet their pain is rarely recognized by their human caretakers.  Why is this? The reason is simple.  Pets do not express pain in the same ways that humans do.  Pets do not grimace or have facial expressions we might equate with pain when we observe this in our fellow human beings.  Pets do not complain, gripe or grumble and rarely whine about their pain.  They certainly cannot communicate to us where their pain is at on a scale of 1 to 10.

Decades ago even some veterinarians felt that animals do not feel pain.   That is just not the case.   We know that pets absolutely suffer from pain and it is very real.  They just do not express their feelings of pain in the same manner people do.  I have found that the most common sign of chronic back or rear limb arthritic pain in dogs are lack of desire to be active and decreased interaction with other pets and people.  Some people may construe this as simply “my pets just getting older” when it could be that the pet is experiencing chronic pain. 

Some people feel that their dog is just getting stiff with age because they are slower to rise or get to their feet.  I will submit to you that if your dog is stiff in the morning, or slow to rise from a lying position, or gets up on the front legs then needs an additional effort to get the back legs up and moving, your dog likely is exhibiting symptoms of pain.  I will submit to you that if your older dog no longer greets you at the door when you get home, or just does not seem to interact with your family the way he used to, he may be experiencing chronic pain.  I will submit to you that if your dog seems reluctant to take the stairs or jump into the car like he used to, he may be experiencing pain.

There are so many treatment modalities to help pets with pain issues that significantly improve their quality of life, unfortunately, the biggest barrier to providing this benefit is that most of us humans fail to appreciate that our pats may be experiencing pain, and thus go untreated.

article written by:

Scott Petereit, DVM

Companion Animal Hospitals of Mount Prospect, Kenosha, Vernon Hills, and Oak Park