Arthritis

[blackacre]

OK, help me out here. Hobbes, 7, "ridden hard and put away wet" his whole life, has been coming up lame in the front since Seclusival. Finally took him to the best orthopaedic guy in Toronto. Now, these guys are brilliant at diagnosis and reading X-rays but not so great at rehab or indeed any treatment short of surgery.

Diagnosis was a small floating chip in the carpus combined with some arthritis in that joint. Surgery not recommended. Possibility of one of his toes on that side being implicated too, there was a small amount of inflammation there.

Question: what do you use for arthritis on a regular basis? I'm reluctant to continue with NSAIDs indefinitely but maybe I shouldn't be so conservative? What about glucosamine/chondroitin? In what form? Anything else I should be doing short of putting him up?

A

[Denise Wall]

Hi Andrea,

 

Maybe you can find some useful info here:

 

http://www.stilhope.com/Arthritisarticle.htm

[Shoofly]

Hey A. - A friend here just got the exact same diagnosis on her dog, a small chip in the joint and the ortho doesn't want to try surgery. He's a great doc and i'd trust him but what a frustrating diagnosis. He told my friend that her dog would just be lame on and off, and this is a highly active 3 year old dog. She's still exploring possibilities. Anyway, see if you can get up with Denise W and talk to her about adequan - she's the expert on it. And lots of folks have had good success with a glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM product called SynoviG3.

[blackacre]

Thanks guys.

Any more recent studies comparing effectiveness Denise?

Does anyone administer Adequan themselves?

Oral supplements: How about this one?

Flexicose

Do we buy the claim that liquid is far more effective?

product guide

[tumblehome]

Originally posted by blackacre:

what do you use for arthritis on a regular basis? I'm reluctant to continue with NSAIDs indefinitely but maybe I shouldn't be so conservative?

**********

I would think a continuing conservative approach to NSAIDs is wise...relying on a dose only when you feel the discomfort level is intrusive.

 

Supplementing regularly with a fish body oil or Salmon oil (not cod liver oil) at a "therapeutic" dose of 1000mg per 10lb of dog has been known to not only reduce inflammation but also help with the immune system in general. Although current research indicates that Vitamin C is not particularly useful for colds, many people with arthritic dogs swear by increased doses of it.

 

In both cases, you can find more info at www.dogaware.com if you've a mind to.

Chris O

[juliepoudrier]

Andrea,

You can give the injections yourself. My vet wanted me to do them IM and showed me how, but after talking with Denise and her experience giving it subQ, I ended up going that route. By all means do it yourself--a vial of Adequan is expensive, and if you have the vet do it, it will cost you even more.

 

J.

[KMK]

Recovery SA (small animal) is a wonderful suppliment for Arthritis. I have used the equine version for my horse, with great results. I have also used the SA on my cat for increased healing after surgery. Here is a link. The people there are also very helpful. So a call to them will prove to be very informative.

Recovery

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

My experience has been that liquid is well worth the extra expense. Especially if you are supporting an acute condition. I used only liquid supplements with Ol' Greg, who had really bad spondylosis (sp ) at the end. Pill supplements didn't work. Probably should have gone to adequan but at his age (15) we just went to prednisone.

[Tassie]

Poor Hobbes - hope he feels better soon. I swear by glucosamine sulphate for myself (tablets) and combine it with fish oil capsules. It has certainly helped ease pain and increased mobility for myself - and I'm pretty sure did with my previous dogs.

 

We have an injectable here called Cartrophen (Sodium Pentosan Polysulphate) which may fulfil the same sort of role as Adequan. It is said to act synergistically with the glucosamine/chondroitin compounds, and with many dogs gives really god results. With my old dogs, it certainly postponed the need for NSAIDs.

[blackacre]

Thanks all.

A

[SoloRiver]

I give glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM to both Border Collies and have ever since Solo injured his back a couple of years ago. If you want to try something inexpensive to start with, I give Puritan's Pride triple-strength glucosamine/chondroitin tablets (crushed for Solo since he won't eat them otherwise, and whole for Fly who'll eat anything), and a powdered MSM supplement for horses that was very cheap. My dogs are doing well on this combo. With the specials that Puritan's Pride regularly runs, you can get several months' supply of supplements for multiple dogs under $75.

 

I got the Puritan's Pride recommendation from a raw feeding list -- someone with very arthritic St. Bernards uses it and I figured if it keeps her gigantic dogs going it was worth a shot.

 

http://www.vitamins.com

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I forgot the other thing I've discovered recently - hyaluronic acid. I can say firsthand it helps injury-related arthritis - I do much better personally on it and noticed it makes a difference with Doug's hips also.

 

Generic makes no difference on this product, I've found. I buy mine at WalMart for about 4 dollars for a 30 day supply. You could rpobably get it even cheaper online.

[nancy in AZ]

I had excellent success treating my mare with Adequan (IM) when she had an acute vertebral problem. That was 3 years ago and I think I've only needed to booster her once or twice since. On the other hand, after using oral GAGs (glucosminoglycans) for years on my gelding I went to monthly injections that are compounded for me at the pharmacy. I was told by the vet that only a very small percentage is utilized via oral administration. Minnie, my Queesnland gets oral GAGs, but she has no acute joint problems. She's had a couple of surgerys in the past so I give them to her as a preventative. Personally I take supplements of MSM and gluco/chondroitin and have definitely felt an improvement.

[toney]

Just a note on liquid versus powdered forms of supplements- I read in a Performance Horse magazine special on nutriceuticals that the liquid form is not as stable as the powdered form and goes bad or at least loses effectiveness more quickly. I've had great results with a product called Newmarket (originally packaged for horses) on a dog that hung her hock in a set of blind cords and caused extensive soft tissue and bone damage at the age of six months- she was three legged lame prior to Newmarket supplementation. A veterinary strength nutriceutical in a liquid form showed some minor improvement, but Penny Tose told me about Newmarket and it's done really well for my dog. According to the vet husband, nutriceuticals tend to be somewhat hit or miss- sometimes they work great, sometimes average, sometimes not at all, but are always worth a shot.

[bskeeter]

We also had great success with Adequan on our Husky, GSD mix. We took him to the vet (just couldn't do the shots ourselves) twice a week for four weeks, then once a week for four weeks. That was about a year and a half ago and he has been great since. We are supposed to take him back on a monthly basis if he needs it, but so far so good. It was pricey, but the cost of shots sure out weighed having him suffer with pain.