[Alina S]

Hey, all! I’m sorry to keep making so many posts, I hope I’m not clogging up the boards! 🙁

Anywho, I just talked to the vet today. My dog has been limping on his leg after a bad trip to the groomers. First, we thought it was soft tissue damage, then we thought it was a bone cyst and that he would require surgery. Luckily, no surgery, yay!

The vet and two other radiologists all agree that his foot was probably broken a long time ago, never treated, and then healed improperly. And because of that, he’s been using his leg weird, and then developed arthritis in his knee. (This is his hind right leg.) They say the trip to the groomers probably aggravated this problem.

I have Rimadyl to give him whenever he’s in pain.

I just bought a joint supplement for him today. I bought Pet Naturals Hip + Joint.

These are the only recommendations the vet made. Does anyone else have any suggestions to help him? Food wise, supplement wise, even cold/hot wrap wise? Anything?

He’s only a year old, and it sucks that he already developed arthritis! I would like to prevent it from getting worse as he gets older.

Thanks!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Alina –

Sorry to hear about your dog. 🙁

My first suggestion would be to explore options other than Rimadyl. Rimadyl is an NSAID that can have some pretty nasty side effects. http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/most-dogs-do-well-on-rimadyl-except-the-ones-that-die/

Dr. Becker has some much safer suggestions for managing arthritis in this article:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/08/26/how-to-stroke-arthritis-right-out-of-your-pet.aspx

[Alina S]

THANK YOU so much for that, Hound Dog Mom!

Rimadyl really worked for my dog, Roo, but I only had him on it for 10 days. I know that anti-inflammatory drugs can cause GI problems, and the vet never gave me a time limit on how long to give him the Rimadyl. I’m skeptical about keeping the Rimadyl around as a pain reliever, even if I only give it when he seems to be in pain. I don’t want to take the risk of causing GI damage/liver damage over time.

Also, Dr. Becker has a practice in my area… Maybe I should check that out…

Thanks for the links!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Alina –

I’d suggest talking to your vet about Adequan – it’s an injectible polysulfated glycosaminoglycan. It appears to be a lot safer than NSAIDs (I know Dr. Becker recommends Adequan in her article). I’m working with a large animal vet currently and a lot of clients use Adequan and Legend (similar product but goes IV instead of IM) for their horses and rave about the results.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[Alina S]

Thanks, HDM. 🙂 I’ll ask about that on our next trip to the vet.

Also, I’ve been doing a lot of research and it seems that Omega 3’s are really good for dogs with arthritis. Would it be too much to have him on the joint supplement and salmon oil or krill oil or whatever? And, in addition to that, would it be too much to add a pro biotic and digestive enzyme to his food?

I’ve heard great benefits for all of those things, but I don’t want to pile all that in his food and overload his system.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Omega 3’s are great for inflammation. I definitely don’t think it would be too much to use a joint supplement, fish oil, probiotics and enzymes. All of those supplements are generally well tolerated and have minimal side effects.

[CMZ]

Hi, my great pry has been on Welactin, Dasequin, Rimadyl and probiotics since he was a puppy (4-5months old) He has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia. He is now almost 4 years old.
I have just recently started him on the adequin injections. I would love to get him off the Rimadyl. Our vet is also recommending Hills RX JD Diet. I have never been thrilled with the Hills brand. Does anyone have any thoughts on it???
He is currently on Lotus, Duck Dry and My Perfect Pet, frozen/wet.
Thanks
CMZ

• This reply was modified 9 years, 6 months ago by CMZ.

[crazy4cats]

I’m sorry to hear about your pup’s hip dysplasia diagnosis. I have two lab mix pups who just turned three. It is a concern for me as well. I kind of thought we were over the hump as they haven’t shown any signs of it yet. But, yours wasn’t diagnosed until 4 years old? I took a look at the Hills JD food you mentioned above. The first ingredient is whole grain corn. I’m no expert by any means, but that doesn’t sound right! You definitely want to feed him a low inflammatory type food and keep his weight down. I hope the experts chime in to help you out! Good luck, I hope you will be able to manage his condition and still be able to live a normal happy life!

[CMZ]

Crazy4cats
Sorry for the misunderstanding, he was diagnosed with hip dysplasia as a pup. 4 months old.
I agree when the first ingredient is corn!! I do keep his weight down. He is only 94-95 lbs.
They are so stoic, I can never really tell if he is having trouble. When we took him in to the vets in August, they thought he was a bit stiff, so we started him on the injectable adequin
Again, so hard to tell if its helping. I just took him off the rimadyl a couple days ago, I don’t really notice any difference. So I guess thats a good thing.
As far as the food JD is suppose to have a good amount of glucosamine for his joints. But for now I think I will keep him on his current foods and just the supplements. I don’t like the corn as the first ingredient. thanks

[crazy4cats]

Oh, I see, the poor boy. Only 94 pounds, that’s funny! But, I guess that probably isn’t that much for a great pyrenees. You don’t see them very often. There was one at the dog park a few months ago. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. So beautiful! Yes, you can always add the glucosamine to his diet. Good luck with your decision. I hope you and your vet can come to an agreement!

[Carolyn W]

I have a 16 year old dog that had a similar injury when she was still a puppy. We had Her on a high quality food with added glucosamine which did the trick for a while. About 4 years ago she started showing symptoms of the early onset of arthritis and a friend recommended a product called Recovery by Purica. We started her on it and noticed a few improvements but it wasn’t until this past hallowe’en when I was convinced their claims were true. She was going down the stairs for her night walk and she somehow missed the bottom step and landed on her chin on the landing. We discovered that she had actually broken her jaw and the only thing holding it together was her teeth. The vet did some surgery to remove a few rotting teeth but couldn’t do anything about her jaw as the bone was too small and thin to wire. (Zoe is a shitzu/bichon cross, 12 lb pup!) They sent us home with pain killers and told us to stick with a liquid diet. Wee took her back every 2 weeks for a check up and by Christmas her jaw had healed. The vet was almost as shocked as we were and when I to,d her about using Recovery she was amazed. They now carry it at our clinic with Zoe’s picture and story! (No, I don’t get ANY commissions or kickbacks!)

It might be something to try. If you google it, you can read all about the history and how it was initially developed for retired racehorses before launching a dog and eventually a human version too!

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