Dog joint pain

RobertT

Yearling... With promise
My 9 year old Lab is starting to show signs of her age. After a day of being outside she favors her hind legs the next day.
What are you guys doing to help your older dogs with joint pain?
 
Neighbor gives dog Cosequin. It could barely get up when it was down, now it's spry again. It's about 12-13 years old. They say they saw a commercial for it and figures they didn't have anything too lose.
 
Neighbor gives dog Cosequin. It could barely get up when it was down, now it's spry again. It's about 12-13 years old. They say they saw a commercial for it and figures they didn't have anything too lose.
Thanks for the input. Cosequin was going to be my first try. I appreciate the first hand knowledge.
 
My sister had a German shepard that had a hard time getting around and the gave him Rimadyl.
 
Cosequin would get my vote here as well, seen ot work.help on many friends hunting dogs as they got older
and another really big thing to work on if needed is, weight, keeping there weight done to proper numbers as they get older really helps a lot on them being able to last longer and stay active, its also very important to keep weights down ALL there life, if your wanting the best for them to be honest!

also keeping exercise a part of there day to day lives! and adjusting it as they age!

I always say, the only bad part of owning a dog, is there lives are too short, so I always tried my best to see they get the most they can!

Rimady also works, but its a little harder on pets IMO
I used it for the last yr or two of my last Lab, it helped him make it as long as he did IMO< but it did seem at times to upset his stomach!
 
Cosequin would get my vote here as well, seen ot work.help on many friends hunting dogs as they got older
and another really big thing to work on if needed is, weight, keeping there weight done to proper numbers as they get older really helps a lot on them being able to last longer and stay active, its also very important to keep weights down ALL there life, if your wanting the best for them to be honest!

also keeping exercise a part of there day to day lives! and adjusting it as they age!

I always say, the only bad part of owning a dog, is there lives are too short, so I always tried my best to see they get the most they can!

Rimady also works, but its a little harder on pets IMO
I used it for the last yr or two of my last Lab, it helped him make it as long as he did IMO< but it did seem at times to upset his stomach!
I agree about maintaining a healthy weight. She has always maintained just under 70 lbs. I see a bunch of 100 lbs Labs and always wonder what there later years are going to look like.
My dogs biggest problem is she doesn’t know she has gotten old still a 1 year old at heart.
 
meloxicam, it was a wonder drug for my lab with severe arthritis. It gave her life in her last few years and a couple more years than the doc originally thought she'd get. My friend who is a vet calls it a wonder drug for dogs and pain.
 
Glucosamine
 
I agree about maintaining a healthy weight. She has always maintained just under 70 lbs. I see a bunch of 100 lbs Labs and always wonder what there later years are going to look like.
My dogs biggest problem is she doesn’t know she has gotten old still a 1 year old at heart.
my male was 72 lbs from age 1.5 till he passed away at 13, from cancer !
and yes that can be the hard part, they always THINK they can do more than they can, there forever little kids and I think that is why , we take it so hard when they pass
as there like little kids, requiring us to look out for them there whole lives and we maybe feel we failed some when they go!, or again, its like loosing a child, that never gets , there getting old or aging and what comes next!

but its still possible to help them slow down and give them some help(meds or vitamin's to keep them as young as possible as long as possible

what ever you do plan to try or give, I suggest two things, one make sure your Vet know's
and, keep a small log book, and pay attention to signs of stress or pains getting better or worse, same with appetite and well, what comes out the other end LOL

as its real easy to miss small things when your with them all the time, so some times looking back at info, or even video's can be a big help ! IMO"
 
meloxicam, it was a wonder drug for my lab with severe arthritis. It gave her life in her last few years and a couple more years than the doc originally thought she'd get. My friend who is a vet calls it a wonder drug for dogs and pain.

I used an NSAID as well with an old beagle I had when she got old and arthritic. You could tell it helped her a lot for a while, but all good things come to an end, and eventually we had to put her down.
 
The supplements will help.....just get good ones. Talk to your vet and see what they suggest. They tend to be a little pricey and your only buying time....but enjoy that time.
 
Our shepard-husky mix has some liver issues that she's on other drugs for that prevent her from taking any of the NSAIDs so we went the CBD oil route. If I didn't see how much it's helped her with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. She's pushing 15 years old and I firmly believe we've gained at least an extra year of quality life for her.

Our vet told us it works great for some dogs and no effect on others. Won't know until you try it. But I can't say enough good things about how it's helped her.
 
Prednisone can also be very helpful. My 11yo lab has severe elbow dysplasia, we’ve been dealing with joint pain for the last 6 years. Rimadyl/nsaids are quite helpful but nothing works as well for him as a dose of steroids.
 
I am at my vet hospital right now. I will weigh in later.So far, everybody is correct :-)
 
hope all is well, and vet gives you some good suggestion or advice

My last dog used to LOVE going to the vet, could smell I think every dog that was ever there, be all excited and happy, until he'd get a shot in the ass LOL
then the fun wasn't as much so
but my vet used to joke with me! he'd give her dirty looks as soon as he'd see her get a needle out! HHAHa!
 
5 pillars of Arthritis Control
1. Weight Control- Dogs who maintain a healthy weight throughout their lives will, on average, live 2 years longer than if they are overweight. Ten extra pounds on a 70 pound dog can mean the difference between needing medicines in order to ascend stairs or not needing them.

2. Exercise- Exercise helps maintain weight, promote joint and muscle mobility, and help maintain muscle mass. Muscle mass is important for joint stability. Of course, the amount of exercise will be limited by the arthritis, but pain control may help you achieve enough exercise to make a difference.

3. Nutraceuticals- Nutraceuticals are any non-pharmaceutical supplements that are used as medications. Products such as glucosamine, chondroitin, omega-3 fatty acids, and CBD would fall into this category. This category of products are widely marketed in a Wild West of products. There is very little oversight, and I would advise you to go with trusted brands. Nutramax, a veterinary company, has an excellent reputation for quality products and being a science driven company. Cosequin was their original product for joints, but now Dasuquin and Dasuquin Advanced are the upgraded versions of joint supplement. Those seem to be the favorites of the vets I know doing sports medicine and rehab work.

The one product that you will have to purchase as a stand-alone product is Omega-3 fatty acid. Make sure you get omega 3 and not fish oil. There is so little O3 in fish oil that you have to give around 8 capsules daily. The O3 will be on the shelf next to the fish oils. Dose at 30-50 mg O3 per lb body weight of your dog daily.

CBD is the rage for everything these days. While it certainly has been shown to be beneficial for a wide variety of disorders, it is still a greatly misunderstood product. We are just now learning about how it interacts with numerous neuro systems in the body, not just the endocannabinoid system. CBD is another one of those wild snake oil worlds now as well. You may not have any or too much in any product you buy. Nutramax has come out with their Hemp oil product. It’s called Chroniquin. I haven’t gotten any in yet, but I am wanting to try it. Again, this is a company I trust.

4. NSAID- The single biggest bang for your buck, as well as quick acting, will be NSAIDs. They all have some degree of risks, but for the most part, you will rarely see trouble. Galliprant is the newest and seemingly safest one on the market. Some dogs experience some transient diarrhea, but it resolves. Hard to overdose with this product. Meloxicam is the only NSAID that we use in dogs that is also used in people. The good news here is that the smallest human tab, 7.5 mg I believe, can be cut in half for a 75 lb dog and given once daily. So 15 tabs for a 30 day supply, and I think that costs less than 10 dollars. This is touchy, so make sure you check the dose with your vet, because I’m typing from memory. NO STEROID (cortisone, etc.) of any kind should be given concurrently with an NSAID!!!

5. Everything else- Steroids like prednisone can help, sometimes a lot. The problem is that you often have intolerable side effects AND you are limited in how long you can safely give them. I have had some patients start to not do as well on NSAIDS, so I will stop them for a week, give a 2 week blast of steroid, wait 5-7 days and re start NSAIDs. That works well.

Gabapentin is commonly used as well. This helps with neuropathic pain, and has some calming effect as well. The calming effect wears off in about a week as they adjust. Usually 300-600mg twice daily for a 70 lb dog.

Tramadol used to be used a lot, but we don’t think it’s very good now. Dogs don’t have a good mechanism to convert the drug to its active components like people and cats do.

Adequan injectable. Been around a long time and can be a GREAT addition to the aforementioned drugs. Talk to your vet about that.

Lastly, cold laser therapy, physical rehab, accupucture can also be helpful, but you need people, equipment and facilities to do this. If they are available to you, it might be worth looking into.
 
hey something else I am sure your vet will say, or tell you, that I didn;t see here is this

ONCE< your dog is on something and you see them doing better and all
remember that many things just help MASK the pain, they don't really FIX anything
so, just cause your dog seems like they can do a lot of what they USED to,
keep activities low still, as that masking pain, can allow them to hurt themselves even worse if you let them over do it, just cause the pain is masked on things!
realy easy to hurt yourself when you cannot feel pain, till meds wear off and then it can be a HUGE deal to deal with, making things worse over having had any help

so, keep this in mind, and just enjoy them on lower level actions!
 
When Molly first started having trouble I would have to give her a rimadyl after hunting. She got to the point she was having trouble standing and basically had a dead leg. Vet screwed around with all of the above and even acupuncture till I asked to go to the university. She got diagnosed with osteosarcoma and they gave use gabapentin. Gabapentin made her loopy and almost catatonic so I went to rimadyl to the day she passed. Those rimadyl are beef flavored so be careful. Literally as we buried Molly, Maggie got on the counter and ate 28 rimadyl tabs so back to the vet I had to go. We also had meloxicam. Molly had a ccl replacement at 18 month so as she aged she got bad arthritis in her knee.
 
I want to thank you all. The responses have been amazing.
I have already been limiting her activity and have picked up some cosequin and have started it.
Here is a recent picture she found a deer leg on a shed hunt. FCC7E8F1-9368-4AF8-A580-83D6E73E7631.jpeg
 
I get the big chew treats that have the Glucosamine in them from chewy they are big ones shaped like a bone they have the same amount of med as the pills from petco and they eat them alot better.I can tell a big difference
 
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