How to Treat Your Canine’s Arthritis

Arthritis is one of the most common diseases in canines today. It is a degenerative joint disease (DJD) that gets progressively worse as your canine gets older. Characterized by a loss of cartilage and the death of cartilage-producing cells, this can be a very painful disease for any canine to go through. And what are you going to do about it?

You might be wondering just how to go about treating arthritis. Visiting your local veterinarian is the wisest decision. That said, however, here are some of the ways that canine arthritis can be treated.

Medications are used to control the pain, encourage cartilage repair, increase mobility, and to slow down, as much as possible, the destruction of the joint. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are most often used when treating arthritis.

- Aspirin. This is the most common medication to treat DJD in canines. You might have thought that it was only for humans but is commonly used in dogs. However, it has been known to have gastrointestinal side effects in canines.

- Carprofen (or Rimadyl). Carprofen is significantly more potent than aspirin. Rare instances of liver toxicity have been reported but it generally has a wide margin of safety with few side effects.

I also feel it is important to mention a couple of Chondroprotective agents. These drugs are designed to protect the cartilage while it attempts to repair itself. They are becoming increasingly popular in treating canines with degenerative joint diseases.

Two of these drugs are Cosequin and Glyco-flex. The key ingredients of these drugs are clucosamine and purified chondroitin sulfate which is the foundation of cartilage. They are also dietary supplements or food additives that do not require FDA approval.

As a side note, because these to types of drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective agents, they can be used simultaneously to dogs with severe arthritis.

Although drug therapy is the most common, and generally the most effective, way to treat arthritis there are other ways to treat DJD. One such way is surgery.

If medications fail to reduce pain, there are many surgical options for dysplasia in the elbows or hips. Surgeries where part of the thigh bone are removed to resolve the pain, all the way to total hip replacement with a prosthetic device can be performed. However, surgical procedures should be discussed with a trained professional.

Acupuncture has actually been used to help with a reduction in pain. Although not very many studies have been performed, acupuncture is growing increasingly popular amongst humans and canines. Pain from hip dysplasia or other DJD’'s is a common reason for acupuncture referrals.

Arthritis can be a thing of excruciating pain for your canine. But it doesn'’t have to be. If the necessary precautions are taken and a little research done, much can be done to relieve your canine of pain for the rest of it’'s life.

this article has been brought to you by canineyouth.com

By: Evan
Published: 01/09/08

Article Sponsors:

Share On:

Comments (2) | Must Login to Vote

2 Posted Comments:

How to Treat Canine arthritis

@ 4:59 am 01/09/08 by Jean Townsend

Before starting your dog on NSAIDS such as Rimadyl, Etogesic, Deramaxx, Metacam, Zubrin, etc. PLEASE do your homework and learn what the adverse side effects can be.

Make sure your veterinarian explains these side effects to you and gives you the "Client Information Sheet" that should accompany these prescriptions.

Be an informed dog owner, not a devastated dog owner as I am - having lost my beautiful chocolate lab to the irreversible adverse side effects of Rimadyl on Oct. 13, 1997 - dogs are still dying from adverse effects of these drugs, because proper pre-testing was not done and vets neglect to give the Client Information Sheet.

(Always for George - Always for the Rimadyl Dogs)

Reply to this Comment

Talk to your vet

@ 6:17 am 01/09/08 by Evan

Yes. Thanks for the above comment. Talking to your veterinarian is the best thing to do. This is the same as reading about treating your own arthritis or other disease. You wouldn't just start taking the recommended drugs. You would seek out a doctor before taking any.

This is meant to give you some insight on what is used and to start further research.

Reply to this Comment