Hello Again; Aowyn and Arthritis

Its been a while since i have been on the board and as a result i had to create a new profile. Some of you might remember me as I used to post a lot and did rescue work with several members of this board.

For those that remember; Aowyn is my lab and she is starting to show her age at 11 years old. Everyone that sees her is amazed when we tell her that she is 11 as she has the energy of a five year old, is fit and trim, and has no white at all on her muzzle. You can see her eyes have cataracts but she can catch anything you throw at her. We feed her way better than i feed myself, LOL. You think i am joking but i am serious. She loves her carrots, broccoli, and apples.

From time to time we will do some exercise that is a bit more than what i consider normal, play fetch longer than normal or go for a longer walk or hike; and in the evening she will start to get stiff and the next day she will be sore and stiff. Typically this only happens about once a month. We do give her the Flex 2500 Glucossomine vitamins, and we just started using Rymidal on as needed basis as we were doing the baby asprin but i wanted to use something that is better on her stomach.

So to the question; is it a good idea to take her for a walk when she is like this? Would it help lossen up some of the sore muscles and help her get past the soreness faster or should i let her rest for the day? I am not really sure the right answer but i know i would rather limit the pain meds as much as possible.

Let me know and thanks in advance.

Welcome Back!

The board crashed months ago and we all had to re-register.

Mardi is the same age but she is showing her age. Plus she has a bad hip and a bad knee on the opposite side so walks are slow and short. I let her tell me how much is enough. She gets Cosequin DS and it has made a difference. You need to give a glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM combo.

As long as regular liver value blood work is done, Rimadyl is good. I prefer not to use it; use Tramadol instead.

At her age it would be good to Vet to be sure it is arthritis you are dealing with and where in her body it is. Just, just, just in case there is something else going on that should be dealt with.

However she sounds a lot like our Jet who also could no longer be a weekend warrior without "Monday/Tuesday" stiffness. I found the solution for Jet was to be very careful to avoid those infrequent times of longer or more strenuous exercise. For Jet this was weekends. My solution was perhaps unusual, I INcreased her midweek exercise. As well as sometimes 3 hour hikes and skiis on the weekend, and the odd all day hike, I made sure she also got one midweek long, long walk. I was actuallyb able to completely stop the Cartrophen Vet (which is kinder to Lab livers than Rimadyl) and only supplemented her with Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM. After the odd all day hikes she would get an aspirin but I was careful to make sure that didn't happen too oftern. This kept her going from age 9 to 12.5. Jet's back went at age 12.5 and we had to make more drastic medication and exercise changes then.

A lot of arthritis does benefit from gentle and consistent movement. A typical arthritis pain is shown after getting up from a rest whereas pain for other reasons might show after exercise. However those are generalities and there is always the exception which a Vet visit might help you determine.

I just took her to the Vet on Friday. Which is where we had the discussion regarding Rymidal and the Glucosomine/Chondrotin supplements. She is on a very good one now and it has all of these Combines Glucosamine, MSM, Creatine, Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Antioxidants.The vet did a thorough exam and said Aowyn looks great for her age; she checked her hips to make sure that there was no popping or grinding, she said Aowyn's muscles were even on both of her rear and front legs so she couldn't find any elbow or hip issues. We both agreed Aowyn is in great shape, the vet even commented on the fact she must have good genetics. Snowshoe, i think you hit it exactly right. Normal day to day things she has no issues and is just fine, but when we do something on the weekend that is a bit more intense or a bit longer than the "normal" exercise she feels it the next day. Kind of like when i go ride 100 miles on my bike. I was thinking of doing the same thing and try to build her up for the weekend warrior activities during the week. With kids and the time change its been hard to do anything but short walks. God knows i could use the exercise to. :)

I will look at Cartrophen, when we go to the next vet visit. Honestly i don't see us using the Rimadyl much as she hasn't needed any pain medication for about three months (baby aspirin), the last time was because of a long hike. At this point the Rimadyl is only as needed per the VET. I am looking for advice to make sure i can stay away from the pain medications as mush as possible. I am just blessed that she is 11 and as healthy as she is and if a short walk will soothe the weekend warrior soreness i will do that. I just didn't want to push her and make thigns worse.

Something I did forget to mention, exercise is good, what she can tolerate. Mardi will have some days worse than others but still get her out for an abbreviated walk.

I also do range of motion exercises every evening. With Mardi laying on her side, I place my hand on her shoulder and move her front leg forward and back, gently and slowly. I work each joint down her leg the same way. Do the same with the rear leg. Roll over and repeat. It takes time to get them used to the routine but once they do I've not found a senior who did not like it. It's our special time.

I agree with Snowshoe's suggestion of trying to increase her fitness so she can handle more on the weekends, but be aware that as she gets older (and to me 11 is not necessarily that old - Mulder was still competing in Obedience when he turned 11), she may eventually no longer be able to handle quite as much as she did when she was younger. Just keep a close eye on her and you'll be able to tell when it is getting too much, but I would suspect she has another couple years of good activity left in her.
I've found that with my dogs who have developed arthritis (Scully in her elbows early, and Mulder in his hips once he turned 14), that regular gentle exercise really helps keep them mobile, so even when the "big" outings become too much, do keep her at least going for daily walks.
And as for the Rimadyl, Mulder's been on it for well over a year with no problems whatsoever from it ... we had his blood work checked about a month ago and all looks good with his liver values etc.

I also want to say that I relate to keeping the pain meds down as much as possible. But don't be afraid to use them whenever necessary. Better that she not be in pain.

Hi & welcome back! I remember you & Aowyn! I have not been on here very much lately, either, because we have a 12 yr old Pug who is having many more issues than our dear old 10 yr old Lab Molly is having, so I've been spending a lot of time on the Pug chat forum.....

However, our dear Molly is now having cataracts, so it is time for me to look into that on here....

If it is arthritis, I suggest talking to your vet about Adequan. One of my labs has arthritis in his spine. I was using carprofen (100 mg daily) and decided to try Adequan injections. I've been very pleased with the results. He feels great since starting the Adequan. I've cut his carprofen dose in half, and hope to get him off it completely in a bit.

Thanks for all the help.

Aowyn is doing great. I think she is a bit bummed because of the weather has been cold and we haven't been doing many walks. When its not too cold, less than 15 degrees i try to keep her indoors and she seems to be okay with it. as for the rymidall we haven't used any since the one time and she has been fine. Obviously she isn't jumping or running up the stairs like she was 4 years old but she seems comfortable.

Mollysmomma; Aowyn has had cataracts for several years but the vet says she is just fine. You throw a tennis ball at her or a treat and she will catch it without any issues. I do see some issues with darker rooms as she will wait for me to lead her through but that is normal. heck even i have issues with the dark now.