8 year old lab with arthritis

Our new rescue, Steve, is estimated to be 8 years old and weighed in at 91 lbs today. He had general stiffness and was limping on his right front leg when he adopted him. The HS started him on glucosamine and rimadyl on Dec 23 (we adopted him on Dec 26).

We saw our vet the same day we adopted Steve and she recommended keeping him on the NSAID for another week or two and see how he responds. I have noticed no change so we decided to proceed with X-rays today at his recheck. To our horror, he's actually full of bird shot, but it's not impacting his health so it'll just stay put for now. :apologetic: As for his hips, he has mild to moderate arthritis and his right elbow shows severe arthritic changes. I'm planning on starting him on hydrotherapy and he started Adequan injections today.

Tonight, he is significantly improved and only mildly lame on his right leg. Has anyone had experience with Adequan working so quickly? Also, has anyone used acupuncture for arthritis successfully?

Yes, Adequan can work quickly. My senior girl has hip and spinal arthritis, she takes Hylasport, fish oil and 1000 mgs of vitamin c daily and we do cold laser therapy. The laser therapy made the biggest difference for her, I highly recommend it! We have Tramadol on hand for pain as needed, I will not give NSAID's like Rimadyl or Deramaxx after a really bad experience. She has been very comfortable on this combo for over 2 years but Adequan will be our next step, if/when it becomes necessary. I don't know how big your dog is but keeping them lean and as active as they can tolerate will also help immensely. I also do not feed any kibble with grains.

Best of luck keeping your baby comfortable!

We used Cartrophen Vet, which is similar, with a loading dose of one injection a week for four weeks. Yes, all three animals I used it on showed improvement immediately. Can your Vet set you up to do the injections yourself? OUr cat needed them every second week, it was so much better all around for me to do them at home.

We are using acupuncture with Oban but it's hard to say how effective it is. One session the Vet will target his sore leg, the next digestive isssues, or both. Immediately after he's worse, a couple of days he's better but it's hard for me to see if the better is better than before the ac or better than the worse that followed the ac. Does that make sense?

Poor dog. He might have been shot by his own owner. There was a very sad post here some months ago about a dog being shot by the man hunting over him. Is it lead shot? Or steel?

Thank you for rescuing an older pup, Steve sounds like he found a wonderful loving family.

Yes we started Bailey on adequan injections and also noticed immediate improvement.

Thank you so much for rescuing. We home only older dogs and aches and pains are part of life.

You've been given some excellent advice. I would add that exercise as tolerated is also important. Mardi is 13 now and her walk may consistent of only to the end of the driveway and back but to see the excitement in her eyes and her love of the outdoors, plus keeping her as limber and mobile as possible really helps.

Oh poor baby, thank you so much for giving him a good and loving home.

I've heard nothing but good things about Adequan, and the hydrotherapy will definitely help also. Most important thing, keep him at a good lean weight. If he does stay on Rimadyl, you will want to do periodic bloodwork as it can affect the liver. And always give with food, never on an empty stomach.

Another good supplement for joint issues is high doses of Vitamin C. My 10-year-old dog with HD is on 1000mg per day, split into 2 500mg doses. You have to start slow with it, as too much too soon can cause loose stool, and you want calcium ascorbate, not ascorbic acid. I have used acupuncture, but not for arthritis. My 3-year-old lab is currently getting it every 2 weeks for her knee (my vet thinks her CCL is either strained or partially torn) and I do think it helps with the pain. She's less lame afterwards.

Thanks for the great advice. I actually just got the final X-ray results that have been read by the radiologist. He has severe arthritis in his hips, shoulders, elbows and has hip dysplasia. I have osteoarthritis in my ankle and can be a major grump when it's bothering me, but Steve is just so sweet and good natured!

I do have tramadol for break through pain. My vet wasn't a huge fan of cold laser therapy but I'm going to check into it. I'm going to give the adequan a month as I don't want to add too many things at once. I need to know what is working and what isn't, from a cost stand point. I do have him on fish oil and I'll add the Vit C. He is 91 lbs now and should probably be 95ish. I actually want to try to keep him in the high 80s.

Here he is with my Martha, who has terminal tonsil cancer. She had radiation and chemo but her cancer is back with a vengeance and she's really quite sick again. Steve is a wonderful nurse and is so respectful of her. It makes me tear up just watching how careful and kind he is to her.

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...psvzxnk2mb.jpg

Being a person that also has Arthritis, and knowing the pooches you can manage it 3 ways.

Meds,
Pain Meds do help but there are other side effects some can be fatal.
Adeqan is awesome stuff but doesn't last forvever, I would look at Glocosamin and Chondroiten, supplement for long term this is every day thing but really keeps joints healthy.

Excercise,
One of the best things, swimming and other lwo impact to joints can really be awesome but simply taking nice short walks at first and build up can do wonders. Strengthening the muscles, also helps ease the joints.

Diet,
This is harder, you may want to talk to a holistic vet as well. But Anti-infamatory foods can do miracles. However it can take time to notice these changes.
Here is a good link, Arthritis Anti Inflammatory Diet | Arthritis Diet you can add these to your pups diet as treats or what ever. This is for humans so make sure the foods are pup safe first. But things like blueberries and Strawberries kale, spinach and broccolli are all great for your dog and you. The nuts they list are all toxic to dogs or can cause issues also avoid the nightshade lines for dogs but oils are great so is fish. You might try a fish based food like Fromm Whitefish. Food changes take some time though to really see results but can actually give you a much greater benefit than meds. A few years ago my Arthritis was to the point I was taking NSAID pain meds every day. I honestly can't think the last time I took one. I know I had a couple last year on bad days but I don't remember them and I had either really over did something or under did as is I sat around too much.