[shygirl]

our labrador is going downhill at the moment. he is only 8.
he has always had sore elbows since he was 18mths old, now his hips are hurting him too.
the vet has checked him over and adviced him losing another kilo of bodyweight - which he has done - but he looks in poor condition now with a dull coat. i understand being lighter will help his joints.
he is on caprieve. we read on-line about giving dogs aspirin so have introduced that too. i am considering glucosamine too.
he is always lame and limping, he can still gallop and swim but suffers more the next day when he does. sometimes he cries in pain and shakes and cant get up which is distressing for everyone - this has happened 4 times this year so far. by the next day he is usually alot better tho.
we dont want to go down the surgery route but are looking to keep him as happy and pain-free as long as possible. if you bend his front legs he cries and if you pat his bottom he cries so im thinking he might be lame on every leg now.
he used to be on the barf diet but now is on regular dog meal plus sardines. exercise wise he just potters around the farm and chooses whether to come with us on walks or not.
any advice please?

[littlelugs]

We have a 9yr old Great Dane who has suffered from arthritis for years he has been on everything glucosamine, metacam. previcox, tramadol and pts and none have really worked.
However we do administer previcox and tramadol if he over does it running around, and this does take the edge off his discomfort the following day.
We were back at the vets with him this week as he is still too full of life to realise he's not a puppy anymore and euthanasia is not the right option for him just yet. Our vet has decided to trial him on injections of Dexafort.
The injections normally last 10 days at a time but to start him off we are doing weekly injections. It has only been 3 days and already he stands better and is more spritely in himself.
We know that there are side effects (increased food intake, increased water intake and obviously with these come the increase waste however we were advised that if he starts eating more, to feed him the same daily amount but to split it into several portions).
If you are comfortable injecting your dog then your vet may give you a months worth of injections at a time (which save the cost of the vet trips each week).
I know it is only early days but already we can see an improvement in the old boy.
I hope you find the right meds for your dog and I hope this has been some help.
Lea

[jaykay]

My Retriever (puppy farm rescue) has been on Rimadyl from the vets, since she was 1. It makes life possible for her, she would be in the sort of pain you're describing without it, and far too miserable as a result. Rimadyl's an antiinflammatory and a painkiller (a bit like ibuprofen for us)

I gather the feed supplement Synoquin is good, a friend uses it for his arthritic Labrador and I'll about to get some for my creaky collie. It's basically glucosamine with chondroitin.

I think, given it's as bad as you're describing, he needs proper painkillers, as well as the other things like glucosamine.

[SallyintNorth]

I had a large dog became arthritic; the vet recommended glucosamine and I did see a difference.

I also had Rimadyl for him; he didn't have it every day, just if he had a bad day, or if I knew he would have a hard day the next (a long walk, or something.)  That really eased things for him.

It really helped him to have a good comfy bed, raised out of the way of drafts, and in cold weather a duvet and a hot water bottle!  You could see a big difference if he had to sleep on a hard floor.

I also had to be sure to get him dried off if he got wet on a walk - as a younger dog I'd leave him to dry off himself, but once he became arthritic it was definitely best to get him dried off properly and promptly.

If it's worse than that regime can handle, then the vet should be able to prescribe Metacam, I would have thought?  Beyond that it would be phenobarb - but really once it gets to that stage... A previous dog did get to that stage; we pumped him full of drugs and gave him one last weekend running about in Exmoor (he was so drugged he thought he could fly, and didn't feel any pain when he fell, bless him), then took him in. 

I hope you can find a regime that gives your boy a few more years of quality life; 8 isn't much of an age, really, is it.   

crossposted with jaykay

[shygirl]

he is on capreive from the vets which i believe is a painkiller? this visibly takes the edge off of the pain but doesnt stop him limping. its does make him more active but then he feels it the next day.
thanks

[jaykay]

Yes - sorry missed that! It is a painkiller and anti-inflammatory.

What does the vet say? Worth trying a different med?

[doganjo]

I am so sorry for you and your much loved pet but it truly illustrates what I keep banging on about - get the recognized health tests done before breeding.

I would guess if you look up the KC website for your poor lad's parents you'll find no tests done.  If I am wrong and they have zero elbows and less than 10 hips I will be very surprised.

You can only do what you are doing now - the best you can for him, and to try to keep him as pain free as possible.

I'm so sorry, I could weep fro you and others like you 

[SallyintNorth]

You're probably right, Annie, but sometimes there's a big component from the dog's temperament too.

We had two young large dogs, one incredibly agile and flexible, the other seemed to be more stiff and reticent.  (Both rescues, both mongrels.)  We had the opportunity to get them both x-rayed and assessed, so took it.

The vet called us to come and see the x-rays.  He said, "Here are the x-rays.  As you can see, one dog has near perfect hips. The other has terrible hips; frankly it's a miracle that dog can walk let alone run and jump.  Now... guess which dog is which."

You can probably guess too - the stiffer dog had near perfect hips, the very agile dog shouldn't in fact have been able to walk.   We were glad we'd had the x-rays, as it informed us about a potential problem with the very active dog, so we didn't do agility with him as we'd planned.  He did become arthritic when he was older - but I mean much older, 11 years old.  I think with him he was stoic to pain because he was part collie, plus he had a lot of muscle which the vet said must be holding the joints together.  Only when he got older and his muscles thinned and weakened did he begin to have problems and feel it.

[happygolucky]

These sort of threads always makes me think of my own dislocated hip and joint stiffness, I was a very agile and sporty younger person, walked miles, now even the physio said I was too stiff to do much with,  .
I suppose like humans, some get joint problems some don't.
We used to give a dog we had glucosamine, I think it helped as it certainly helps me......
 

[shygirl]

I am so sorry for you and your much loved pet but it truly illustrates what I keep banging on about - get the recognized health tests done before breeding.

I would guess if you look up the KC website for your poor lad's parents you'll find no tests done.  If I am wrong and they have zero elbows and less than 10 hips I will be very surprised.

i just had a look -
the parents were eye tested clear.
sire was a hip test 10 and dam was hip test 14. unfortunately i dont know if that is good or bad.
they werent tested for elbows which is where the main problem is as he has been lame infront since 18mths. we got him at 4 mths old due to his owners divorcing. (i think he was an unwanted guilt present)

the vets havent really said anything except its obviously elbow displacia and lose another kilo and he then gets his meds.
the sore hips has just started in the last month really. hes getting weighed at the vets tomorrow.
thanks

[funkyfish]

PleasePlease stop the asprin!!! You are running the risk of stomach ulcers  by double dosing with a non steroidal! !!

Go back to the vet. Or go for a second opinion. There are a lot of different combo of drugs that can be used. Different ones work for different dogs.

Pardale-v is better I  my experience as  vet nurse than metacam etc in severe arthritis.  Also tramadol can  e used to help with a flare up. Short gentle walks on soft flat surfaces can help. Physio and acupuncture are very very good.

Do not just accept that your dog has arthritis and there for is in pain. Thats  not good enough! !! Pardale and tramadol are quite cheap really and can keep dogs comfortable.

[HelenVF]

I had my old springer on Rhus Tox.  That seemed to do the trick.

Helen

[happygolucky]

A previous post mentioned how wonderful hydro therapy is for dogs and us humans, it builds the muscles so they take most of the strain instead of the hip or elbow joint, I was prescribed hydrotherapy too!!!!

[shygirl]

he swims alot and loves it though it makes him bad the next day. this is when he gets a bad day. the vet said it would be the cold water that affects him tho at the moment it is literally quite warm as he swims in  our pond/lake.

[doganjo]

he swims alot and loves it though it makes him bad the next day. this is when he gets a bad day. the vet said it would be the cold water that affects him tho at the moment it is literally quite warm as he swims in  our pond/lake.

I've been going to a hydrotherapy pool with Allez - just because he lacks confidence taking his feet off the ground. (I MAY live to regret this mind you!  )  But as it's warm - about 80 F , it's been helping with my joints too.  I think cold water would definitely be detrimental.
Elbow dysplasia is common in Labs and they should be tested for that as well as  HD and eyes.  Elbows should be zero or 1, and ideally, breeders should choose breeding stock with hip scores well below the Breed Mean Score (BMS) of 14; and better still below the Median for their breed (10)