Arthritis in Dogs

Does anyone's doggies here have arthritis? I'm taking my beagle to the vet this saturday because I believe he may have it. :/ I'm just wondering what the costs would be like to maintain medication and things to keep him happy and out of pain.

I currently have to carry him up and down the stairs so he can go to the bathroom because he can't walk up the stairs anymore. He sleeps all day... doesn't get all happy to see me. It's very sad and it breaks my heart. So I want to make sure I can get his comfort and happiness levels back up! I'll cancel my cellphone/internet/tv if I have to.

My Pomchi has arthritis but not as bad as your doggie. I have to lift her into the truck and she has doggie stairs to get into the bed but other then that she walks okay. I do notice there are days worse then others.

I asked my vet about it and she told me to get childrens tylenol and on the bad days give her some of that (very little amount). She showed me on the eye dropper and it's very little.

I believe long term care is better if you can afford it but i'm doing what is financially feasable for me.

I'm sure they will have good suggestions and help you out. Good luck.

Have you tried glucosamine, chondroitin, and msm?  Those three things work very well together.  Also, I suggest getting a fish body oil supplement (salmon oil, sardine oil, etc - not anything like cod liver oil).  It's a miracle drug.  I'd try those with whatever pain killer the vet will put him on (or try them before the pain killers).  Those supplements might work well enough that he won't need any pain killers after awhile.

My doggy has arthritis and is on low level steroids for the rest of her life, the cost here in the UK for this with a visit is £27 so not expensive at all. The tablets have given her a new lease of life and at 11yrs old she is nearly new again. I live up to flights of stairs and before hand she was struggling, if they hadn't worked the other option was to put her down because she is just too big to carry so I am delighted.

She takes 2 one day 1 the next and this carries on, she is due to go back to the vet at the end of the month for assessment but it's looking good.

My 17 yr old toy poodle had arthritis really bad the last couple years of his life. He died last year. the vet gave me some new arthritis pills for him and he was a new dog. they were about a $1.00 each a few years back and probably have gone down. After getting him on them I was able to cut to every other day and in summer when he did better. It really helped.

When I was younger, my dog had arthritis. We weren't really well off, but we could afford arthritis meds in the form of a pill (not sure what it was, but it was prescribed). The meds made a HUGE difference. She went from not being able to go down the stairs to running around like a pup!

I am pretty sure it will be affordable and you won't have to cancel any of your phone or tv or anything.

Good luck and please let us know how things go!

Just a word of caution regarding giving pets human, over the counter medications: Never, ever do it UNLESS prescribed by your vet.Pets metabolize chemicals much differently than we do. Some over the counter pain medications such as aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, etc. are extremely toxic to animals and can easily result in death. What may be great for a dog can easily be poison to a cat and or the other way around. Some medications are perfectly fine but only if your vet says OK.  Your veterinarian will be able to help you with the correct medications and dosages. There are quite a few on the market that are very affordable and will give your doggy great relief for arthritis pain. Good luck and I do wish you and your baby the best.

Ask your vet about Rimadyl or Cosequin.  Both are pretty expensive but they work.  It takes a while for them to show improvement, especially with Cosequin.  My wife is a veterinarian and I met her when I used to sell vet drugs about 12 yrs ago.  We have a 12 yr old rat terrier on Rimadyl and she is responding very well. 

Let me know how it goes. 

Greg

Glucosamine has really helped my mother's dog, and sort of helped my dog too (choc lab mix).  Neither of them are as progressed as your dog, sounds like. But the glucosamine has made my mom's dog into a almost a different dog. She takes it daily and it's a prescription from the vet.

My dog Kona also has an RX for Rimadyl but I try not to give it to her much because it can do damage with chronic or daily use (liver damage I think? just like some pain meds for people). The other thing about the Rimadyl is that it helps her not to feel pain but then she overdoes it if she's feeling better, and later on she is in much worse pain. I have also heard that baby aspirin dose works for once in a while use (mom's dog gets it sometimes).

The best thing for my dog was a diet. She's a lab mix and puts on weight easily, and she's also 9. The lower her weight, the better her health is.  And also getting her activity like swimming where she is getting exercise but not straining her joints. (That's maybe not an option for your pooch sounds like.)

Try the supplements like glucosamine if your vet suggests... it could do amazing things.

Good luck. It's heart wrenching to see them in pain.

My 12 year old sheapard/lab cross Opie has arthritis in his knees and his hips. My parents put off taking him to the vet for a long time. But we have a lot of stairs in our house so they finally did. He's on glucosamine enriched food from the vet, and a painkiller prescribed from the vet.

How old is your dog?

12 is really pretty old for a big dog (Opie is around 130lbs, not overweight). My parents know that when it comes to the point where he can't go up the stairs, they'll need to do the right thing. But definitely try out the medication first! It's given Opie an extra year or so.

my parent's dog AND cat are both taking glucosamine.  it's a vet grade supplement, but it's essentially the exact same as the glucosamine that my dad and i both take. 

it's helped them both greatly.  the cat used to visably limp around, and now she walks normally.  and the dog (a golden retriever) has improved alot as well... 

i'd definately recommend that.

I hope he feels better soon!!!

Thank you guys. :) I hope the medication he'll get helps him improve. He's about 5 pounds overweight, so I'm going to work on that. We can diet together. ;)

I'm not even sure it is arthritis, I just looked it up online and it seems to be exactly what he has... I kinda hope it is that because the other things it could be are alot worse.

But once he's able to walk around normally again, I'm gonna take him out for more walks, it'll do us both good. :)

Thanks for the replies guys.

I will definitely ask the vet about over-the-counter vitamins that I can add to his diet to also help him out as well. I won't do anything without the vet's ok.