First, could your dog have arthritis? Arthritis can affect dogs of any age. This condition develops typically when the bones of a joint don’t move normally. The smooth lining of the joint, known as the cartilage, starts to wear down, and this is painful. Over time- weeks, months, and years- the body responds by forming new bone that looks like bone spurs on X-rays. The joints may swell, and the nice sticky joint fluid, or synovial fluid, becomes thin and watery, losing its ability to lubricate the joints. The most common locations for arthritis are the knees, hips, and elbows, with the wrists (carpi) and hocks (tarsi) less commonly affected.
Arthritis can develop in the knees secondary to a condition known as “luxating patellas,” which is fancy terminology for the knee cap moving around in the wrong direction- side to side, versus up and down in its designated groove. This condition affects mostly small dogs. People often report that their dog “skips” when on walks- that’s actually the kneecap locking in the wrong position, then moving back into its correct position.
Arthritis can also develop in the knees after an “ACL” tear. This is a torn ligament in the knee, and it results in the knee being unable to move in its normal hinge motion. The result is the abnormal wear in the cartilage. Even dogs that have had surgical repair of torn ACLs will develop some degree of arthritis in that knee. This can be severe, too. The dog may persistently limp or act stiff in that leg. We see a lot of this condition in Pit Bulls and Labs, especially.
Larger breeds can develop arthritis in the hips secondary to poor formation of the hips known as hip dysplasia. German Shepherds, Labs, Golden Retrievers, and Rottweilers commonly suffer from this condition, but it can affect any breed. These dogs are slow to rise from lying down, especially after they’ve been lying for a while. Slippery surfaces are particularly difficult for them.
The veterinary pharmaceutical companies have been particularly effective in marketing drug answers for arthritis. The pain is gone within hours and the dogs can run through beautiful fields of grass. At WAH, we reserve these drugs for our cases that don’t respond to any other therapies. Why? It turns out that all of these drugs can have side effects, including potentially fatal ones. If your dog is placed on one of these drugs, it would have to have bloodwork testing every 3 months to make sure the liver and kidneys are still happy. And you would need to keep a very close eye on the stools to make sure there is no evidence of bleeding from the stomach or intestines. (The stools would look dark and tarry, signaling digested blood.)
What are the kinder therapies that we recommend at WAH?
The simplest therapies are joint supplements containing GAGs, which is short for glycosaminoglycans, and which is why we like to shorten that to GAGs. You’ve probably heard of glucosamine and chondroitin. These are GAGs. The green-lipped mussel is also a natural source of GAGs, and VetriScience makes a wonderful supplement from this called Glycoflex Classic. Most dogs find relief and an increase in joint function on this supplement. Some dogs, in more advanced stages of arthritis, require even more joint support, and VetriScience makes levels 1, 2, and 3 for these dogs. By the time you get to the Glycoflex 3, they’ve thrown in just about every nutritional supplement known to help joints, and it seems to work.
For the past year, we’ve also been using Trixsyn, which is a joint supplement made from hyaluronic acid, or “HA,” that is actually made by bacteria. HA is the substance that bathes the joints. This particular supplement, when taken orally, has been shown in studies to go directly to the joints. It seems to work well when Glycoflex doesn’t. This supplement is in an almost-tasteless thick liquid form.
 |
Ozzie: Read his story:http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/site/view/143142_OzziesLaserTestimonial.pml |
For the past 3 years, we’ve been offering laser therapy. We use a Class IV laser, which is the most effective in treating arthritis. The dogs just hang out with the owners while a tech runs a probe over and around the affected joint(s). Depending on the size of the dog, this takes anywhere from 4 minutes (one knee in a small dog) to 16 minutes (2 hips in a large dog). While the laser is stimulating all the good inflammation and squelching the bad inflammation, while the cartilage is being stimulated to heal, and while the nerve pain is going away, the dog’s happy hormones known as endorphins start to flow, making this a great experience all around. The results have been AMAZING. For more information, visit: http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/site/view/137905_ClassIVLaserTherapy.pml
Acupuncture is another therapy that we have found to be very effective in treating arthritis and the rest of the dog that is sporting the bad joints. We have two veterinarians on staff, Drs. Green and Hanna, who are trained in acupuncture. This usually requires a series of 4 weekly treatments. For more information on acupuncture, visit: http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/services_acupuncture.php
Steve Fries, DC, has been our right arm for many years now. He’s a chiropractor who’s trained for over 1000 hours in animal chiropractic, and who devotes most of his practice to animals. He’s been coming to WAH to adjust our patients for over 10 years. Most dogs with arthritis develop misalignments (known as subluxations) in their spines secondary to shifting the weight unequally. Some throw out their backs at the time of the trauma that resulted in the ACL tear, for example. Dr. Fries has been absolutely indispensible in our anti-arthritis drive. By realigning the spines and working on the arthritic joints, he’s restored the quality of life to hundreds of our patients. Here’s more on Dr. Fries: http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/veterinarians.php
And finally, the diet. Many dogs find relief from converting to a raw or home-cooked diet. It seems that the less the food is processed, the more anti-inflammatory it is for the dog. We’ll talk about diets for dogs in a later blog. For now, you can visit:http://wilmingtonanimalhospital.com/info_nutrition.php
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete