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Articles > Arthritis > All Articles

Dog Arthritis Older Dogs

Everything You Need to Know About Dog Arthritis in older dogs

Dogs that suffer from arthritis, due mostly to degenerative joint changes, feel lots of pain in their joints. The condition can affect one or more joints, and it is most common in older dogs; nevertheless, in the presence of certain factors, young pals can get it too.

Dog arthritis normally appears because the joints are put under serious and long-term stress or as a result of old injuries. In the same way, when there are congenital joint problems, like hip dysplasia or elbow dysplasia, the older dog is susceptible to becoming arthritic, as it is due to some infectious diseases like Lyme disease.

The symptoms of arthritis

The symptoms you will see in arthritic older dogs are related to the pain they feel in their joints:

Limping

Unwillingness to walk or climb stairs

Trouble rising from a lying down position

Trouble finding a comfortable position to rest

Crying or whimpering

Lack of appetite

Irritability

How arthritis is diagnosed

In order to diagnose arthritis in an older dog, the vet will normally look for radiographic proof of the degenerative changes that are happening in the joints due to the arthritis.

The doctor will most probably also do routine blood screening to identify your pal’s general health condition so as to make sure he is giving your friend a safe and effective arthritis treatment.

It is possible that your vet will want to perform blood tests for infectious diseases if he suspects your dog may have Lyme disease or Ehrlichiosis.

The treatment

Normally, the treatment will involve several things:

Medication. There are various medicines that can help your dog’s arthritis: 

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are very much used to alleviate pain; these reduce inflammation.

Analgesics, which have no anti-inflammatory effects, are also used.

Neutroceuticals, nutritional supplements that have medicinal properties. These may take weeks or even months to show results.

Adequan injections contain a component that protects cartilage and that can be effective in improving joint health and in alleviating pain.

Also for pain relief, there are the corticosteroids. However these may produce more side effects than other treatment options and can’t be used with NSAIDS.

Physical therapy. There are many ways in which physical therapy is used to relieve arthritic pain in dogs. One of the favorite ones is swimming.

Alternative therapies. Here we can mention acupuncture, which has become very popular in treating chronic pain in dogs with arthritis.

Stem cell therapy is also being used with a lot of success to treat this illness. In this therapy, fatty tissue is removed from the dog to process the stem cells in it to later inject them into the arthritic joint. The stem cells will improve the function and health of the joint.

Weight control. Obese dogs are more susceptible to developing arthritis and they experience more pain due to the excess weight; thus, it is vital that arthritic young or older dogs are put into a special diet to help them lose some pounds in favor of a more comfortable life.

By far, the best results in treating dog arthritis are achieved when two or more of these treatments are combined to offer your older dog relief and comfort.