11 yrs and starting to show arthritis - Page 3

Koots, I'm in North Carolina

I would try natural remedies before i would use pharma. If natural does not work i would ask . Am I trying to help the dog or to ease my pain seeing to limping.Do not do that for your slef do it for the dog . Dogs can deal with pain well but if the pain is too much - more then causing little limp then I would go with some synthetic anti inflammatory. But first try these remedies. The will not hurt and may h2lp.

Dog limps because inflammation below are natural powerful anti inflammatory   remedies.  

1/ fish oil 4 capsules 2x per day. ( not cod liver oil but fish oil)

2/ sea kelp which you can buy on internet. I recommend this brand:

http://www.amazon.com/Emerald-Cove-Pacific-Seaweed-35-Ounce/dp/B001216DLG

grind it in a coffee grinder or ninja bullet blender  to powder and mix about tea spoon of it per day   with ground raw meat.

 You can mix it with turmeric but some dogs hate the taste of turmeric so you need to use only a little and mash the taste of it.  

3/ Go and buy in local oriental supermarket chicken feet and cook them freeze them and give them to the dog as a treats. They are the  most bio-available source of   hyaluronic acid, glucosamine chondroitin, MSM all joint forming . 

 If that does not help try aspiring and if that does not help try rymadil. 

If you suspect nerve pain, ask your vet about gabapentin for your old girl. It can give significant pain relief for nerve pain and I noticed no side effects when I was using it on my 11 year old and 15 year old a few years ago. It also doesn't seem to upset their stomachs like Tramadol will.

Definitely get her on a joint supplement -- the one I've heard the best things about is the Dasuquin advanced formula (with MSM, glucosamin, and chrondroitin).

Christine

I lost my girl in April aged just over 13 years. For the last 8 years she had been on Metacam for bad HD. Then gradually we added 1000mg strength Omega3 Fish Oil Capsules and Tramadol x 2 twice a day. Also started to give her a supplement called Yumove which did help. Don't know if that is available in the US or not.

I know acupuncture works well as does hydrotherapy. The main thing is to keep muscle mass.

I've upped her joint supplement to 1000 mg glucosamine, 600mg chondroitin 600mg MSM, 600mg Ester-c and am seeing a slight improvement after 2 days. (This is double what she has been on for ages)

I'm going to add things from suggestions one at a time, give it a trial and see how it goes.

I don't think its nerve pain. Maybe arthritis caused by the TV? I can't remember which side it was on. Once she is up and going for a little while, she's fine. Prager, I think we're all a little selfish when it comes to our special dog. I have no intention of keeping her alive if there's nothing left that makes her comfortable. (We're not even close to that point, just thought I'd mention)

I have a lot of suggestions. Thank you all very very much!

Melissa

Melissa: I am having great success with the Microlactin; I bought the powdered version (suggested by Hexe, thank you Hexe) and just put it on my guys food. Stopped it last week as my boy was going into surgery to remove growth. Really can honestly say I noticed the difference when he got up and with his energy, etc... Ordered K9 Vertex but have not gotten it yet. I got the Microlactin from www.swansonvitamins.com. Good luck, I know how heart wrenching these problems can be. You just want to help them as soon as possible for as long as possible. Glad you are searching early...PS: I am not in favor of giving the western drugs available as I feel you might need them later on if the natural path no longer works. JMHO Nan