My lab just been diagnosed with arthritis

Hi all.

Would like to know if anyone else has a dog diagnosed with arthritis at a young age and what the treatment options and prognosis is?

My lab is 3 1/2 and has been diagnosed with arthritis in both elbows. He had an operation at 6mths for a form of elbow dysplasia (OCD) and we were told he would probably develop arthritis as he got older, however we didn't expect it so soon.

Any input would be very much appreciated!

Jo xx

Hi,
My Bullmastiff, Teagan was diagnosed with HD and arthritis at 1 year old.
The vet told me she needed to be kept on lead for the rest of her life, short walks, and they gave me some medication for her.

I went for a second opinion at the Animal Hospital in Liverpool. We saw an Orthopedic Surgeon who x-rayed her.
She said she had good muscle tone, which helped a lot. She said Teagan didn't need to be kept on lead, and she didn't need the medication at that time.

I put Teagan onto Arden Grange food, as it has supplements for her joints in it.
About a year ago I added another supplement into her food (Flexi-joint), and this year she has just started having Cartrophen injections for the arthritis, as she was getting really stiff and sore in her wrists after walks.

Since the Cartrophen injections she's been great, with no stiffness

She will be 7 in March, so I think she's done pretty well to get to this age with no medication etc.

HTH a little.

I agree with Hevvur about the exercise and the importance of keeping muscle tone.

Swimming is great exercise for a dog with arthritis and hopefully, as a lab, yours will really enjoy it.

Hydrotherapy can help (particularly in the winter when outdoor swimming might be a bit cold). Some hydrotherapists will manipulate the joints to get rid of the 'jaggy bits' (sorry for the non-technical term!) which cause some of the discomfort and inflamation.

I've been using green lipped mussel extract on my collie - I tried other supplements without success, but this has natural anti-inflamatory properties and there are proven results (in people rather than dogs). Might not work for everyone, but it certainly works for her.

She had arthritis when we got her age 6 years. She is now 10 years old, still comes on 2 or 3 hours walks, still does fun agility (low jumps only) and still runs around like a pup. She is still some days after a very long walk (but then so am I!)

i would recommend hydrotherapy, my staffie was diagnosed with hip dysplacia and start of athritis at age 2, and now is about to turn 10 and hasnt really been overly bothered. Has the odd bad day particularly if has overdone it or cold, but the hydrotherapy built up his muscle tone so well that the vet was really pleased with him overall.

We feed a diet with glucosamine and he is not on any other medication and we also havent done hydro for 4 years and he is perfectly good...

good luck

Sorry to hear your boy has arthritis

Stone has arthritis in both elbows (one quite severe) - he was diagnosed 6 months ago as having UAP at age 3 1/2.

He went to see a specialist who said he could operate but it might make them worse. He recommended leaving them as although the joints are rubbish he thinks they are quite stable and was surprised how much movement he has in them.

He had to retire from agility , no jumping off things (out of the car etc) but carry on his regular walks to keep the muscle built up. He has been on Seraquin for the last 6 months and I have Metacam to give him if he has bad days. In the last 6 months he has had a few times when he has limped and cried in pain - a couple of days rest and he was fine again. Vet said it's not the end of the world as long as we are careful. Most of the time you wouldn't even notice.

Toby the black lab had untreated ocd when I got him at a year old. My vet told me short walks and no ball playing EVER! I tried it, my god was he miserable. Ball playing resumed slowly, and once he had built up some muscle tone, you would not have known anything was wrong. Labradors quite often do not show pain until they are in a great deal, so I was very vidgelant and wouldn't let him do too much,but enough to keep the muscle tone he had built up. Toby was on Metacam and synaquin daily from the age of six. Toby went to the vets every 3 months for ahealth check for being on medication. The vet was always amazed at how fit he was and actualy changed her views on exercising dogs with arthritis. When we moved up to Cumbria the vet we saw up here also was impressed with Toby's fitness, but if he didn't get his metacam (he was a very bad eater especialy for a lab) a limp would appear. Toby died of a stroke at over 14 years of age, still looking quite like an old athlete. If I had followed the vets origional advice I do not think he would have lived half as long or as happy a life as he did.

Sorry I forgot to put Toby was an avid Swimmer. Winter or summer I couldn't stop him from going in any water we saw.I feel this made a huge differance to keeping him fit.

please do get a second opinion they are not always right.

Thank you for all replies. I feel much better about his future and how to handle everything.

Nice to know there are some helpful people out there!!

There are several routes you can take to maximise your dog's comfort:

Supplements

Green Lipped Mussel Extract
Chondroitin
Glucosamine
MSM
Bromelain
Devils Claw
Rosehips
Ginger
Fish Body Oil
Vitamins C and E
Cetyl-Myristoleate

Treatments

Hydrotherapy
Acupuncture
Homeopathy
Anti inflammatory drugs from vet
magnet therapy

Talk to your vet about suitable products for your dog, most of the supplements require a minimum of 6 weeks to filter through to the appropriate parts before seeing any benefit.

HTH