Arthritic dogs - are your dogs suffering more in this weather?

Just curious really.

Jess my 2yr old newf has really bad arthritus on her knee.

She has had so many problems in the past year, dealing with a wound that wouldn't heal up, but not noticed any relating to the arthritus. But it would have been hard to pin point.

After putting honey on it, it is now looking so good and is almost completely knitted back togeather.

Only 3 days ago, my daughter and i where studying the wound and where cheering how good it looked.

Then that evening jess went to lie down and let out a small yelp. Then seemed fine..

This has happened several times in the last few days.

She is behaving like she is really well, eating anything and everything (like she does when she is normal and feeling good). Runs and bounces around with bianca all day with no problems. Stands on her back legs fine to watch the foxes.

So all is excellent, except this yelp every now and again. There is definately no infection, i've checked her all over, teeth, ears feet etc etc.

The only thing i can think of is with the weather getting cold, is could it be her arthritus as i've now pinned it down to the end of the day. She seems to lay down gently.

I've moved, tugged etc all her legs, checked paws and anything else i could think of and she doesn't bat an eyelid, so its a bit of a mystery.

I've given her some pain killers, (metacalm) last night and again tonight but i'm a bit miffed as 99% of the time she behaves really well.

Are any of your arthritic dogs more painful now.

None of mine suffer from arthritus but Storm used to and he was alot worse in damp, wet weather. It would moan a little and be a little slower than normal.

Jess seems to struggle a little laying down and getting up. Otherwise seems fine.

Just another question to add to this thread.

Glucosamine has anyone used this in human form so to speak rather than getting the stuff from the vets.

If so where do you get it.

My vet said the stuff you buy in the health places was useless on dogs and the the stuff they sell is £92 a bottle. So haven't bought any for months. But need to look into getting her some. Although that sounds like him being a good salesman he was generally very honest about things like this so i always believed him.

We also used it for Storm and it worked good, My sister got it from a place called woods, I cant remember how much it cost but was cheaper than the vets, iirc it was the vet who said look other places as the vets is expensive.

Roxy is suffering at the moment. The wet weather always makes it worse

My girl suffers at the end of the day too this time of year. I give her Dog Gone Pain (DGP) which really helps. I also cover her hips with a fleece blanket when she's snoozing to help keep the joints warm and that seems to help (makes her look real cute too! )

Because keeping joints warm does seem to work, I was actually wondering if you could get neoprene shorts for dogs?!!!!

If any of you have access to a hydrotherapy pool I would strongly recommend it x

My boy has HD ans Spondylosis, and yes in the winter mths he is a little stiffer...just like us, Arthritis in cold weather gives us more trouble, than warm weather.

Glucosamine is an excellent supplement for Arthritis... and yes you can give human form,.. but what you need to make sure off, what ever form you give is the strength... those that you can buy from tesco and such are usually a very weak strenght... so although they may be cheaper, you will need to give double the amount for it to be beneficial.

Always look for HCI and around 100/150gr per tablet.

This is what I use, you can buy it on line, and it will be slightly cheaper than from the vet.

http://www.petmeds.co.uk/c-461-glyco-flex.aspx

I use glyco-flexIII

A little info for you, s to why your vet said shop bought is not as good.

http://www.glucosamine-osteoarthriti...ucosamine-for-

Flame suffers more in damp weather than cold weather. She is a little stiff at the moment and I have her on Cortaflex.

Rusty, my 8.5 year old Irish Setter, has always been a little bit jointy. I think he feels it a bit more when it's cold and damp. I have been giving him a Glucosamine/Chondritin supplement daily for a long time. The ones I use are Vetzyme High Strength Flexible Joints supplement and I am sure they do him some good.