Natural Arthritis pain relief

Hello!

I am looking for some advice on natural treatments. My 8 year old Border Collie has Athritis in lower back and hips. She has always had some stiffness but this past year it started to get pretty bad to wear even her ball play made her VERY stiff. I started her with the Laser Therapy at my vet and she has gone through 6 treatments now on maintenance and started Hyrdrotherapy (4th weekly swim last weekend). She is also on Fish Oil, Vetriflex ( the new advanced Glycoflex) and is doing much better. She has some bad days but is to the point where she is mainly stiff after laying down. She is great in the mornings but after her day of walking etc at night when she comes in from her walk and lays down she is very stiff getting up and moving for a bit until it walks out. The vet has given my Tramadol and Deramax. I did give her a half of a half of Deramax after her second swim (she was very sore) and she was like a puppy again for a week. I am just so terrified of giving her NSAIDS. Every time I look at them online I see the articles on how 1 NSAID killed their dog etc. It was wonderful to see how it helped but she is still only 8 and I want to find something to work for awhile before having to go to the Deramax. I have read tons of articles on Zeel, DLPA, Traumeel, etc. I would love to try some of these before the Deramax and am overwhelmed with the information. My vet does not get into the natural treatments so I have a hard time asking their advice on them. Has anyone on here used any of the natural treatments for inflammation and had success? If so where do you buy it and how much do you give? I see so many different versions online and do not know where to buy it safely or how to dose. Any suggestions would be so appreciate and Lucy will send her thanks as well. Thank you for your time and i look forward to hearing from you!

Im not in the US so I cant help except to say there are canine homeopaths out there who can help but pain is pain and its unfair to let your dog suffer..

Rather a shorter life pain free than a longer one of suffering.

Good for you but occasionally a NSAID is needed and helps for a while. My collie like yours had painful arthritis. She had been badly negelcted and I was fascinated and impressed that she sought nettles and ate them to relieve pain. I googles it and there are a lot of articles like this one.http://www.motherearthnews.com/natur...z02fmzgoe.aspx. I did not realise at first that indeed she does get stung when she eats them! No one taught her that. Just a natural response and we have abundant nettles here..

That is a very personal decision and one no one but the dogs owner can make, Certainly it is not one I have ever made in a similar situation... When my collie went blind many here assumed I would have her put down and now she is old they think the same. Pain these days is manageable in dogs as well as in people thankfully. The OP has done wonderfully with this dog

Have you tried golden paste turmeric coconut oil and pepper I use that a back on track coat and riaflex as well as hydro for my 7 year old arthritic girl

I'm not sure if yumove and similar are available. Yumove worked great for my dog and I highly recommend it.
Turamac with a bit of black pepper is supposed to help too as are a few other things that are cheap and easy to add into their food.
My Cookie (who has since passed) did great with the hydrotherapy and also had cartrophen injections. The injections as it was explained to me are better to get sooner than later and can help delay but we noticed an improvement. When we moved we found a vet that did acupuncture. By this point he had some back issues too and the acupuncture worked great for him. I was willing to try anything but didn't hold out much hope for it. Proved me wrong. Cookie didn't do well with ANY painkillers, even metacam he could only have a 10kg dose and he was a 30kg dog. Helped him loads. Eventually we lost him to something unrelated but also a pain issue. I totally agree that there is a point that their life is pain 24/7 and when everything else has been tried and failed then you have to really consider what's best. But I don't think your pup is anywhere near this. From what I read the painkillers work but you want something with less side effects, which is exactly what I'd do. Save harsh painkillers for her bad days, one every now and then should be a big problem. Often dogs that have adverse reactions from '1' are allergic, have other health issues (often not known) or their owner/vet has overdosed or mixed up medications.

I don't think anything should live with pain 24/7 without relief and I speak from experience. I've been off work with constant back pain for over 7 months, no end in sight and most days I can't sit long enough to eat a sandwich. But at no point have I wanted to be PTS. Pain is pain, but it can be managed and there are different levels. Please don't recommend to have this poor pup PTS from one post that clearly states after hydro and 1 painkiller she was like a puppy again. Clearly something can and is being done to help her.

Well said the last poster. A relative in Canada has told me re a natural product made there and available in the US; will check on the name and post again..