Senior Dogs: Ways to Be More Proactive About Arthritis

by Christy Caplan | October 5, 2018

We started a few new techniques for Sherman in the past six months.

I wanted to share these since he’s feeling really good these days and just turned 12 years old. A few of these recommendations are herbs and of course, we’re big fans of acupuncture.

Most dogs are living longer (thankfully) and arthritis will occur as your dogs age. I’ve lived with dogs that have really bad arthritis but fortunately, Shermie isn’t super painful but certainly is showing some early warning signs when he’s outside chasing Walter around.

Remember that dogs hide their soreness well! So consider being proactive as your dogs start to age vs. waiting until the signs are fairly substantial. We have three techniques we’re using to help Sherm these days and we just recently introduced a few of these. Our holistic vet evaluated Sherm’s joints to determine what made the most sense and what would have the biggest impact.

Sherm spends a lot of time outside in the backyard running around. He feels so good he ran into the neighbor’s yard where they keep their horses. I just about freaked out but I was able to throw a slip lead around him and get him back… He feels almost too good!

Top techniques we’re using for arthritis

Adequan:

This is an injectable drug that I administer (a tech at any vet hospital can do this) under the skin. You ultimately taper this off and we’re now administering once a month. This drug restores joint lubrication, relieves inflammation and helps renew the building blocks of healthy cartilage. (Bruisy is on this too).

Tumeric:

Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant. However, the curcumin content of turmeric is not that high.

So our holistic vet provided us with a script that has a higher level of curcumin that is more bioavailable than other supplements.

The combination of all of these items is what’s making a difference but honestly, I think this supplement with Tumeric we’re using is having a BIG impact.

Acupuncture:

This is going to sound dramatic but I’m not sure our older dog Bruiser would be able to move around as well as he does with his twice monthly acupuncture appointments. So Sherm and Walt have been added to the calendar every month – and we’re addressing arthritis and also liver issues as both our guys have varying elevated liver enzymes which is not good.

This is Walter at a recent appointment as I didn’t snap any pics of Sherm with his needles in.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BohD0WlAqDd/?taken-by=wagandcluck

Galliprant

We’re using this with Bruiser but Sherm is having some elevated liver enzyme issues so I took him off of this just in case as it’s an NSAID. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can have noticeable, positive effects for the arthritis patient. But there can also be some side effects which includes kidney and liver damage – pending how your dog feels and if you monitor bloodwork regularly NSAIDs are a great option.

Bruisy is doing really well on Galliprant and his bloodwork has been fine since he started it months ago. It gives him increased mobility when in the backyard hunting for rabbits.

For Sherm, we’ve decided to address some of these early signs so we can avoid anything serious in the future. Here’s a story worth sharing. After Sherm’s dental in May he had a lump removed and was given Metacam. I noticed a difference and a spirit in his step which I was kind of stunned to see – how could I have missed that he was having some pain in his joints! Given the Metacam course was short and only to address the lumpectomy I knew I would need to start considering ways to make him more comfortable. Our vet said this was common! Sherm is good at masking how he feels.