my dog diagnosed with severe arthritis. What can be done to make his life easier now?
My 8 and a half year old newfoundland has been diagnosed with arthritis. He has severe joint pain and this first came to notice when he had difficulty climbing stairs. also he can’t stand for long period of time and has to sit down every 4 minutes for a minute or 2 before continuing. In short old age has hit him hard and i now want to make his life as easy as possible since he has severe arthritis. What can be done?
Get your dog down to a weight that is on the lower end of normal for the breed. You should also be giving a glucosamine supplement.
Bless him….
A good glucosamine with chondroitin & msm is the first thing. Get human as they are cheaper but the same thing. There are also natural anti-inflammatories such as green lip mussel and devils claw. Shark cartiledge is also used.
You can use a bioflow collar.
You can also see about acupuncture.
Give him MSM and doggy glucosamine supplements to ease the pain. Make sure he has a thick comfortable bed to sleep on and several blankets or beds around the house to stop and rest on. Get a sling to help him climb the stairs if he must go up and down stairs at all.
http://www.k9caddie.com/
A 81 mg coated baby aspirin every day will work wonders. My dog has similar problems and the aspirin really really helps. It’s made for baby people so it is safe for most dogs. A Newfie is a lot bigger than my dog so it may be able to take 2 81 mg tabs a day. When my dog is having a really “ruff” day I slip him a 10mg tab or prednisone that I take myself for my arthritis. It’s probably not a by the book kind of thing but I can easily see how it very much makes him feel and act better.
You may want to speak to your Vet and see if a medication such as Rimadyl would be OK for him to take. Also, you can always buy a Glucosamine/MSM supplement for him such as Glyco Flex III. Yes, do keep the weight off of him.
Get him a bed with a lot of support. My senior gsd/rotti mix ha arthritis too and he has a tempurpedic type bed for orthopedic support. Make sure he isn’t exposed to extreme cold and see if your vet will perscribe rimidyl for the bad days.
You can get Rimadyl from your vet.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=rimadyl
When my GSD was diagnosed with arthritis of the spine my vet gave me pain pills for him, so it would be best if you took him in to your vet. Also ask your vet about giving him glucosamine/chondroitin with MSM, it is a joint supplement that can be bought just about anywhere. Unfortunately the pain pills didn’t help Krieger long enough and we had to make that final trip to the vet. Hope it goes well with your friend.
try to choose the exercises that he will do every morning, make his water and food accessible or nearby so he doesnt have to walk far to eat, if you think your dog needs a more special care, try asking an online vet http://bit.ly/c6qYat – your dog may have special needs that a vet can give you better advice to
There’s alot of good answers posted. My newfie is 21 months has 2 blown out ACL’s and has severe arthritis. (bad breeding) Try to avoid the stairs as much as possible and pick up a sling for the bad days to help support him. We give our boy Carprofen and Tramadol also Glucosamine Chondroitin. I bring his dishes to him or leave them close by. He stays busy with lots of tough toys to chew on. A nice soft bed or blankets for him to lay on.
Give him lots of love, your so lucky to have had him for 8 years. I wish you all the luck.