Prednisone For Arthritis

[FountainLady]

My Doc has been having some problems with arthritis. Some of you know his history, he was a captive blood donor dog for 5 years, caged like a lab rat, never getting out of this small crate unless they were going to draw blood from him. Because of years and years of standing on a metal grate floor - with NO exercise what so ever, his front feet are splayed and now very deformed looking. His knuckles are huge, and his toes go in all sorts of directions.

 

We had him to the vets 2 weeks ago for X-Rays - and let me tell you he has some knarly looking joints. His left ankle can only flex about 1/4 of the distance that it should - due to being so riddled with arthritis because the years of physical abuse on his feet and joints.

 

Anyhow - The vet prescribed 10 mg Prednisone to be given once daily for 10 days, and then also I was to give him 2- 50mg tabs of Tramadol every 6-12 hours. I was give a full year prescription for both meds. I finished the first course of Prednisone earlier this week and was told to repeat the 10 day course of Prednisone when needed. I have read all sorts of things on here about Prednisone, and so that has me worried about this drug. How do I know when a new course of this stuff is going to be needed and beneficial? I don't want to give him this any more often then necessary. I have been giving the Tramadol every 12 hours, and he seems to be feeling better.

 

Those of you that are medicating your hounds for arthritic conditions, do you keep them on the pain meds all the time? With the lack of motion in his left ankle, he will now always limp, due to the type of stride he has .... so the limp isn't going to go away & I can't really use that to judge the effectiveness of the treatment. The vet said that when some of his bones fuse together more he will be more comfortable.

 

Doc is only 11, so he will be on drugs for the rest of his life. Just want to know how you have handled arthritis in your hounds and the medications. I don't want to over medicate, but I also don't want him to be uncomfortable. On the bright side, the 10 days on the Prednisone did not seem to bring on excessive hunger or thirst.

[CaliforniaGreys]

Most of mine have been on meds for bad arthritis, but never Pred. I have seen good enough results with the NSAID's which in just my opinion, are safer than the Steroids.

They don't come without some risk, but I feel it's the lesser of 2 evils.

 

Wayne, who has very limited motion in both rear legs, did well on an NSAID.

 

Again, I know there are risks with the NSAID's but I do believe they are a bit easier on the kidneys and the liver than the Steroids.

 

Tramadol is safe to use but I have not had to add it for any of the dogs.

 

I hope you find the perfect combo to make Doc comfortable, what he went through was living hell and it sure would be nice if he could be comfortable.

Pred is what caused Misty to go into total kidney failure however her kidneys were already compromised. But I can not help but hate that drug

Edited January 27, 2011 by CaliforniaGreys

[GeorgeofNE]

I've been on prednisone myself on numerous occasions; the benefits far outweigh the risks with a short course like your vet has suggested.

 

I've also received many cortisone shots into my joints as well as assorted tendons; there is no better relief, IMHO, for pain from inflammation.

 

I would not hesitate to give the treatment a try if he were my dog; my old dog took prednisone for severe allergies, and the only problem he had was that it made him thirsty, which of course meant he had to pee more often.

 

Probably kept him alive for two additional years (yes, his allergies were THAT bad).

[TheFullHouse]

My vet prescribed NSAIDS for both my hounds with arthritis. Usually when the limping is bad and I know they're in pain. They take the meds for 10 days usually and I see a huge improvement. They then go off the meds until they get bad again. Gee has a permanent limp but I can usually tell if she's limping worse and she will start to lose her appetite when she's in pain so I start the meds again for another 10 days. So far it's working for both of my hounds.

[racindog]

NSAID's & pred -all of them- I don't trust them enough to use them regularly. And pred-oh my it can have some nasty side effects. As one poster said not long ago there is a reason death is listed as a side effect with some of these NSAIDS. I will use them briefly for a flare-up but for maintanance I have had great remarkable success with what I hope are safer alternatives. Yucca (the real good kind like from Solid Gold not the weak store kind) has been extremely effective. I believe Claudia- the greyhound gang-- lady may have posted about the reamarkable success in which some people had been able to substitute it for some of the NSAID's without any problem. The Solid Gold that I use is a bitter powder and if you mix it with a little honey most of my dogs will/would gladly eat it as it is flavored with peppermint. The important of Fresh Factors & fish oil etc. should not be overlooked either. Sure hope Doc feels better real soon and you can find the best thing to work for him without too much trial and error.

[IndyandHollyluv]

I don't know that I have much to offer except empathy and hugs for Doc. Last year, I adopted a former racer and blood bank resident who will be 10 in March. Not only is he emotionally retarded (poor soul) but he also has issues probably related to having spent the majority of his life in a crate. In fact, it's all he can do to squat and poo. Poor dog cannot curl his hind end enough to have a proper bowel movement so he usually does two stages of "walk and poop" (perhaps stenosis?)

 

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of long-term meds and try to avoid as much as possible. The vet who performs acupuncture on one of my hounds recommended the Chinese herb "Body Sore" for my hounds ailing backs. I don't know if it would help with arthritis but might be worth a try. I think it's supposed to be an analgesic of sorts; helps soft tissues (muscles and ligaments). I have never noted any adverse effects in my hounds.

 

Good luck! This is for Doc

 

ETA: Just read Racindog's post. I forgot. I also give my dogs a few supplements: Heska FA granules (omega / flax), Fresh Factors and a joint supplement. And I have purchased the Get Up and Go supplements through Greyhound Gang. All good. Will have to check out the Yucca ...

Edited January 27, 2011 by IndyandHollyluv

[Guest MZH]

Your vet sounds quite conservative with the pred, so try not to worry. Our little girl, Perri who is about 60 pounds and not quite 3, is on it as I type; she's been on 20 mg a day for a week and then will be tapered off it. I've not seen excessive peeing at all and zero side effects. Tramadol is a good long-term drug unless he has a side effect; most don't though. A friend has a 7 year old arthritic girl and she's been having Rimadyl and frequent doses of tramadol since she was 2 when she had a severe hock break. She's was on pred for a bit, IIRC.

 

As someone who has had rounds of pred (like Susan I can tell you it really takes away all pain for a couple of weeks if given in high enough doses. It's such a blessing to not have pain, even for a little while. I've known dogs who on 40 to 60 mg pred a day for quite some time. They just wouldn't be comfortable without the higher doses; it's a quality of life issue for some.

 

I used to hear good things about DGP (Doggone Pain) although I've never given it. That's another possibility to add to the other good suggestions given today.

[OwnedBySummer]

Is it too late by this stage to add Glucosamine supplements? My old boy (non-grey) got Glucosamine for the whole 5 years that I had him. I adopted him at 10 and he came with both arthritis and hip dysplasia, both hips. He also was on Metacam for the whole time, with no side effects. I kept him on the lowest dose of Metacam which worked, so for the majority of the time he was actually on a half dose.

 

Summer has a "clicking" joint and I have her on Glucosamine already because of that. I want to stop or stave off any arthritis which may be coming to that joint.

 

Good luck and I hope you find the combination which works for your Doc!

[Guest MZH]

I wonder if hyaluronic acid would help. It's great for connective tissue healing, knee repairs and lots of other stuff but it promotes cancer, so if that's there undetected it's not so good after all.

[Burpdog]

I've used pred the last year or two of their lives on several of my guys and I've been lucky: they all tolerated it well.

 

I start with Joint Health & Fresh Factors and when they become not enough, add the pred. I have used 5mg once a day to start with and a few of them were on that a year before going up to 10mg. Also, I've used it every other day (on the odd days) on a few and it works, and keeps the side effects down. (that was how I took it when I was on it and I lasted 6 years before side effects started)

Edited January 27, 2011 by Burpdog

[Guest MZH]

One of our dogs would have found life intolerable without pred; every time we tried to wean him off it he was clearly unhappy. All he needed was 5 mg every other day but other conditions need to start high and then reduce and generally stop.

 

One of my vets has always said, to paraphrase, "Don't just tickle the pain by under-dosing; slam it down before it takes hold by giving the strongest med at the dose that will do the job."

[PatricksMom]

Personally, I would add a good joint supplement (it will take 4-6 weeks to see any efffect), and try dropping down to just the tramadol to see how he does. Then go from there if he needs more. Patrick has done well on tramadol for years, and now we add meloxicam as needed.

 

eta: but if milder stuff doesn't work, I'm very much of the opinion you do what you have to keep them painfree--we worry about the long term effects, they only feel the pain.

Edited January 27, 2011 by PatricksMom

[DesiRayMom]

Personally, I'm not a fan of Prednisone. My bridge boy Gringo took it for IMHA, & DesiRay took a course for nail issues; both of

them lost weight like crazy, to the point where it freaked me out & I have since decided no Pred unless it's a dire situation.

 

DesiRay has taken Metacam for the past year for front end lameness; I've tried to wean him off, but he doesn't enjoy his walkabouts

at all without it. He's been on it for a year; I've done bloodwork every 6 months, & so far so good.

 

I know a lot of folks don't believe in NSAIDs because of liver and/or kidney issues, but that's why I do bloodwork often & IMHO

constant pain is unacceptable.

 

Hugs to that sweet boy; I hope you find the things that work for him & make the rest of his life comfortable.

[FountainLady]

I want to thank every one for their replies! We have tried supplements in the past, including the Greyhound gangs, and MSM. They really didn't seem to make much of a difference. I think that Doc will be doing better when it isn't so d*mn cold outside, too! After this first round of Pred, the limp is much better when he walks, but of course when he jogs/trots it is very noticeable.

 

We had a terrible time with drug side affects with my DH when the doctor put him on Statins and Fibrates for high chlosterol - he had so much muscle wasting and weakness - that he thought he was dying. After I did much research on the internet, I found out that these things should be banned, they cause so many problems in so many people. It has made me very leary of any drugs - for ourselves or our greyhounds.

 

For now, I'll try 1 ten day round of Pred on and two weeks off - see how that works. If he starts limping more at a walk, then I will try the rounds of Prednisone closer together. I had a friend that had a labrador with an auto-immune disorder that had her dog on Prednisone daily for years - but Labs aren't Greyhounds, and they don't react the same way to drugs.