Arthritis Getting Worse?

[Robin1017]

So I've had trouble this past year with my finances and have looked for ways to cut corners. One area I tried was in purchasing Robin's supplements for his arthritis. He was on the full range of supplements (glucosamine, msm, chondroitin, and vitamin c) from the Greyhound Gang from June of last year until about November, and it worked wonders. I had my goofy, zoomie-doing Robin back. I hadn't realized how his arthritis, which is mild, was impacting him until I saw the difference once the supplements took effect. But then in November I ran out of them and I was broke, so when I went to the grocery store and saw generic glucosamine for humans on sale for buy one get one free, I decided to try it, and he has been on it since.

 

Lately, though, I'm wondering if it is as effective. They say generics are the same, but I'm wondering.... He is often sore after long walks, not just after zoomies anymore. And when he is sore, he has trouble settling down and sleeping because he can't get comfortable, and sometimes he balks at jumping in the car (which is NOT like him). What is strange is there's no discernible limp--just an overall stiffness and soreness.

 

I decided today that I think it's his hips. He had a really bad night last night, which was strange because he hadn't done zoomies or anything. Today we were out in the yard and he tried to go away from me. I put my hands on his hips to stop him, and he screamed and snapped at the air near me. I got the message loud and clear--he's hurting. So maybe it's his hips? He is due for the vet, and I was thinking maybe it's time for medicine. But then I remembered the cheap-o supplements I've been using. Maybe that's part of the problem??

 

So has anyone seen a difference in effectiveness with generic supplements? And for those with hounds that have arthritis in the hips, what does that look like? Is there a limp? Or stiffness? How can you tell if hips are hurting?

 

Not that I won't go to the vet, of course, but any info is welcome!

Cathy

[TheFullHouse]

You may have to increase the dose with some generics. If he's been getting steadily worse he may need something a little stronger to get things back in control. Sorry he's feeling so poorly.

[OwnedBySummer]

I haven't had an arthritic greyhound (yet) but I had a very arthritic lab/pointer boy. My biggest clue that something was up with his hips was the "bunny hop" when he ran. The hind legs moved more or less together. Also, from the back, they can look sort of like they are walking in diapers, if you can imagine that. There was never a limp. I had him on glucosamine, human kind (Jamieson's) as well as a half-dose of Metacam. I adopted him around the age of 10 and these were his meds for the next 5 years.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Sam's arthritis is in his spine. We've had x-rays, and it shows up on the films. In his case, he'll lie down and roll onto his side to rest, then be unable to get up without yelping when he lifts his head or tries to roll upright. Sam's on generic glucosamine--the same stuff I take and what Jacey takes. I'm not sure it's effective or helpful for any of us, but we keep taking it. (What I read someplace is that glucosamine is either really helpful or really not. The numbers supposedly are too significant in both directions for it to be a placebo effect, but if it helps it helps a lot. I don't think the study commented on generic vs brand-name.)

 

Sam's had two chiropractor visits. They were helpful right then, but he's had another flare up only about a month after his last visit. The chiropractor is 90 minutes away, can't always be scheduled on short notice, and I have a hard time getting him to appointments when we have to schedule around my job. Sam's last flare showed up late on a Friday night, and there was no way to get him to the chiropractor for days. (If you try a chiropractor, make sure you get x-rays first so you know there's nothing going on that the chiropractor might make worse. You want to make sure there are no disk or nerve problems.)

 

My vet has given me prescriptions for metacam (an anti-inflammatory) and methocarbemol (a muscle relaxer). The metacam instructions are scary: no more than one-half pill in 24 hours, and I chopped all the pills in half the minute I got them home so I don't get confused and give Sam too much. He could have had Rimadyl, but we were trying to find a prescription I could get filled on short notice (like late on a Friday night) at a regular pharmacy. Rimadyl, apparently, makes people sunburn easily, so people-pharmacies don't carry it. Metacam is prescribed for people (or dogs) with osteo-arthritis, so it's right for Sam. (Understand that you cannot mix NSAIDS or steroids. Don't even give Robin an aspirin if you're going to get stronger pain killers for him. There's a wash-out period for all these drugs. When you talk to your vet, make sure the vet knows exactly what pain relievers you've given Robin--how much, and when.)

 

The methocarbemol is the best help for Sam. Since his arthritis is in his spine, he seems to be tensing up when it hurts, and the muscles are pulling even more. (Or something like that. We didn't get too technical about this at the vet's. But when poor Sam would manage to get to his feet, he'd stand there arched like a pissed-off cat until he could relax enough to straighten out his spine. It would have been funny if he hadn't so obviously been in pain.) Anyway, if this was arthritis in a joint like a knee, the muscle relaxers wouldn't have been very helpful, but they're good for him with spinal arthritis, and they might be helpful for Robin's pain, too. Sam can take more muscle relaxers than anti-inflammatories--and take them more often--so I'll be giving the muscle relaxers to make him feel better, and the anti-inflammatory to try to calm things down when the trouble flares up. I just take a look at how he's acting when I get home from work. If he's panting a lot, he may be hurting. If he won't settle down after dinner, then he is hurting and I need to give him the metacam with food, and one or two of the methocarbemol (with or without food; the idiot drug pamphlet says not to give it with food--then says it can be given with food, but not with a large meal--my vet says it doesn't matter). If you start Robin on muscle relaxers, try to do it when you can be there to see the effect on him. They can make people (and presumably dogs) a little dizzy. Sam didn't have any trouble; he was so relieved to be feeling better that he just jumped into my bed and went straight to sleep. (And while he was in pain he wasn't able to jump on my bed at all.) Sam also was able to navigate the stairs while taking the methocarbemol, which is a big deal since we sleep upstairs.

 

Oh, and Sam's two bad locations on his back were T9-10 (about the location of the withers--just past his shoulder blades), and L2-3. L2-3 are just exactly next to where the hipbones jut on a dog. When the chiropractor went to adjust L2-3, Sam screamed, leapt as far away from her as he could, and gave her The Look. (Stinkeye is too mild a term for that look.) So Robin's reaction might indicate spinal pain rather than hip pain...and muscle relaxers might do him a lot of good. (P.S. Neither drug is enormously expensive. I signed up for Walgreen's drug club, which saves a few dollars on each refill. And Sam doesn't need to take either drug all the time. On the flare up where we saw the vet and got the drugs--the flare up two weeks ago--I only gave Sam one dose of the metacam. He got about 7 or 8 of the methocarbemol over a period of 5 days. And he hasn't needed any of those pills in the last 9 days.)

 

Good luck with Robin, and let me know if I can give you any more info.

 

 

P.S. Sam's flare up happened four days after his eleventh birthday.

[Remolacha]

You have to be careful with glucosamine supplements, lots of them (and not just "generics") don't have the amount they claim, at least not in a useful form. I've found with my own supplements, I can really tell the difference between brands.

 

Fletcher has been on supplements, and pain meds as needed, for arthritis in his shoulders for about three years. He is only 9 The Joint Health from Springtime has been good for him until recently. I've noticed him having trouble getting up, and the old man walk, like he is trying to limp on both back legs at the same time, and falling when he takes corners too fast, so I think he's now got it in his hips, too. I've ordered him some Dasuquin. It has a much higher amount of glucosamine, and is kind of the "gold standard" of supplements. It is more expensive.

 

Another thing I've found that helps me (and so I am assuming it would work for the dogs too) is MSM, and it is pretty cheap.

[Guest peacehound]

my girl Peace is nine and she is on Dausquin and Deramaxx for her arthritis..she has been on supplements since she was six and just about a year ago I had to put her on Deramaxx, it's worth it for her quality of life is much better on the drug..so for a couple years she was fine on a cheaper supplement but now needs Dausquin good luck, it is hard seeing them in pain isn't it?

 

something else that seems to help with Peace is several shorter walks a day, when she was young it was a long morning walk and a short one after work, now it's several ten minutes ones, seems to keep her more flexible and not as stiff..we also close off the stairs so she can't run up them while we are at work, she only goes up to bed with us at night

[KF_in_Georgia]

Sorry, folks. Complete and utter brain-fart here.

 

Sam's taking meloxicam as an anti-inflammatory, not metacam.

[LadyGrey]

Angel has just been diagnosed about two weeks ago with a little arthritis in her right back hip. However, her limp was very bad as if she was limping in a circular motion of the hip. She doesnt walk down the three steps on the deck anymore, she jumps the whole three as it hurts too much. The X-rays revealed a little arthritis in her right back joint area on the bone. If it is just a LITTLE arthritis, why was she limping so so badly? Anyway, since she has been on the half of tablet of the 75mg of Deramaxx, and two tablets per day of Cosequinds (a Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplement) she has improved very much. The limp is just a little limp now, although she still wont walk down the steps, but jumps the whole three. But I expect her to continually improve over time. I hate that arthritis is progressive!

[NHNora]

Nora is 9 now, and for her birthday I got her a bottle of Liquid Health K9 Glucosamine! We had used that in the past when she had a little knee injury, and my vet at the time said the liquid formulas are more easily absorbed into the body. I am planning on using that for her daily now, as she does have some general stiffness, and more trouble with that bad knee.

 

I also wanted to investigate a daily(somewhat) arthritis med, and started with Deramax. It literally has NO effect on her. It's very strange, b/c I was just using a human-aspirin now and again, and could easily see the improvement with that. My vet suggested another med, but it was just as expensive as the Deramax, so I think we are going to bump down a price level, and try Rimadyl again, which I know worked for her at the time of the original injury. It can have side effects from longer usage, so we are going to work on finding the smallest dose that works for her. Also, when I was on their site, they have a $10 off coupon right now, if you sign up and give your vet's info:

 

https://www.rimadyl.com/display.aspx?drug=RC&species=CN&sec=000

[KF_in_Georgia]

Sam's having a rough day today. When his back bothers him, he tries to make it feel "right" by shaking as if he has water in his coat. When he does that, the pain makes him stop the shake right away.

 

There's been some of that going on today, so he's had a couple of the muscle relaxers, and an anti-inflammatory with dinner. He's sleeping peacefully right now, and I think I've headed this off before it got to the yelping stage.

 

I just wanted to mention this "shake" symptom: it's not something I'd expect from a dog suffering from arthritis in a hip, but it makes sense for dogs with back trouble, so it might help diagnose where a dog is hurting.