Additional Options For Controlling Arthritis Pain?

[Meandmy]

My old lady, Tori has had arthritis in her rear hips and front right shoulder for quite a long time. She's 14 and 2 months, so I suppose it's to be expected. She's been on 50mg Tramadol 2-3 times daily as well as Metacam per her body weight once per day. This med combo has kept her comfortable.

 

Unfortunately, she is getting creakier in her hips and I feel like we need to change something to make her more comfortable. I have a vet appointment set for next week, but would like to go in armed with knowledge from you folks

 

Other than her arthritis, Tori is in great health *knock on wood*. Her back end is a bit weak but nothing out of the ordinary for a girl her age. She is currently on the Get Up & Go supplements of glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM and Vitamin C from the Greyhound Gang. We tried acupuncture but she is not a good candidate. She hates it, it stresses her out, and the acupuncture vet agreed that it's not doing what it needs to do for her.

 

So I'd love to hear any and all ideas. I am so blessed to have her with us still, and want to make sure her days are as happy and comfortable as possible.

 

Thanks!

[dante2zoe]

I have been using the CMO from Greyhound Gang and Brady seems to be more comfortable on a day to day basis. This chronic cold, wet weather has bothered him, so he gets a half dose of Previcox daily, when needed.

[Robin1017]

One thing to consider is Robaxin (methocarbamol). It is a muscle relaxant, and I got the idea from lots of people here on GT. It can help with muscle spasms/clenching that may be happening due to arthritis, especially if it is in the spinal area. I know you didn't mention spinal arthritis, but it was a different idea than the typical painkillers, so I wanted to mention it. It seems to help Robin, who has arthritis in his right front wrist as well as his spine (and possibly other areas as well).

 

(He is also on meloxicam and the Get Up and Go supplements for his arthritis. He also takes gabapentin, which helps with nerve pain due to his hind end weakness. Haven't tried tramadol, since that makes him anxious and pant-y. But so far this mix of meds and supplements keeps him a happy boy. Robin is 12.)

Edited February 20, 2014 by Robin1017

[DocsDoctor]

Doc is twelve and a half, with some arthritis in his spine, right hip and shoulder area. He's on Tramadol and Metacam too, also various supplements - fish oil, green-lipped mussel, liquid glucosamin and chondroitin.

 

Something that has made a real difference for us is physiotherapy, by a nice girl recommended by our greyhound rescue. She is qualified both as a human and a veterinary physio, and comes to our house every couple of weeks to treat him - that involves massage and some manipulation, a bit of cold laser therapy too. Afterwards he is very happy and relaxed, I think it helps that she comes and does it here - also that she is a greyhound owner herself and knows greyhound habits and anatomies very well. She has given us a sheet of exercises that we do every day in between her visits, and I also do a bit of gentle massage on him myself as needed - by now I can tell which are the achey muscles!

 

Like you we have tried acupuncture, Doc didn't mind it and there was some immediate relief, but the physio seems much more lasting in its effects. When he was first diagnosed with a compressed disc we also did some hydrotherapy on a water treadmill at the vet's, that helped rebuild muscle in his hindquarters but after that we dispensed with it as quite clearly he wasn't enjoying it.

 

Other things that our vet told me to do were to keep him warm, to make sure he had plenty of bedding, to discourage him from doing stairs, but to keep going on gentle walks, to help prevent him seizing up. (Besides, he loves his walks and would be miserable without them!) Also that it was important not to let him get overweight - though there is not much risk of this as he has always been a skinny chap!

 

I've also been thinking of trying adding turmeric to his food, as this is said to be a natural anti-inflammatory, but need to investigate the dose.

 

As well as physiotherapists there are chiropractors, but I'm somewhat wary of those as in the UK at least the manipulations they will do are more extreme, and the science behind them less well-proven.

 

Hope that's helpful - I'll be interested to see if any other new ideas come up in this thread!

[Remolacha]

Tori The only thing I have used that is not on your list is my acupuncturist also does Chinese herbs, and gave Fletcher something called "body sore" that he took along with his Tramadol, Metacam (later Rimadyl after the Metacan seemed to be loosing effectiveness) and acupuncture.

[Guest lanielovesgreys]

I'm not sure I understand just yet, but Vivie is taking adequan shots, gabapentin, tramadol, and deramaxx. She'll not use her bad back leg sometimes, but she's still sprinting across the yard like a 2 year old.

[Acadianarose]

My vet strongly suggested I give my senior lab Dasuquin Soft Chews. I really didn't want to, but ended up trying it. It has really worked well. He is moving much, much better.

[cmc333]

I just started adequon shots for our newly adopted westie. She had her first shot Wed, now I'll be giving her the shots every 5 days for a month, then monthly injections. I had another dog who went the adequon route back in 2001 and it was truly a miracle for her.

 

The syringes and the bottle of adequon were roughly $95. It helps a lot that I can give her the shots; the office visit for the vet to do the injections is $21 plus the cost of the shot. I am hoping that adequon is a miracle worker in this case too.

[JJNg]

Even though you hear about it more for osteosarcoma and nerve pain, gabapentin can help provide additional relief for arthritis as well.

[silverfish]

Tori is on quite a low dose of Tramadol, so you could talk to your vet about upping that (Sid has been on 100mg, three times a day). You can add in various other pain medications. They told me down at the Cambridge vet school recently that it's perfectly alright to use Onsior (a COX1B inhibitor NSAID), Tramadol, Gabapentin and then add in Paracetamol. Seems a huge amount of drugs to me, but at 14 years old, keeping her comfortable is more important than worrying about long-term side effects, isn't it?

We do cosequin, oily fish, massage and swimming. Swimming is great for arthritic dogs and allows them to exercise without weight-bearing. Sid looooves it. He's not allowed to go right now because of his corn surgery, but I'm looking forward to taking him back.

Gentle exercise is recommended for elderly, arthritic dogs, and that means not too far, not too fast. They say four or five very short walks ( probably only five to ten minutes depending on age and condition) is far better than two x twenty minutes, or one times 30 minutes. I doubt your sweet girl can do anywhere near that much anyway, though.

 

A warm coat/waterproof that covers her hips well when it's cold and rainy. Keep her weight under control, of course, and make sure her nails aren't overgrown (I'm pretty sure you know that!). Ramps, slightly elevated bowls, rubber-backed rugs for slippy floors, anything like that will help her.

Memory foam or 'eggshell' foam is a good option for oldies with arthritis, but only if they like it, of course! She should have whatever her little heart desires in the way of bedding.

[Meandmy]

I think one of the reasons she has been so creaky of late is because she hasn't been able to get her daily walks. We've either had too much snow, below zero temps or ice most days for what seems like forever. We usually take a walk around the neighborhood every morning (about 1/2 mile, takes about 10-15 minutes) or shorter if she doesn't seem too interested. We're going to be warm the next couple of days so I should be able to get her outside for a couple of walks. I'm sure this will help. She does move around a bit inside, as she's always been a pacer, so hopefully that is helping a little bit at least.

 

Just to share a cute story about Tori's walks, on Sundays we go to a local community college to walk around and smell some new smells. Tori's in charge of these walks - we go anywhere she wants to go and I'll stand around for however long she wants to smell something (these oldies can smell one spot forever!). I set my timer for 15 minutes as I don't want her to go longer than that. It just wears her out too much. These days our walks last about 10 minutes. She walks everywhere she wants to go, then leads me back to the car when she's done. It's amazing to me that she always knows exactly where the car is. We always walk in different directions and the car is often out of sight for most of the walk, but she always knows just how to get back to it. It's so funny when I see her start to make a beeline to the car.

 

ETA: My siggie pic was taken after one of our Sunday walks. You can see that they really wear her out!

Edited February 21, 2014 by Meandmy

[Guest Yankeegreyhound]

Sara was on Deramaxx and that really worked for her. I also bought a heat pack from a nice greyhound person in England. I heated it up in the microwave. Sara loved it. PM me if you'd like her info.

[Guest HoundSmitten]

There has been some good research showing that Curcumin (Turmeric extract) is as effective as NSAIDs in humans for both rheumatoid and osteo arthritis. There were also studies for dogs, but I don't remember which type of arthritis was tested. Mine has arthritis at the site of a healed break in his leg. He doesn't tolerate NSAIDs, so I've been trying the Curcumin. Results are so-so. I'm going to try a higher dose, then if that doesn't work it's back to the vet for us .

[NeylasMom]

Fish oil! I like the Icelandic Pure brand, you can find it on Amazon and Entirely Pets. Work up slowly to avoid stomach upset to as much as twice what is recommended on the bottle.

 

ETA: Was having problems posting from my phone. You may also want to look into cold laser therapy. Not sure how much it will help with arthritis but it's been very helpful for a couple of things with Zuri and my vet swears by it. She and the techs use the machine on themselves all fo hte time.

Edited February 25, 2014 by NeylasMom

[silverfish]

I think one of the reasons she has been so creaky of late is because she hasn't been able to get her daily walks. We've either had too much snow, below zero temps or ice most days for what seems like forever. We usually take a walk around the neighborhood every morning (about 1/2 mile, takes about 10-15 minutes) or shorter if she doesn't seem too interested. We're going to be warm the next couple of days so I should be able to get her outside for a couple of walks. I'm sure this will help. She does move around a bit inside, as she's always been a pacer, so hopefully that is helping a little bit at least.

 

Just to share a cute story about Tori's walks, on Sundays we go to a local community college to walk around and smell some new smells. Tori's in charge of these walks - we go anywhere she wants to go and I'll stand around for however long she wants to smell something (these oldies can smell one spot forever!). I set my timer for 15 minutes as I don't want her to go longer than that. It just wears her out too much. These days our walks last about 10 minutes. She walks everywhere she wants to go, then leads me back to the car when she's done. It's amazing to me that she always knows exactly where the car is. We always walk in different directions and the car is often out of sight for most of the walk, but she always knows just how to get back to it. It's so funny when I see her start to make a beeline to the car.

 

ETA: My siggie pic was taken after one of our Sunday walks. You can see that they really wear her out!

 

Bless her, she looks to be a real sweetheart. You seem to be doing great with her and being really sensitive to her needs. I bet she loooves you for it, too! I do the same with my oldies. The walks are theirs and they stop and smell as much and as often as they want. Smells are so important to a dog - I've heard it said that this is their 'landscape': we stand and look at a view, and dogs stand and enjoy the olfactory experience in much the same way. Why should we deny them that?

 

Sara was on Deramaxx and that really worked for her. I also bought a heat pack from a nice greyhound person in England. I heated it up in the microwave. Sara loved it. PM me if you'd like her info.

 

We have a microwavable heat pack too. Actually we have two - one for the humans and one for the dogs! They do find it soothing on tired muscles, but I have to be careful to keep it moving because their skin is so thin it can heat them up too much. I tend to use it to 'stroke' them with, running it slowly along the length of the muscles rather than plonking it on.

Edited February 25, 2014 by silverfish

[Meandmy]

I love the idea of heat packs. I make my own (basically just microwavable rice packs) so I'll make one for her this weekend. Great idea!

[krissy]

Adequan or Cartrophen injections. This winter Summit was at a point where he was getting Deramaxx every single day which I wasn't happy about. After the first Cartrophen injection I was able to stop the Deramaxx. He has one injection left this week and then we'll see how long the effect lasts, but I'm super happy with how much of a benefit he's gotten from it and definitely recommend it for my arthritic patients.

[Brandiandwe]

I was going to suggest heat packs (because they help with my aches and pains, thank you competitive sports!). I know there are some dog beds which are completely heated which might be an option? Or maybe even an electric blanket under one of her own rugs just to give her something cosy to lie on?

[krissn333]

Heat packs, massage!, definitely try Robaxin (methocarbamol) and gabapentin. Cold laser therapy, and the fish oil Jen recommended. I used the same stuff for my old kids and it helped a lot.

 

Was going to suggest acupuncture until you said she's not a very good candidate.

[greysmom]

Lazer therapy seems to help some dogs quite a bit. And the drug combo of nsaid (whichever you dog tolerates best), tramadol, and gabapentin seems to help most types of intractable pain. As someone mentioned, if she tolerates tramadol well, you have quite a ways to up her dose there. And get the gabapentin in 100 mg caps so you can adjust the dose as she needs it. Both drugs are better dosed every 6-8 hours than every 12 which is the common spacing - greyhounds tend to metabolize them faster than other breeds.

[TwiggysMom]

A supplement that both Twiggy's holistic and regular vet really like is Duralactin. It acts as an anti-inflammatory without being an nsaid. It uses (I think) hydrolyzed milk proteins (miralactin). I can't say that I've seen results specifically from this (or anything) for Twiggy's issues, but hers is a different case.

 

The fact that both vets have very good things to say about it was enough for me to keep Twiggy on it. (It's clearly not hurting, and may be helping).