Options for helping older dogs with arthritis

Our beloved rescue Staffie – about 11 years old – is starting to really struggle with arthritis, and I’m keen for some hivemind guidance. We assumed we’d go down the route of cortisone steroid injections like footballers get, but the vet said that is out of favour now and gave us dog codeine instead.

Because the dog is a rescue we can’t insure him for more elaborate treatments, and we don’t know much about his medical history other than he’s been overweight for a while (we’re getting it off him). He’s a brilliant dog with huge lust for life, so we want to help/support him, without going down a vastly expensive and interventionist medical route.

Any steers much appreciated.

I think swimming is normally suggested isn’t it?

Or one of those hydro walking tank things.

My sister took her old Lab to the water treatment place and it was successful to some extent. The dog was the old shorter waterproof variety of Lab, quite heavyset with associated hip issues.

We give our ageing collie something called librela, Its prescription only and not cheap but a year ago we were thinking it was time for dognitas, he was in pain, could hardly stand and just looked depressed. Now, he’ll never be the dog he was, but he enjoys short walks, even breaks into something approaching a run on occasion, plays and steals cat food like a pro.

Its not a painkiller as such, its some kind of pain antibody, ask your vet. And don’t let them tell you they can’t give you a prescription to buy online and administer yourself, it does make it quite a bit cheaper if you don’t mind giving injections yourself.

my missus swears by youmove joint suppliements. I have no idea if its snake oil or not but shes insisted that my 11 year old terrier be put on it. He’s still an energetic little shit getting everywhere hes not supposed to be.

‘Not cheap’ doesn’t tell you much so for information, It costs us about £40 for each monthly dose, and we have to have a consultation and prescription every 6 months whatever your vet charges for that.

Good timing as i’m not long back from the hydrotherapy place with our lab (9) as she’s getting early onset of Arthur Itis. We did look into options with the vets but the meds discussed all came with long-term side effects which meant once on that avenue there’s no going back.

We give ours 1 paracetmol per day with food an monthly hydro sessions after an initial period of twice weeklys. It has made a difference with her ease of walking and if it staves off the meds route for another few years it’ll be worth it. our monthly sessions are about £75 a pop and at the moment is covered under her insurance to some degree.

The other bit of advice was to steer clear of rapid stop/starts so no ball throwing/chasing as this puts a massive strain on the joints.

Edit: forgot to mention the Yu-Move with food too.

We used YuMove for our border terrier when he was in his senior years too. Seemed to put a tiny bit of a spring back in his step. Cheep so worth a try…

https://yumove.co.uk/pages/joint-supplements-for-dogs?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItIbs4JOUhAMVeJFQBh0hRQDgEAAYASAAEgLrJPD_BwE

…arthritis is hard to treat in humans nevermind dogs and I can only imagine the bills you’ll face with vet treatment. Once you start you’ll feel terrible if you want to stop because it becomes too expensive.

Has your vet suggested metacam? Don’t have any experience with dogs but it’s done wonders for our cat’s arthritis.

Our old staffie was really helped by a regular dose of “golden paste”. Turmeric, black pepper and coconut oil. It can upset digestion so ween them onto it very slowly. We used to make our own and there’s loads of information online about this.
Western medicine is, I believe, also investigating the anti-inflammatory effects of turmeric.
You can now buy turmeric capsules for pets and we’ve just started our lurcher on these.

Librella injections work really well.

Our staffy was on it for last 6 months or so of her life and it had her moving about really well.

Ask vet about it and get a prescription then just do it yourself. I was giving her the injection myself and it’s very simple. Cost was about £45 a month and way better than being on galliprant that she was before.

Love staffies. Miss ours so much. 

+1 for metacam, kept our old doggo going, until the big C got him

Though he loved Hydro-therapy too, and became the local vets poster boy… but then he did try to spend his whole life in the canal, if you weren’t watching

Metacam can be effective but check it against any other medications, it can be a real bugger for interactions.

YuMove twice daily, with meals plus Librela injection once a month/6weeks worked wonders for our old Whippet in later life. Hi was always a bit stiff in his movements from an injury when he was younger so was taking YuMove for years, the Librela was a late addition.

As has been said above, there are side effects to the Librela (and others) that cannot be reversed once on that road, our boy already had kidney issues before taking it so we had to manage that through other medication. It was worth it though, he did have a good Q/L and enjoyed his walks and being outside in his favourite place stretching his legs.

Our ageing pup went on metacalm/cam, made a big difference and he was mobile right up to the last day of year 17. Original prescription was from his vets, then the vet said buy on line, it’s cheaper. So we did

Also tins of fish, they love it and lots of oil of course. Ours got plenty, some every day. It’s pretty cheap, sardines and mackerel in a tin

We never skimped on excersise, that was important to him right til the end

We did what @Onzadog did with Golden paste for our Staffie. It made a huge difference. Sadly passed to the big field in the sky from old age. 🙁

loads of info online about it.

Western medicine is, I believe, also investigating the anti-inflammatory effects of turmeric.

Turmeric has been widely used in the horse world as an anti-inflammatory for many years.

We use YouMove, togehter with Galliprant that seems to have helped.

The biggest issue is telling the dog to calm down a bit!

Can I just point out the the stw consultancy fee has not been paid.

Pitchas man pitchas

Yumove Max twice daily here for our KBD plus as mentioned above plenty of cheap tinned mackerel (and tuna) from Home Bargains swilled under a tap before serving to get the bulk of tomato sauce or brine off it.
Lots of exercise – goes Karnicross training twice a week plus his usual walks with me. Lots of swimming in warmer months.

No signs of slowing down for a big dog – will be 10 this year.

I posted the long and challenging history of the class of drugs that eventually became Librella in dogs (but nothing for humans below). For the money (£70/mo) I cannot tell you what value that medicine is. For reference the human cost of Enbrel, an anti-TNF is 100x more expensive, and had the human version made it, the cost would have been the similar.

This is the history…

That injection cost Pfizer (Zoetis) well over a billion dollars in development and they had nothing in humans to show for it at the end! The proposed cost of the same human treatment was about 50x the cost. You should consider it a bargain!!! It wasn’t really aimed at dogs and cats.

if you’re interested, it’s an NGF antibody. The human form, tanezumab could not be dosed high enough due to some rare safety issues (rapid osteoarthritis progression). It ended up at a dose that looked like ibuprofen. The dog version isn’t such an issue (for dogs). That might be because the trials were very small or the dogs couldn’t fill in the patient questionnaires 😉

After a good while of Galliprant the librella was a significant difference. She started moving like she used to about 5 years earlier.

As with any dog meds Id always get a prescription from vet then buy the drugs online. Cost difference is significant. Also make sure vet is giving longest prescription possible so you don’t get forced into frequent routine visits.

+1 for Golden Paste + paracetemol occasionally when needed, even take Turmeric myself (albeit with Almond Milk instead of coconut oil) and have noticed a difference in relieving aches and pains (almost mid 50s hardtail rider).

There’s plenty online about the benefits of circumin.

Metacam can be problematic with digestion and upset stomach, needs to have dose increased over time as mobility issues worsen and is pretty expensive. 

Our 10 year old dog has been on Loxicom for a few years now. Needs blood test every 6 months or so.  Also as mentioned above avoiding things like ball throwing which involve sprinting and sudden direction changes. She would still do it but suffers the next day.
She has just had a metal plate screwed into her back left leg after snapping her cruciate ligament.  I often say the only reason I haven’t retired yet is the cost of running two dogs. But they are worth it.

Another dog on Librella here – has made a significant difference to her mobility, and consequently, her general zest for life. She’s got a shedload of other health issues now at 17, but similarly to an earlier poster, we thought we were getting near ‘last trip to the vet’ territory back in 2020, so the 3 additional years are a definite bonus.

This is her just before Christmas (patch on her side was shaved by vet for a liver function test), on a 5km leisurely wander.

Out in his favourite place not long before we lost him.

My brother’s lab got half an aspirin a day on the advice of the neighbour who was a Dick Vet lecturer, but that was over 10 years ago. He said there were other options, but most at the time were ultimately just pain killers, and an aspirin would be just as effective and cost far less.

It certainly got him up and moving in the mornings, until the final day where he just couldn’t get up 🙁

When my 1st Lab was getting older we found that glucosamine tablets each day definitely helped (and conversely when we ran out we saw him get stiffer walking).

From my understanding, metacam is basicaly an anti inflamatory, a lot like ibuprofen, so not great to take in large doses over extended periods of time as it can be quite harsh on the liver? kidneys?

I’m quite tempted to introduce some oily fish to my dogs diet in the form of tinned makerel/tuna etc. as small treats rather than whole tins at a time due to the mercury content from our poisoned oceans.

It’s dfficult to know what to do for the best really.

The little bugger will happily snaffle up an entire £8 packet of smoked salmon, given half a chance! Don’t ask me how I found that out!

Yumove and metacam has all but eliminated joint issues with our Border.

And she’s had a lot quirks since a young age.

Short fast walks in the forest, occasional help down from settee etc and hardly any pavement walks has done the trick too.

Bit stiff first thing in a morning but that’s it.

Our Rottweiler/collie cross had a very successful 2 years of weekly lazer therapy before it got too bad and we had to add in medication as well. Was sceptical of the lazer at first, sounded all very crystals tarot readings but seemed to work very well. In the end it was the meds doing his kidneys in that meant we had to have him put down so I’d look at other options before the medication route

Willow has an elbow that has proved problematic. She’s fed raw, and we include a good amount of fish, either from chicken and salmon mix or a couple of sprats. She has a cosequin (glucosamine) tab and a squirt of salmon oil.

Keeping a lab’s weight as low as possible but retaining muscle to support the joint is crucial. We very carefully weigh her food and she gets plenty of exercise. She weighs a consistent 27kg.

She has had a regular Cartrophen jab in the past, but hasn’t needed one recently. If she’s working I’ll give her a Rimadyl tab before and after the day.

Green Lipped Muscle tablets from Holland and Barratt , especially when the offers are on,  ingredients match the likes of YouMoove etc.

My 16 old collie used to have 2 a day and she still ran round like a puppy.

+1 for librella.  It brought  real quality to the last few months of our dogs life. We just wish we had found out about it sooner