What do the vets do for arthritis for dogs?
I want to get my dog arthritis medicine, but I don’t want to give him baby tyonel I rather spend the money make sure he has the right stuff, but can someone tell me the process? I heard they draw blood?
Tagged with: Arthritis • arthritis medicine • medicine • money • right stuff
Filed under: Arthritis
They draw blood is correct at your local Vet. Let the Vet prescibe the proper medication and treatment for your dog. Also if you think your dog has arthritis,make sure your giving your pet the proper dog food. Some foods have vitamins and nutriments to stablize your pets condition.
Jessie covered most of what I would have said – Just want to throw out there that Chondroitin can cause soft poops in some dogs (Does for Dante) and so I use Synovi G3:
Ingredients: Glucosamine HCl, MSM, Creatine Monohydrate, Perna Canaliculus, Micocrystalline Cellulose, Sucrose, Natural Meat Flavor, Natural Liver Flavor, Marine Lipid Concentrates, Citrus Bioflavonoids, Calcium Phosphate, Vitamin E, Lecithin, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin C, Zinc Sulfate, Magnesium Stearate, Colloidal Silicon Dioxide, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Grape Seed Extract, Selenium.
give your dog glucosamine. i have a bulldogwith arthritis and te glucosamine give it about 6 weeks and what it does is lubes the joints
Well, whatever you do, please do NOT give your dog Tylenol. You could kill him. You could try over the counter glucosamine supplements, but if the arthritis is severe, a visit to the vet is in order.
When putting a dog on a long term prescription medication, it is always a good idea to do bloodwork, just to make sure nothing else is going on that could affect the dog’s health.
I see a lot of vets prescribe Rimadyl for arthritis but this medicine can have deadly side effects. You should never give a dog Tylenol. It is a poison to dogs. Our vet prescribed half a baby aspirin a day for our 17 year old Cairn Terrier to relieve arthritis and he seemed to do fine, but this was 15 years ago and I know these days vets are concerned intestinal bleed with long term aspirin use.
I would first try adding a teaspoon of ground flax seed to your dogs food every day to relieve pain. It’s much safer. Long slow walks and swimming are also great help to dogs with arthritis.
If you are put on one of the COX inhibitors,like Rimadyl, Deramaxx, etc., your vet will want to do a blood test, yes. Probably want to repeat it every 6 mos.
Although these drugs work very well for many dogs without issue, they can cause organ damage in some. Your vet uses the blood tests to monitor organ function so that any abnormalities are spotted right away. By the time time you, as the owner, would see symptoms of liver or kidney damage, the damage would have been ongoing for quite some time. The blood tests alert your vet to the first sign that the drug may be causing harm.
There are also injectable medications, like Adequan, that the vet may suggest.
If your dog has arthritis, you will also be told to closely monitor the dog’s weight to avoid undue stress on the joints.
You may also benefit from using a good glucosamine/MSM supplement. These can safely be used with the prescription NSAIDS. It takes about a month to see any benefit, but they do help most dogs. I personally use Glyco-Flex III with my dog.
Foods do sometimes have glucosamine and chondroitin, and in such small amounts that it is not a good reason to buy the food. I’ve yet to see a dog food with MSM, which is just as important as the gluocosamine. Easier to supplement with the appropriate dosage.
ETA: Aspirin not only carries a higher bleeding risk than the newer meds, it also destroys cartilage at the doses needed to ease arthritic pain, making it a poor solution for long term care.
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ETA: Barb, good to know that about the chondroitin! And I think Synovi G3 is quite good as well. It also has a good amount of MSM in it, which is where so many of the popular supplements, like Cosequin, are lacking. I thought for a while about whether to chose the Glyco-Flex III or the Synovi G3, as they were the only two that came close to what my vet recommended in terms of glucosamine and MSM per dose.
it’s been a long time for us, but I don’t remember them drawing blood.. but they will prescribe anti-inflamatory drugs..
mine was put on a pain med for his…only had one dog that got arthritis that was a golden retriever..my vet never drew any blood..