Arthritis - advice please

[happyhounds]

My girl is 8 in August and taking Onsior (a form of Previcox I believe as I read somewhere) and Glycoflex III a glucosamine. After 3 weeks there is no substantial improvement Could anyone tell me please - is this long enough to show an improvement with these meds or do you think the meds are not really helping my girl? Going back to vet at the end of the month and would like to have more info. I know she is not a young dog and her health will deteriorate but my instinct is that she is the same (ie limping) as when we first went to the vet. Any thoughts anywhere? Thanks.

Jo

[Rubyshoes]

Hi Jo
Sorry I cant help with those things you mentioned, but we have used glucosamine and could never tell if it was helping or not. But it would certainly not work straight away. It would take quite some time, maybe a few months to get into the system.
We have had some success with Seatone, which is a natural product, and can be purchased over the counter in chemists. Its a human product, and we have had good results on family members, and dogs in the past. Its fine for animals. Here's a link if you want to find out more. And although the product is smelly, it doesnt make the dog smell, and the only reason a human shouldnt take it is if you are allergic to seafood. Here's a link about it, Hazel

www.seatone.co.uk/faqs.aspx

[happyhounds]

Thanks Hazel, will certainly look into the Seatone, hopefully that will make a difference. I completely understand that Tracy will only get relief from medication for her condition and I'm not expecting a huge improvement but she is so stiff and limping when she gets up from her bed I think our best bet is to carry on with these meds and see what the vet says at the end of the month (it's our usual vet, the other was a stand-in) Perhaps nobody else's dog on the Forum takes Onsior but a friend of mine's Border Collie takes it and it helps massively. Incidentally, she takes Cod Liver Oil and has plenty of oily fish.

Jo

[SJ]

Hi Jo, I don't consider 8 to be particularly old for a greyhound. Is it an old injury where the arthritis has set in? Has it been confirmed with x rays or has she been put on the meds first to see if there's any improvement?

[Ian]

SJ makes a good point, a couple of weeks ago our Sean started limping badly on his front left leg, and after a quick visit to the vets he thought it probably was a strain but would x-ray if it didn't improve. Well after a while it was a bit up and down so I quizzed Pat and she indicated that something like a strain in an older dog (Sean is 11) would take upto 10 days to clear really, so rather than dive in on an x-ray we sat it out for two more days and stopped him from doing any stairs and it was short walks only. Fortunately he did improve and he doesn't seem to have arthritis. I have added a Glucosamine tablet to his daily meal along with his cod liver oil one that he's always had though just in case, I figured it's a relatively cheap and harmless thing to do and may help prevent or delay the onset of any arthritis in the future.

[happyhounds]

Thanks SJ and Mark for your thoughts, much appreciated - also thanks for confirming that at 8 Tracy is not a geriatric who cannot be helped, it does make me feel better In answer to your questions, I do not know of an old injury, indeed I have no official record that she completed any races in her history data, also no x rays have been taken by the vet and yes, she did put Tracy on the meds to see if there was any improvement. I'm just a little concerned that this vet did not really have experience of greyhounds and has put her on to a medication that isn't effective and she is in pain some of the time

The problem with Tracy seemed to come to a head after she had had a run on the beach with our other hound Paddy who is half her age and is obviously much faster.

I sincereley appreciate everybody's advice on this subject as I'm not entirely sure what to say to the vet when we go next - different meds or x rays? Thanks everyone for listening.

Jo

[Ian]

Why not have a chat with Pat by phone or email and take another view. Although it could be an arthritis type issue, it is in many respects similar to what happened to Sean, however in his case I think he did it either going up the stairs or getting up in the middle of the night to turn round \ do the Greyhound shake, so a less strenuous activity.

[happyhounds]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not quite sure how I go about getting in touch with Pat as I'm new so how is there a procedure to follow? I take the point that time is a great healer and it could be just 'one of those things.' Tracy seems up and down - slow on a walk but bouncy when Paddy invites her to play - very confusing! Any superior knowledge very much welcome.

Jo

[pumalass]

Hi Jo
See how she goes for awhile, but if it continues they can see on an xray if it's arthiritis or not so if you are concerned it may be an idea to ask the vet.
As for her age Mersey is 9 and started about a year ago with joint problems but we give her vetvits flexi-joints Glocosamine and Chondroitin she now has two a day and one cod liver oil capsule in her food, also she has pilchards, or sardines at some stage through the day this all helps, she is much better now and runs well when she is on the beach.
Chris

[happyhounds]

Again, many thanks Chris, think I will ask for an x-ray Also I believe I have read before that Vetvits Glucosamine and Chondroitin together have a beneficial effect - the Glycoflex III does not appear to contain Chrondroitin - all very good info to take to the vet. I am continuing with pilchards and sardines and remaining optimistic

Jo

[Ian]

You can drop Pat an email on [e-mail]