What is Dog Arthritis?
Your dog's skeleton is lubricated by synovial fluid which allows flexibility for your dog to walk, run, and move. When your dog's joints are injured or damaged, this can cause joint inflammation which can prevent your dog from moving about normally and comfortably.
The two types of dog arthritis are degenerative joint disease and inflammatory joint disease.
Degenerative Joint Disease for dogs is also known as osteoarthritis. This occurs when the dog's cartilage that protects the bone is damaged or destroyed. Dog osteoarthritis can happen normally in dogs as they age from normal use and function or due to excess stress and accidental injuries.
Inflammatory Joint Disease for dogs is caused by bacterial or fungal infections, ticks, or even hereditary. This form of dog arthritis is not as common.
Dog Arthritis Symptoms: How To Tell If Your Dog Has Arthritis
There are a few things you can look for which may be a signs your dog has some form of arthritis.
If your dog is Limping
If your dog has swelling joints
If your dog has trouble getting up
If your dog cries or yelps in pain from normal movements
Dog Arthritis Treatment: What To Do If Your Dog Has Arthritis
Depending on why and how painful and severe your dog's arthritis is which could lead to a few different options. Over-the-counter pain relievers such as Acetaminophen such as Tylenol can help relieve mild pain and inflammation but is not for long-term use. Higher doses of acetaminophen can cause liver damage or worse.
Dog arthritis pain relief products such as Flexpet have been getting great reviews to help with their dog's arthritis treatment and dog's arthritis pain relief.
Other prescription medications and arthritis treatment options are available from your local veterinary such as cortisone injections directly into the joint to relieve severe pain and inflammation. There are also a few other brand name dog and pet arthritis medications available for your dog by prescription only.
Severe arthritis can lead to necessary surgery to improve moment and reduce pain but should always be considered as a last resort option.
My family's dog is starting to get arthritis really bad in her left leg, and we don't know what to do. We've been looking around for different treatments, but with so many different kinds of treatments, it's hard to know which one would be good for my dog.
ReplyDeleteThis really helped though, and I'm going to look at some of those over the counter medications that you mentioned above.
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