Arthritis in a Young Female - Information?

Hi,

Just wandered has any of you had any experience with arthritis in your dogs. I have had blind dogs, diabetic dogs, dogs that refused to eat but I have no experience with arthritis and how it should be dealt with.

My girlfriend has a 3-4 year old female Stafford. She was a rescue dog and was severely emaciated and mistreated when she got her. I have known the dog for 5 or so months now, but my girlfriend has had her for a year and a half or so. When I first met the dog she was still very underweight and her coat was dull and coarse. We changed her diet dramatically to include a good quality dry food, various meats, and good quality vegetables. I know a lot of you have said the veg isn't necessary but I truly feel it's important and it makes her eat. She is now looking absolutely fantastic and I'm very proud of how my girlfriend has improved her health and appearence.

Unfortunately however, we have found out in the past week she has arthritis in her back legs (knee joint). Possibly due to a mix of genes and bad treatment as a pup. I went to see the dog myself over the weekend and she seemed in great form, happy and her coat was shining! She was able to jump up on the sofa and was still the same happy, yet placid self.

The vet has said she is really bad and would require an operation to repair the cartilidge that is gradually wearing away. She doesn't appear to be in any pain, discomfort or to be restrcited in any way...yet.

My question is, have any of you had experiences with this at all. Did you monitor and manage it or did you go for the op?

Thanks.

Moo has arthritis in all her front 6 joints, we only recently found out. She was on a course of injections, which have now finished and I just have to monitor her limp, if it gets worse then back to the vets.

We are starting hydrotherapy soon, and she is on yumove, which seems to help a lot, but like yours she is nearly 4, so very young. Apart from keeping her warm when out we just carry on as normal

I got her glucosamine tablets over the weekend too and hopefully it will make a difference, I've read good comments on them!

My girlfriend got her a coat for the cold weather to try and keep heat into her too. Thankfully she is happy to just laze up and appreciate a warm house, so casual easy going exercise is enough to keep her satisfied. I have a male pup and he is bonkers and needs plenty of exercise or he's a wee terror lol.

I'm going to look into hydrotherapy now and see how it can be done over here, if at all.

Thanks a lot for telling me.

Olly has arthritis in both front legs,the vet said hes probably had it all his life,we dont throw balls for him or let him run around with his dog pals a lot ,allmost impossible, hes on glucosamine tabs the vet charged £104 for a box ,on line £52,we dont want to give him anti inflamitorys as long term use can affect his kidneys ,hes only 3 ,we still do long walks and for the most part he seems fine ,i know of a few staffys with this problem.

Thanks for your info. I'm glad to hear it doesn't effect him too much and you can manage it well. What brand glucosamine tablets are you using?

the vet gave us SYNOQUIN glucosamine and chondrotin large breed as he is just over 20 kilos ,we found that not letting him have a lot of high impact excercise works well,plus he swims everyday when we are away,dont know if this helps but he enjoys it

We've recently started to give Rocky these little nuggets to help with his joints later on in life, he doesn't have any problems right now but rather going for prevention at the mo:

http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product_group.asp?dept_id=795&pg_id=2323

Thanks a lot! I'm sure swimming is fantastic, it's a great all round exercise. Both our staffs are totally petrified of water, Logan is even quite scared of big puddles lol. I'm jealous your boy will swim!