Canine Arthritis Treatment

Video Transcript

"We're going to talk about canine arthritis treatment. Now, arthritis is something that affects many, many dogs, especially as they get older. Essentially, arthritis is damage to the joints and the cartilage in the joints, and rebuilding of those joints in a, kind of a bumpy or kind of a wrong fashion. And so you get pain, you get popping and things like that in joints, and it can be very difficult for some animals, especially as they get larger, to get around as they get older. And so arthritis treatment has come a long way over the last few years. The biggest thing is going to be, on any dog that has arthritis, is prevention. And so weight loss, normal amounts of exercise, you know, keeping a normal weight is of utmost importance on these guys. As they get older, and they do get arthritis, there are lots of different ways that we deal with that. One would be supplements, like glucosamine and things like that. And you can talk to your veterinary clinic as far as those supplements are concerned. A second modality in dealing with arthritis in dogs are Nsaids, or nonsteriodal anti-inflammatories. These medications are strong anti-inflammatories for those joints, and pain killers, essentially. And so, dogs can go on these long term and have less pain and get around more and feel much better, and it improves quality of life. Third, there are a lot of diets these days that contain fish oils and glucosamine, like Hill's Prescription JD, or Joint Diet. There are a lot of diets that are producing, or putting glucosamine in their diets or in their foods, and this can be a great modality, also, to help reduce the amount of Nsaids an animal might have to be on. So prevention would be the key. Not allowing them to get obese, and arthritis generally is going to show up as in pain, stiff joints, things like that. Check with your veterinary clinic if you think your dog has arthritis."