Treatment for Arthritis in Dogs

Video Transcript

"Hello! My name's Dr. James Dee. I'm with Hollywood Animal Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. The main treatment for arthritis in dogs tends to be non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. You have 2 major types of anti-inflammatories that we use, steroidal which is made up of Cortisons, or non-steroidal. Non-steroidal would be products such as Naprosyn that your, I would take, which is not for dogs, or Remidel, Ketoprofen, Medicam, Prevocox. There are multiple of them out there. The concern with using Aspirin which is one of the non-steroidals in people is the amount of gastric irritation and gastric bleeding that we've create. Aspirin should be used with concern and should not be used without taking appropriate cautions. If your veterinarian recommends Aspirin for your pet, he, the pet should be monitored as far as for any signs of gastro-intestinal disturbance such as vomiting or diarrhea, or blood in the stool. The non-steroidals, the other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories can also create some problem as can all Cortisons or other non-steroidals. The side effects for most of the other non-steroidals maybe an elevation of liver enzymes. That is the reason that your veterinarian would normally go ahead and check the liver enzymes before starting your pet on any long term product. But be aware that diagnosing degenerative joint disease or osteo-arthritis should have, you should have a positive diagnosis before we start any medication."