My old guy is having some problems

[snooksbc]

I have adopted a 12 yr old rottie that is a love. We got him this summer and knwe that he had some artritis (sp) in his right back leg. We have him on supplements, he gets an asprin 2 a day,limit his exercise, and have a soft bed for him to sleep on. Mornings have always been a tough time for him but as the day goes on he seems to loosen up. The weather has started to get cold and I notice that it is harder and harder for him to get around. Is there anything else I should be doing for him? It breaks my heart to see him limping so much:(

[Carina43]

My "Nottweiler" (very old GSDx) is very arthritic - glucosamine/chronditin + MSM really seems to help.
One other thing you might try is acupuncture - I do take Phoebe about every 3 weeks. I honestly am not sure how much it helps her, but it's inexpensive and she enjoys it! When a previous Rottie got old & stiff, acupuncture definitely helped him out.

[Joanne in NJ]

I had a very old doberman back in the 70's. At that time I'd put an electric heating blanket on the floor for him to lay on and that really seemed to help. Nowadays, I guess they have some kind of heating pad that goes in the doggy beds? Also getting him up on his wheels and massaging his legs seemed to help him alot.

[spidey]

You can buy self-heating pads at major pet store chains which you can put on his bed. They reflect body heat (heating pads can be dangerous for those with limited movement and/or poor circulation, since he may not feel when he's getting too hot and get burned). MSM or glucosamine and chondroitin are good suggestions. I'm wondering why you're limiting his exercise. Unless the vet recommended it (in which case I'd question why), I'd make sure that this old boy gets a reasonable amount of exercise every day. Reasonable daily exercise is one of the keys to managing arthritis, it will help your boy maintain the range of motion he has now, increase his blood flow (which will help with stiffness) and generally help him be more comfortable. Obviously, don't tire him out, but staying active is important when managing arthritis. Good for you for giving this fellow a nice home at this stage of his life, not many people are willing to do that, so it's heartening to meet people who've done it! :)

[snooksbc]

The old man Luke gets 4-5 20 min walks everyday. On the weekend the walks may be a little longer, but he has been known to just lie down when he's had enough. The water is too cold for him to swim anymore so thats out. We have little games of fetch in the house whenever he wants to, and he has a little 2 yr old Am Esk/pap cross to play with. I'm hoping that that is not too much for him. We do make him move around, but the mornings are so hard on him. I don't like to force him to walk too much then and to be very honest, its a little hard make him do anything he doesn't want to. I think that we baby him and thats ok with me. He has earned it. We do have him on glucosamine

I guess this is why people don't like to adopt older animals. It is hard to watch them sometimes, but geeze who could leave them in a shelter???? If I had the room, there would not be a senior animal in any shelter. Oh well, we do what we can, one animal at a time. Thanks for the advise, I will look in pet stores for self-heating pads

[joquendo]

Accupuncture works wonderfully.

I have taken my dogs for accupuncture for various muscle pain - and have had friends of mine who take their dogs regularly for accupuncture to alleviate the arthritis problem. It DEFINATELY works. I would definately recommend it.

I am not sure if there are any vets where you live that do accupuncture - I am sure there are its very very popular these days... if you are interseted in finding a holistic vet who does accupuncture in your area check on line for holistic vets - I am trying to find the web site that I have which details this information.

Good luck

[Carina43]

I don't have the website address handy, but on the altvet (or altvetmed) website there is a state by state listing of holistic/alternative vets, and allopathic vets who also do some alternative treatments.

[joquendo]

yes... that's it... I have the site address somewhere but my computer just crahsed and now I cannot find anything

[Carina43]

http://www.altvetmed.com/arthriti.html

There's an article about arthritis, if you go to the home page you'll find a link to practitioners.

[spidey]

snooksbc: sounds perfect :) . I was worried when you said "limiting his exercise", but it sounds like he's getting plenty. I've been trying to remember the brand name of those pads, they're made of the same stuff as those shiny emergency blankets (to reflect body heat), but they're in the form of a pad in a washable cover. I bought one for my old cat when he was dying, but I can't remember what it was called. I found it at Petsmart if that's any help. Mornings are tough when you're a bit creaky, I wonder if you have a throwaway duvet or comforter you could put over him (a charity shop will likely have a very cheap one), that may help him stay warmer. I also wonder if doing gentle range of motion exercises would help - just gently flex and extend all his joints a few times each, only as far as he's comfortable with. This is useful for people, so I don't see why it wouldn't be useful for dogs.