Spinal arthritis

[TamieK]

I had to take Lex to the vet for a limp problem she has been having. It wasn't constant, but after a good run on the farm she would come home, rest and then limp pretty bad. She could hardly get on the couch, it was like her knee was giving out. Well, she had x rays today and she has arthritis in her hips, knee and spine. I was just devastated. I thought it was a knee and was a fixable thing. She got a shot of Adequan and a prescription of Etogesic. She has to go back in 10 days to see how it's going. Has anyone used the Adequan injections? I was so shocked that I forgot to ask any questions. They say she's chubby, she weighs 90.4 pounds and stands about 22-1/2 inches. I thought she was solid. Oh well, I guess it's diet time.

[poohbearsmom]

Adequan is a wonderful drug. It was originally used on racehorses, and has been found to be extremely helpful in dogs with arthritis, DJD, and CHD.

Sounds like your vet is treating your grrrlie as I would expect for this issue.

How old is your girl? Yes, she sounds quite overweight for her height. Shedding that weight should be a priority. Ask your vet about adding canned greenbeans to her food (replacing a cup of food w/same amount of greenbeans) in her daily diet. That should help without scaring her metabolism..

[frontierrots]

My 22 1/2" girl was 78lbs at her heaviest with 75lbs being the norm, your girl sounds significantly overweight. My girl was quite active and ate 3 1/2 cups food total a day of 408 cal/cup. a little more in the winter if she was out alot and she was a very active dog year round until she became an elderly lady

There are several forms of spinal arthritis. The more severe is spondylosis based where there are boney bridges formed between the vertebrae and this form is very painful and eventually leads to a fused spine. Intervetebrae disc disease can be mistaken for arthritis but it is degenerative

[BostonRott]

I have a good friend who uses Adequan regularly in his older agility bitch. She's started shaving 5-8 seconds off of her run times b/c of it. I put one of my dogs on it temporarily b/c of how high her Lyme titres were (we're using it for joint protection while treating the Lyme). I have seen a difference.

Some people who are comfortable giving the injections themselves find a horse vet (equine) vet to order the drug for them and then give the IM injection themselves. A box of 4 bottles is about $160.

Finally as to your girl's weight....I agree with your vet and the above posters. My 23" bitch is currently what I'd call chubby and she's 80lbs. I need to get her back down to 76-77lbs. If she were 90lbs, she'd be a hippo.