Arthritis in older labrador x

Meathcat

Hi all,

Just looking to hear people's experiences and advice on late-state arthritis in larger dogs.

My black lab x Lexie is 14 and a half. She has had arthritis for approx. 3 years now. We have been treating her (with the vet's blessing) with daily doses of Turmeric plus Glucosamine. The turmeric gave her a new lease of life and has helped her greatly. We took her off it before Christmas 2019, thinking it wasn't working but within weeks, she lost the use of her back legs and I had to carry her out for her toilet. Put her back on Turmeric and she was back hobbling around within 2 weeks. For the days where she seems really bad, we give her a dose of Loxicom and that has helped her a lot. She doesn't go for walks anymore, she gets a short little 10 min stroll in the morning. She has been living a sedate but very happy life. We have 3 other dogs - Bingo a 15 1/2 year old terrier x and 14 year old lab x sisters Jane and Dorothy. All hale and hearty and still going for walks.

However, this morning she was in a really bad way. She was trying to eat her food and her back legs kept collapsing. She is normally a food gobbler but it was all she could do to keep eating - she wouldn't sit or lie to eat it. Had to carry her out several times this morning already for her toilet. She is really uncomfortable, she is finding it hard to get comfy in her bed and also seems really disorientated, panting very heavily. Though her tail is still wagging away.

I am just looking to hear people's experiences of late-stage arthritis in dogs and what your advice would be. At her age, I won't be putting her through any other therapies or surgeries. I will of course be getting her to the vet as soon as possible but I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences.

Thanks!

irish_goat

Ask your vet for Gabapentin, we saw a noticeable difference for our old springer previously and now our 15 year old lab is also on it. We're also at late stage with her so it's just a case of making sure she is as comfortable as we can.

Meathcat

irish_goat wrote: »

Ask your vet for Gabapentin, we saw a noticeable difference for our old springer previously and now our 15 year old lab is also on it. We're also at late stage with her so it's just a case of making sure she is as comfortable as we can.

Thanks, I never heard of that so I will ask her. Yeah, I just want to lessen her suffering really, she is an amazing dog.

boomerang

She might not recommend gabapentin. It works well for nerve pain, which might not be involved in your dog's case. Or she might recommend a combination of medications. So take her lead.

tk123

Arthritis is progressive and degenerative unfortunately which means you'll often have to review your treatment methods. It sounds like what's she on for pain relief isn't enough and she possibly needs that adjusted eg to a combination with something else/a different medicine completely. I have to add as well - supplements are as their name suggests - supplemental - they're not a replacement for pain relief.

When Lucy was sick we were extremely limited in what we could give her and she had huge relief from acupuncture. Bailey is getting a course it atm as he has some discomfort in his back and he seems to like it too!

Meathcat

Thanks everyone.

Had her at the vet on Monday night and she gave her a steroid shot plus a higher painkiller shot. Not much improvement if I'm honest. The vet couldn't rule out that she hadn't had a stroke. She does have some of the signs alright - eyes darting all over the place, disorientation, falling to one side all the time. I know dogs can recover well from stroke but combined with chronic arthritis, it's not a great combination. We are just keeping her comfortable for now.

DBB

Meathcat, sorry to hear your old pal is going through this.
Has your vet ruled out Vestibular Syndrome? There can be a number of causes for this, which need to be ruled in or out before treatment can happen, but the symptoms you describe sound very like it. I suppose it'd be nice to know if the vet has ruled it out or not.

Meathcat

DBB wrote: »

Meathcat, sorry to hear your old pal is going through this.
Has your vet ruled out Vestibular Syndrome? There can be a number of causes for this, which need to be ruled in or out before treatment can happen, but the symptoms you describe sound very like it. I suppose it'd be nice to know if the vet has ruled it out or not.

I never even heard of that! No she never mentioned it. I guess given Lexie's age she may not have considered it. Her heart was racing as well, though Aoife the vet reckoned that could have been due to her being upset at being in the vets.

irish_goat

Our springer had vestibular issues in his last few months as well, manifested in similar ways to a stroke like you've described; eyes darting, stumbling about etc. Bit of info here, it's called Nystagmus. Can't remember what we did to treat it, would need to ask my wife.

tk123

+1 for vestibular disease - I recognised the eyes darting symptom from posts on one of the CAM FB pages (Holly’s Army). Fingers crossed for you both.

Meathcat

Some improvement in Lexie today. She got out of bed herself and came for a little 'walk' out into the front garden - great for me, it's hard carrying 22kgs of labrador around the place. The eye-darting has stopped but she is still falling to her right side and if she tries to shake herself, she still falls down. I would say that's the steroid kicking in so we'll see what the vet says.

Thanks so much everyone!

tk123

Ah fingers crossed for her that you keep seeing these little improvements as the add up!

sdp

Great to read She's improving, everyday is a blessing at her age, your doing wonderful by her,