To address this issue, the simplest thing is to focus it on the needs of older or elderly dogs, which, depending on the breed, are between 9 and 11 years of age. While we may have younger animals that we prescribe them for, we will see it more frequently at these ages.
But it is not just a medication, it should be a means of preventing diseases such as arthritis and osteoarthritis,in particular in breeds with a predisposition to suffer them and to be able to reach hip dysplasia.
From our site we are going to tell you about the options you have to help your furry friend and, luckily, we have natural chondroprotectors for dogs. Do you want to meet them? Keep reading:
Arthritis vs Osteoarthritis
Just as the family bond with the animal increases over the years, so do the clinical problems that more frequently demand the attention of our veterinarian. Over time, dogs begin to have problems with their joints, such as arthrosis and arthritisthat can limit our animal's movements due to pain.
This is aggravated for certain breeds that suffer from it more frequently, reaching more serious diseases, which is why the role of early detection and prevention is so important.
- arthritis is the inflammation of the joint, which causes pain and therefore prevents the sufferer from the correct movement of his limbs. Affects any breed, size and age.
- arthrosis, on the other hand, is a progressive destruction of joint cartilage and abnormal proliferation of the joint surface called osteophytes. The affected joints over time lose elasticity and there is pain that limits the animal in its normal movements. It is typical of old age, but it can appear after traumas or in very energetic animals, so it does not distinguish between ages.
Detecting these problems in my dog
We must always pay attention to the changes in attitude, if he always comes to greet us when he gets home and now he has trouble getting up or it does not come but wags its tail at us, it is a great sign that something is happening. The first thing to consider is the pain, which we will see because he continually licks an area (when checking we do not see anything external), he limps or does not support any of his legs.
Pain prompts the animal to stop its daily activities, stop running, playing and sometimes even wanting to go for a walk in order not to support the member that hurts. We see that he has no interest in playing and, in particular, it is difficult for him to get up after a prolonged rest (it worsens when cold). There may be changes of character with greater irascibility and he may make groans when making efforts or signs of aggressiveness if we want to force him.
As we always indicate before any of these warning signs we should go to the vet for a proper diagnosis since we may be facing motor pathologies such as hip dysplasia or osteoarthritis itself that require urgent measures.
Veterinary Diagnosis
The veterinarian will rely heavily on the anamnesis, or questions about what we see differently in our animal. In addition to predisposing breeds, age (they can be very large puppies with accelerated growth) or very athletic animals. It can be supported with a X-ray of the area in question after a series of tests to see the degree of pain.
How can we help our dog?
- Natural Chondroprotectors: formed by glucosamine and chondroitin that will be responsible for forming collagen. They are substances that are naturally generated by the he althy body but, in sick animals, we must supplement them. They exist in commercial or natural form to add to food, special feed for these problems or in the form of medication.
- Reduce pain: allopathic medication prescribed by the doctor veterinarian who handles the case who will try to have the least amount of side effects since he will have to take it for life. Homeopathic medication Looking for the basic medicine to help you spend the remaining years of life in the best possible way, we can also add a natural homeopathic complex to beef up. Bach Flowers have the same orientation as homeopathy but do not overlap, so we can combine the 3 types of medication without problems. There are natural anti-inflammatories to help at these times.
- Nutrition: be careful with weight gains as we must not forget that we are dealing with a degenerative problem, usually in an animal geronte and that due to pain will tend to move less. Take care of the rations, consider feed according to the disease (I don't like it that much but I should give it as an option) and, in my opinion, natural homemade food with supplements is better. Natural food can look here. According to the supplements that we can add, we will consider: pig ears, legs or masks (rich in collagen), chicken skin (rich in fatty acids), squid pulp and mussels and shark cartilage.
