Older Dog With Arthritis?

Question
QUESTION: Hello there,

I would really appreciate any help I can get from you.  You see, she's getting older now, and she's about 9 - 11, but she's having a very hard time trying to get up off the floor, and we had to build a ramp outside so that she could get down onto the front lawn. There are a few things going on with her, but my main question/s are these:

1. Can a dog have human vitamins, whether they're A,B,C etcetc or a multi-vitamin?
2. Can dogs have human glucosamine?
3. Can dogs have aspirin, and if so, how much and how many t
4. My dog isn't a car dog.  Not only can she not get in the car, but she pukes all over, she lose control of her bowel and bladder, and she whines and yowls all the way there and back

So, if you can suggest something to give her to make her feel better, I would really appreciate it, and if you can't answer my questiom, can you please send this question to someone that can answer it?  It's very important.  It's almost as important as life and death, and I need an answer A.S.A.P.

Again, thankyou for your time and patience;
Sincerely;


ANSWER: It is never a good idea to give a dog or cat human vitamins or supplements. There are things in them that can be fatally toxic to pets.

Human glucosamine is the same thing as for pets, but the dosages are different. Again, be careful because too high a dose is very dangerous too.
I am not sure that starting this so late in the game will help but better late then never! If you give it daily you might alleviate some of her pain but it takes time to rebuild the joint areas.

It is not advisable to give a dog any kind of pain reliever that isn't veterinary approved. Not because the vet wants all the money, but because 99.9% of human pain relievers are toxic and fatal to dogs and cats. Aspirin isn't totally toxic except in high doses, which are low compared to a human dose. The biggest problem with aspirin is that just one tablet erodes a dogs stomach lining so much that it really opens them up to gastric bleeding, ulcers and worse.

Dogs can easily get an overdose of aspirin and that will cause major bleeding issues with dogs, so we do not recommend it.

If your dog has such issues with car riding then you can always get a small sedative from the vet ahead of time or find a vet that does house calls. They do still exist.

It would be wise to have your dog evaluated well by the vet and put her on a regime of pain medications such as Duramaxx. My takes it for a bad hip and does very well on it. My dog is almost 13 and still likes to run but now and then her hip get sore. I give her one small quarter a tablet at night now and then and it works for 24 hours.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thankyou for the quick reply~!

Where we live, there aren't any vet's that do housecalls, so the only way we could get her in would be by car, and she's a heavyset dog, maybe 150lbs, so just to get her in the back seat would be a pain in the butt.  Too bad I never got the veternary diploma I wanted to get :( They won't offer anything to help with her ride - I've asked them numerous times - They said to give her a gravol or two, and a double dose of Rescue Remedy.  We haven't taken her back since then.

With the pain medication that you mentioned, how much does it cost to get it, and how do you go about getting it? Do they have it at the vet office, or is there a place you can get it elsewhere? I'm assuming it's prescription only?

With Nikki (my dog), she's been trying not to weightbare on that leg, and when I examined it yesterday, in the glute part of the leg, she's very tender there and doesn't want you touching it.  She's still eating and drinking, but won't eat as much as she normally would unless you bring her bowl to her.  She doesn't even want to go outside to go for a pee unless she really has to.

When she was a younger dog, she was hit by someone on a quad (on purpose) and she fractured her hip and her Pelvis, but it wasn't very severe, since she never showed signs of being sore except for the first two days. So it healed naturally and we found out about it a few years later when the vet checked. We figured that she may be suffering from arthritis right now, and maybe that injury is a little more sensitive to the arthritis than other parts of her body.  She walks funny, her right foot is really pigeon-toed, and she waddles, but that's how it's always been, now she's limping more.

Just one more question, if I did want to get vitamins and supplements for her, where could I get them, and about how much would they cost?

I want to thank you for your time and patience.  I really appreciate your help, and anything I can do to make her better means the world to me ):  So thank you again, and I hope to hear back from you. Sorry for the silly typo's in the previous message - I was very tired and couldn't see the keyboard that well.

Sincerely;
Julzy~

Answer
What I am hearing is that this dog is extremely overweight which is probably a main factor in her arthritis pain as well. She would feel so much better if you got about 50 lbs off of her, unless she is an English Bull Mastiff. But a lab, a lab cross, a golden retriever, or any other middle large female dog should never weight more than 65 lbs.

Since you don't state what kind of dog she is, then I can only guess.
Dogs are not 'heavy set.' If they are larger then they should be they are obese, plain and simple. And as with humans, there are a myriad of physical issues that would be resolved with a dog that loses a lot of weight.

The best way we have found to trim down a dog is to put them on a strict diet of R/D from the vets, or to use Science Diet Adult light dog food. I have checked the amount of fat and calories in about 25 different brands, including the ones that 'claim' to be for reducing dogs, and have found them ALL to have about 400 calories more per cup then Science Diet Adult Light Formula.

So don't be fooled by their marketing claims. Calories do matter and count, including all the ones in the treats she eats, or people food she eats as well.

As far as the vitamins go, why would you spend money on those on top of her dog food? First of all, if she is on a high quality food with optimal nutrition, she doesn't need any vitamins.
Secondly, most cheaper food companies over vitamin-ize their food to make up for the low quality ingredients. So regardless your dog is getting too many vitamins now, unless you are feeding her Science Diet.

So don't spend money on vitamins, spend it on a higher quality of food and upgrade to Science Diet light and help her to feel better.

Secondly, the only place you can get these painkillers made for dogs is at the vets. The reason for that is because of the first answer I gave you- the problem with toxicity. Even well meaning owners might give too much of something if they could just get it off of the shelf somewhere. The vet will give her drugs that not only work but are proven to be safe for her in the proper amounts. Yes they are prescription only.

If she hasn't seen a vet in a long time then you really need to get her to one. Have some one lift her into the car for you or get a horse trailer from a friend with one and take her that way. I know people that have rented uhauls for a day to do that, but that is pretty extreme. She needs a good check over and some of these tablets for her joint pain. It is just not good that she is in so much pain.

Get her on a weight reduction plan right away as well, and you and her will both breathe much better for it.

Check out the videos on this site to see what a difference Science Diet made to these pets:

http://www.hillspet.com/healthy-mobility/success-stories.html

Here is more information on weight management:
http://www.hillspet.com/health-conditions/weight-management-pet-foods.html

Good luck and let me know how she does!