My dog is 15 this year and her hips are really bothering her. I bought her the glucosamine chews, yuck. Tried the powerd, yuck. I have pills that I can sometimes hide in food but I am not always lucky. She hates taking her meds. I have a vet appt next week for her. Are there any injectables for her? Can I give her aspirin or will this tear up her stomach too much? I give my mare with ringbone hycoat - hylaronic acid iv. It really helps her. Maybe something like this for the dog? I am no dog expert! I have much more experience with the horses.
Metacam
Metacam. I used to have to smuggle it in from Canada but it’s been legal in the US for years. Don’t let them talk you into trying Cosequin for months first - it never works. I really love the stuff. Had both a Golden & German Shepard that used it the last years of their life and were much more comfortable. Both also died of issues other than hips. Good luck!
Baby aspirin are okay, but not great long term. Plus, it is the ONLY pills my lab will sometimes not eat. We toss can her glucosamine pill in the air and she gulps it down, lol. Rimadil (sp?) is bad for kidneys long term, but really, really helped our dog after she partially tore her acl. At 15, I think pain management is much more important then possible kidney damage.
Ask your vet about doing a round (6 weeks) of Adequan injectable. You can give the injections yourself. It helps many dogs/horses.
Have you tried using a piece of cheese broken into 1" pieces then wrapped around the pill and squish the edges closed? You give him that, while holding another piece with no pill, in front of him, and give it right away, so they gulp the piece with the pill to get the other one.
Adequan has done wonders for my dog, I also prefer Metacam to the other NSAIDS. Most vets are reluctant to rx. without current bloodwork though because it can be damaging to the kidneys and liver. Tramadol is a non-narcotic opiate that’s a little bit safer and pretty inexpensive too.
Our old Tervuren had dreadful hip and spinal arthritis; she was helped quite a bit with monthly Adequan injections. At the time, my small animal vet was married to one of my large animal vets, so he would Rx and she would bring it out to her next farm call … so convenient.
Near the end, Tramadol helped without upsetting her stomach.
Adequan. Metacam can have quite a few side effects. If it’s necessary, it can be the way to go, but I would try other options first.
I had great luck with Fish Oil capsules and we were getting ready to do Adequan injections (we tried Metacam…ulcers), she was on tramadol at the end. She died in her sleep (after a really good day, thankfully) before we could start the injections.
She wouldn’t chew anything. I just opened her mouth and shoved them in.
[QUOTE=Leprechaun;5592895]
Metacam. I used to have to smuggle it in from Canada but it’s been legal in the US for years. Don’t let them talk you into trying Cosequin for months first - it never works. I really love the stuff. Had both a Golden & German Shepard that used it the last years of their life and were much more comfortable. Both also died of issues other than hips. Good luck![/QUOTE]
THIS. I have used Metacam on 3 dogs, all 11+, and have seen super results w/no side effects. It is a liquid you can put on her food or, if worse comes to worse, squirt it right down her throat! I’ve even made a “cup” of liverwurst and squirted it inside and made a ball…who doesn’t love liverwurst?
Do not combine pain med’s/anti-inflammatories! Use only buffered aspirin(Ecotrin),i f you go w/aspirin…or baby aspirin for little dogs. I’ve never found it that helpful for old dog aches. Any NSAID takes at least 24 hrs. to show results-can be 36-48 hrs., so be patient.
I wouldn’t worry about liver damage w/a 15 yr.old dog–give her what makes her feel better—quality of life is what’s imperative at this point.
Congrat’s on 15 yrs. w/your doggie!!
you can give buffered aspirin until the vet appointment- go for a people dose, unless she’s tiny baby aspirins won’t be enough.
Agree with Adequin injections; also Rimadyl. At this point whatever works, who cares about long term side effects.
Also if you do try buffered aspirin, give only ONCE A DAY>>>I was told that dogs metabolize it much more slowly than humans, so you can quickly OD the dog.
NEVER give ibuprofin or naproxin!!! (Advil, Motrin,Aleve, etc) Same deal as above…Think poison.
We have my lab on Adequan right now and have seen some improvement (his arthritis is quite advanced though, so we weren’t expecting miracles). We tried both Rimadyl and Tramdol for him and they helped some, but not a ton. Right now he’s on Meloxicam and we’ve seen some improvement. The nice thing about the Meloxicam is it’s super cheap.
I need to 'fess up. Back in 1992, I gave my 12 y.o. shepherd/husky x Advil for about 3 days straight-figured it worked great for me, why not treat my old boy to a little relief? Well, I heard Clyde retching in my LR and went to investigate. When I saw what came up, my 1st thought was “Where did Clyde get into cherry Jello???” No. It wasn’t Jello. It was a huge blob of gooey blood…the Advil ulcerated his stomach. A 5-day stay at the emerg. vet and $4000 later, he came home, thank Godfrey. THIS is why I only have dark oriental rugs in my home…had no time to treat rug so the stain never quite came out, but today you can’t even see it (perhaps cause it is buried under dawg hair). LESSON LEARNED.
Along with anti-anti-iflamatories, an Omega 3 oil suppliment can also help an arthritic dog feel better. We started our old dog on it more because we thought he was going senile, but after one week, with no other changes, he was walking much better. Apparently the oil can help repair/improve joint lubrication…and it tastes good so may help your dog eat the medications he is on!
I use Deramaxx with my dog. I love it.
There’s a few injectables but I don’t remember their names.
CHT and LauraKY, I started my old Lab (12) on salmon oil about 2 wks. ago…she’s on glucosamine supp’s and Metacam, for arthur-itis. She DOES seem a bit less stiff…I will be recommending this to other oldie owners.
Thanks. I will ask about ALL of this. She wants to be active, she just can’t. I’ve wrapped the pills in cheese, hot dogs, and lunch meat. Lunch meat she goes crazy for and works the best. But she still has a good sniffer and sometimes gets everything but the pill down. even if I trick her with a few pieces before the pill she still seems to figure it out.
At this point she gets what she wants as far as food, and whatever makes her comfy as far as pain. She has gotten picky about her food. She started not liking her hard food, but maybe its hard for her to eat. So we went with Moist and meaty and canned food. She eats a certain brand of canned for a while then goes off of it. She will ALWAYS eat my parents dogs food-no matter what it is. So she goes over there to eat a lot. She prefers honey ham lunch meat, hot dogs, pb and j with strawberry jelly (does NOT like the black berry jelly), stale bread (she must like the crunch?) and whatever the cat is eating. Oh and she absolutely LOVES pizza. I never fed her table scaps until just recently.
She has been a great dog. I have had her for 14yrs. A friend found her at the state park, hence the name Parker. I am only assuming she is 15 b/c she was a large puppy when I got her, figured her to be around 1 then. She is great with cats. Had a spree of murdering chickens and now won’t even look at them. She use to have different barks for certain situations. Friendly visitors got a happy bark. Strangers got the deadly bark, unless you fed her some good food. Horses loose got a yappy bark. And a strange cat in the yard got a different bark. But she never over barked.
Sorry to ramble on. She has been a great dog and I am sad to see her aging. Thanks for the suggestions.
How to dose Adequan
How much adequan (Equine) would I give my 65 lb. Golden?
Todshow, you would ask your small animal vet and at least have the first injection done in the office.
[QUOTE=todshow;5596417]
How much adequan (Equine) would I give my 65 lb. Golden?[/QUOTE]
It would probably be good to consult with a vet first… but I’m giving my 74 lb. Yellow Lab 1 cc of the Equine formula each injection. For the first month we did it 2x a week, then did 1x a week for about 2 months and just dropped down to every other week.
I had really good luck with the Foster and Smith brand level 3 joint supplement. My old catahoula, had hip problems and the F&S stuff kept her off Rimadyl until the last year of her life then we did Rimadyla and the F&S supplement until she got so bad nothing worked so I gave her an easy, dignified death. I have always given my dogs fish oil for their coats, I didn’t know it helped with joint issues.
