9 Year Old OES, Spinal Arthritis- low calorie dry food?
We have a male OES who is about 95 lbs. Is that too much weight now that he has issues with his spine? (He is pretty fit looking and doesn't appear to be unhealthy. He walks almost daily, etc. He used to very fit when he was younger- going on many longer walks and has always weighed around 90-97 lbs.) What type of low calorie dry food has anyone used for a senior dog? Thanks for the help! |
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| I think only a vet can tell you for sure because ideal weight is based on the build and condition of the individual dog. Some dogs would be overweight or even obese at that weight... others could be underweight. When a dog is overweight, I've noticed extra fat over the ribs, less of a tuck at the waist, fat on the lower neck in front of the withers. This info might be of help you to determine whether your dog's at a good weight- http://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com/re ... _chart.pdf I have one that has severe arthritis in her spine too. Our homeopathic vet said once her spine finally fuses, there should be minimal pain... that her hips are another story. I think we're now seeing that. We keep her pretty lean. As for food... others will surely offer some choices they have experience with. Ask your vet first but you might also cut back on the current kibble if he's doing well on it and add some lightly cooked vegetables to keep him satisfied... but only if you find he's actually overweight. |
| Thanks. Good information. Last time we were at the Vet, she stated he wasn't overweight. What type of treatment has been successful for your OES with spinal arthritis? Any exercises at home that you do? We are at the beginning stages. We first thought he had issues with his hips, however his X-Rays came back good and showed a little stenosis in his spine. We are considering acupuncture. Have you tried it? |
There hasn't been much that could be done to slow the progression of her condition but be sure to ask your vet if there's anything that might. We've had her on glucosamine supplements since she arrived at 10 1/2 months of age (Cosequine DS to start, now Glycoflex III), we also did the fish oil. I just took her off the oil in case she has surgery in the next couple weeks. But note that her spinal arthritis is pretty severe. There were 3 times over the years where I believe she had very brief bouts of severe pain due to the progression of the disease in her spine. All in all, she and we have been blessed. This article is about hip dysplasia but it may also help with spinal arthritis... it lists things that can be tried but first run it all by your vet to see what might be appropriate for your boy- http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... 84&aid=444 We tried V.O.M. and Class IV laser therapy for about 2 1/2 months. We recently took her off pain meds to see how well she was actually doing and I think we will be discontinuing the treatments... we have one last prepaid session. I don't know that it's really helped much however to be fair, she's more severely affected and we also had to stop the Adequan shots (she had an allergic reaction) so that may have been offering a bit of relief too. Tried SAMe too... that may be one we try again. Didn't see much benefit for her with Duralactin. Massage therapy might actually be more beneficial for my particular dog. My vet mentioned it, said I could probably find some good techniques online. Acupuncture was also mentioned just recently... so those are two things still in our bag of tricks should we need them. If you're dog is in a longer coat, I'd think it will provide some beneficial warmth during cool conditions. If you keep him shorter, you might consider a jacket to keep his back warm. I make dog coats for mine... this one was in fleece and she seems to appreciate the warmth.  Try to encourage him to sleep on a dog bed or blanket (or your bed, couch if it's allowed  )... it will protect him from a chill, might make movement a little easier when he gets up. When Panda's hair is shorter, I cover up her back/hips at night when she sleeps... either with a dog coat or fleece blanket or, since she often sleeps next to me, I toss my covers over her to provide more warmth. Some other things you might run past your vet... Fish Oil... specifically Omega 3. Quote: Arthritis: Research is showing that omega-3 fatty acids, especially EPA, may be helpful in reducing the inflammation associated with arthritis. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2&aid=666 Panda also gets 400IU daily of vitamin E. I need to try to locate a fill-in homeopathic vet... I spent today looking over credentials. The wise doctor who's been helping Panda and Maggie is unavailable now.  He prescribed Devil's Claw and we did see some benefits when she was on it... I just didn't know how long she could safely be on it so we stopped. Here's some information on that too-http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/devi ... 000237.htm She's currently getting DGP (Doggone Pain). http://www.vitacost.com/american-biosci ... p-chewable Doxycycline was something I was going to ask about but haven't yet. No idea whether it would benefit dogs with osteoarthritis or not but I came across this study in people. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15986343 Also, this article has some interesting information... http://www.2ndchance.info/arthritis2.htm I allow the dog to self-limit the activity opting for brief (for my particular dog) but more frequent outings. I do think trying to keep a dog with arthritis moving is helpful too in an attempt to prevent loss of muscle mass. Difficult to do sometimes so pain management with traditional drugs is often the best approach in my opinion. If you have access to water, that might be a great option. Panda gets 2 tramadol daily. Dogs suffering with daily pain can be very stoic so ask whether he needs pain medication. Panda is taking an acid supplement because she doesn't produce enough stomach acid... if I take her off it, she reverts to obsessive drinking, peeing in the house, hunger, vomiting, etc. (you get the picture). NSAIDS are contraindicated when using the supplement so we have gone with the opioid. Otherwise she'd be on a longer acting NSAID! Eh... too much information. I tend to do that so take what might be useful and discard the rest. Sincere best wishes to your boy. |
| Jaci Thanks very much for your help again. I really appreciate it. We have been doing some basic massage "therapy" of our on at home and we will see if this helps him some. He sleeps on beds most of the day. We have 3. He is also on Rimadyl (100mg), not sure if it's helping him. Our vet mentioned putting him on prednisone for a short time? Thanks again. Sincere best wishes to Panda as well. |
| Jaci Can Panda get up on her own from a laying position? Or do you need to help her? |
Thanks for your well wishes.  Most times Panda will pop up rather quickly... she doesn't need assistance yet. She's actually slower to lie down... she'll slide her hip down the wall to ease herself into a down position. She's got a system all her own.  She does work harder to stand because she's weak in the back end due to hip dysplasia so she compensates by using her front half more. This was a cheap sling I picked up after the last episode Panda had in July- http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=8082 . When I lift though, it tends to bunch up towards her waist... I might try sewing on a strap that goes over the head or across the front of the chest to hold it in position better. This lift might be a good choice but it's pricy- http://helpemup.com . There are some different styles on other sites... you might find something here if the time comes you need one. http://www.handicappedpets.com/help-pet ... lings.html In July of last year, I woke to find Panda lying on the dog bed panting heavily. I got her up to take her outside to see if I could figure out what was wrong. She was in a lot of pain. She walked with her head down, stomach muscles were tight. I wasn't sure if it was her back again or bloat. We quickly took her in at 5am to see an on-call vet... x-ray above was from that visit. The vet gave her a steroid injection and we boosted the Tramadol until the pain eased. (Steroids are also contraindicated with that supplement she gets daily.  ) I use steroids only as a last resort... there are times when they're needed for quality of life or to save a life and they can provide relief for arthritis. Within a few days she was moving better again. It was the only time I've had to use them so far.Ask your vet what weight would be ideal for your boy. Even if a dog is just a few pounds overweight, getting that weigh off can help them to move easier. But you don't want to sacrifice muscle so you don't want them too thin. Panda is twiggy... I'm asking frequently if the vets feel she's too thin and have been assured she's at a good weight. I think it's helped her stay more mobile.  If you don't feel Rimadyl is offering the relief your boy needs, ask if there are any other options that can be tried. There are other pain medications that work in different ways... some target COX-1, others like Prevacox target COX-2. It may also be possible to combine a COX inhibitor with an opiate. One drug to deal with inflammation and another pain via the brain. (My understanding anyway which may be faulty so be sure to verify this! ) We periodically test to check kidneys/liver values. If you go with a steroid, you may need to switch from an NSAID to say... Tramadol?... be sure to ask but I think NSAIDS shouldn't usually be used with steroids.Again... too much info but if you're anything like me, having things we might yet try offers hope! |
| Thanks again. Our Vet mentioned Gabapentin? |
Guest wrote: Thanks again. Our Vet mentioned Gabapentin? Gabapentin (brand name Neurontin) is a seizure med, it also is prescribed now for pain. Mostly hard to control nerve pain. It has an initial period when started where it caused pretty extreme drowsiness, but the body (humans at least!) does adjust after some time on it. |
| The vet doing the laser and V.O.M. treatments mentioned it could be added too. |
| I feed my senior fat dog and senior disabled dog Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul Adult Lite. I did a ton of research looking for lower calorie food for the fat dog and the Chicken Soup one was the highest quality food with the fewest calories per cup. I also add a couple of tablespoons of Missing Link supplement to their food for joint support and to round out any areas that they may be nutritionally lacking. They do very well on it. My disabled dog also has spinal fusion issues and he takes 2 tramadol/2 times a day and Deramaxx in the evenings. The medication has helped manage the pain well but we also did laser treatments with him and saw a really dramatic difference in his movement after a few months. He went from not being able to go up a few stairs to running through the yard with the other dogs and jumping into the car without assistance. He flies up the stairs compared to before. He is definitely still a disabled dog but the improvement that we've seen is huge. He's doing so much better. |
| Thanks everyone. ButtersStotch, Where can I read more on the laser treatment? Are there different types? What did you use? How often did you get it done? My vet did mention this along with acupuncture, water therapy. Thanks!! |
| Jaci did the laser with Panda, too and I think she has a post about it that is (always!) more informative than what I can offer. You can also get a lot of basic information by doing a Google search for "class iv laser therapy for dogs." I did a lot if reading about it before trying it with Bear and I talked to a lot of people that did it with their pets and no one had a single bad review so I thought it was worth a try. The treatments are pretty frequent at first. We began the treatment schedule every two days for a couple of weeks. Then we went to twice a week for a couple of weeks, once a week for a couple of weeks, once every two weeks and now we're on an as-needed basis. Between the meds and the laser, Bear has been as good as I can expect a dog in his condition to be. Id recommend it myself if its in your budget.For us, it was $25 per session, which was very reasonable compared to a lot of other places that i checked into. I think sometimes the hardest part (at least for me) is accepting that no amount of therapy or meds is going to make my dog a year old again, you know? However, when you look at the progress and see how he's thriving compared to what he was even around Thanksgiving, it's a night and day difference. I have to admit, I get really annoyed when people ask me what's wrong with him (his back end has tremors from the spine issues) because he's come so far and is so much better, I only think of him as doing well, especially when I see him running around the yard and acting like a puppy. It's like someone pointing out a handicap and that bums me out! |
| My small vet clinic now has a laser unit for therapy (town of 2100 population!) and the place I teach classes at (fabulous facility with complete canine rehab) also has one....so I think they are becoming much more common. |
| ButtersStotch, Thank you for the information. We have already set up consultation at our local Physical Rehab place for animals. We are excited about it. I am sincerely glad to hear your Bear is doing better than before. All the best. |
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