arthritis | Companion Animal Veterinary Hospital

arthritis

What is osteochondritis?

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An OCD lesion in a dog's knee (surgical view)

Osteochondrosis is a disease that occurs in young growing dogs that results in an interruption to the normal growth of bone and cartilage in the joints. There are multiple forms of osteochondrosis and the resulting effects depend on several factors including:

  • the joint/joints affected
  • the location within the joint
  • the severity of the defect
  • the degree of arthritis present in the joint

Some of the conditions that are caused by osteochondrosis include:

Shark vs Canine, who should win?

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sharks chopped up into bits

There is no conclusive scientific evidence to prove that any arthritis supplements work, so why bother?

There are some theoretical beneficial effects to these supplements and they may reduce the need or even enhance the effect of other medications. For example we use synovan injections which are a combination of pentosan and chondroitin. There is good evidence that this combination works better than pentosan alone. 

Disease Modifying Osteoarthritic Drugs (DMOADs)

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how DMOADs work

What are they?

There are a number of DMOADs available for use in dogs. The original product available was Cartrophen injections which contain pentosan polysulfate. Since then several generic version have come on the market and there are now several newer generation drugs such as Zydax Gen II and Synovan which have been enhanced to improve their beneficial effects. 

How do they Work?

These drugs work by preventing, reducing and in some cases restoring the damage to cartilage caused by osteoarthritis. 

DMOADs work by:

Treating Arthritic Pain

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Limping Means Pain

Arthritis is a painful condition

Sure your dog is not howling in pain but dogs aren’t like that. They might be wagging their tails looking to you for attention but that doesn’t mean they are not in pain. 

Make no mistake about it, If your dog limps or is stiff when they get up they are in pain!

Because dogs walk on 4 limbs not 2 it takes a lot more pain for them to limp than it does for us to limp. By the time they become lame they are at a much advanced level of degeneration than us weak 2-legged animals. 

Living with Arthritis: your Vet, your Pet and You.

Matt Young's picture
Old dog on bed

 

It’s winter, and that’s the worst time for aches, pains and twinges.

Think of arthritis as an incurable, chronic disease.   But, rather than accepting nothing can be done, it means that it’s up to you to make your friend as healthy, happy, and comfortable as possible with the joints that nature, nurture and time have dealt them.

It basically breaks down to a three pronged attack:

  1. how you can make your pet better equipped to live with arthritis
  2. what you, directly, can do to make the disease easier, and
  3. how we, the vets, can help support you both in making life better.
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