Page 2 - Arthritis in Dogs - Comprehensive by Dr Erik Johnson

Arthritis in dogs

Recognizing arthritis and why limping isn’t a good reference
If your dog has arthritis in the “lower back” (lumbars) will it “limp”?

No, not really. It might just have a ‘funny’ or ‘stilted’ walk, but it won’t go lame on a particular leg.
Steve Budsberg (chief of surgery at UGA) showed us a case in Vet School that had TWO
ruined, dysplastic hips. It WAS in fact limping - -and as he said “If it could limp on BOTH hind
legs, it would.”
The point is that sometimes people don’t know that the dog is in pain from arthritis.

Why would you treat arthritis before you can see it?

Arthritis is a progressive state-of-affairs. It starts out as joint stiffness and is nominally painful.
Dogs may “take a minute to warm out of it” when they get up from a long rest. Inflammation is
present in the joints.
Science has revealed that reducing that inflammation “early” reduces the erosion of the joint
over time. Folks with automotive experience know that if “the bearings” in a wheel are going
bad, the metal shavings erode the joing faster and rebuilding the bearings eliminates the
grinding shavings.
So, anti-inflammatories used in inflamed joints BEFORE the dog’s actually, visibly arthritic,
delays the onset of severe arthritis. .

So remember: Metal shavings in a wheel bearing

Aspirin For Dogs

When arthritis first appears, customers may put the pet on “aspirin” which is sold for pets
without a prescription. This is “just okay” because the incidence of problems is low. However, if
your dog develops a gastric ulcer or a bleeding disorder, you’ve got grounds to sue the
manufacturer for neglect because truly, selling aspirin for literally “all dogs” is reckless. Quite a
few dogs are NOT good candidates for aspirin.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’ve recommended aspirin a LOT for dogs, but I know the dogs.

Aspirin is available in many forms from adult-human “enteric coated” across the board to “pet-
chewable.” And “buffered” in between.

My favorite aspiring for dogs is “buffered”.
Enteric coated aspirin will pass through the dog’s short intestinal tract without dissolving and
ends up in the yard.

Pet chewables are pretty neat, as long as they post the milligrams/pill on the bottle and as long
as you can trust that label.