Degenerative Joint Disease - What It Is and How It Is Treated

It's a sad fact that all dog owners have to face. Our beloved pets are going to get old someday, and with age come inherent health problems such as degenerative bone disease, or what is better known as arthritis. With the right nutrition from birth this risk dramatically decreases, but that's not always the case. Some breeds, such as large breeds, are more prone to bone problems than others are. However, there are ways to effectively manage and treat it and keep the symptoms at bay via natural treatment options and medications.

Dog arthritis is probably as common in middle-aged and elderly dogs as it is in people. The degenerative nature of the disease begins when the joints, which are normally smooth and covered in cartilage makes moving the joints easy and pain-free. When this cartilage begins to wear down with age, the bone surfaces are exposed to the bones around it and can rub against each other, which results in swelling, inflammation, and pain when the affected joint is moved.

Most dogs are affected by some type of wear and tear arthritis as they enter their senior years, but there is also a form of juvenile arthritis that affects some younger dogs due to a genetic factor. There are ways that you can spot arthritis or at least begin seeing the signs of it, these include:

• Joints that are tender and swollen: check the knees, hips, and elbows for signs of tenderness.

• You may be able to hear a cracking or grinding sound when your dog walks or gets up from a laying down position.

• Your dog may have trouble getting up when he or she is laying down.

• You may notice your dog is reluctant to do things he always did in the past, such as climb a flight of stairs.

• Lameness in any of the legs.

Your veterinarian will use several diagnostic tools to make the diagnosis and begin a treatment plan. First, x-rays will be performed of the suspected joints as well as the spine, since it is often hard to tell if your dog has arthritis of the spine. Once the diagnosis is established, a treatment plan will get underway, which will include:

Weight loss: if your dog is just two pounds overweight, this can be a significant amount of extra weight for him or her to carry and therefore, losing weight will help ease the pain.

Regular and gentle exercise will keep the joints moving and make it less painful for your dog to move more freely

Anti-inflammatory drugs that they have available for dogs today are called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs such as Rimadyl can help to significantly reduce the inflammation and some dogs respond very well to these newer medications, but some do have side effects and cannot tolerate them, depending on how sensitive they are to the drugs.

You can add glucosamine and MSM to your dog's diet as these are natural anti-inflammatories and glucosamine can actually help to build more cartilage naturally.