Arthritic Dog

Possibly a dog Nsaid like rimadyl, deramaxx, previcox and metacam are a few. It will depend on what is actually wrong with the leg, but the meds can make a huge difference. Possible bloodwork before and after starting to make sure she does not have any kidney or liver issues. The meds can turn an older dog into a more playful and active dog. Also if she is overweight at all getting any extra off can help. There are rehab exercises that can help, cavaletties, swimming, exercise ball that is big an oval shape. Your vet probably won't mention all of those, but they are out there. Our dog used to frequently sprained one rear leg and her hip joint is good, but bot great on that side so we have done a littlebof everything over the years. Good luck and hope your vet can give het some relief.

Added: accupunture can work wonders and testing for tick borne diseases can be a good idea if it has not been done or is not done with yearly heartworm testing. Might be a long shot since this is on going, but you never know.

There's something special about a lab! I so miss our old guy. Before we adopted him, ours had been on the bad side of a car accident, resulting in a crushed pelvis (among other injuries). Arthritis was pretty much expected.

Our regular vet is also a trained, experienced acupuncturist. If this option is available in your area, I HIGHLY recommend it. We found the Omega-3s somewhat helpful initially but, really, the acupuncture was fabulous, resulting in keeping him off any medication for at least a year. Initially, it was one visit a week for 3 or 4 weeks, then we stretched the treatments out to once every 6 to 8 weeks or so and he would be pain free. As I recall, the treatments were about $85.

After a year or so, we needed the occasional aspirin to help him out. By the way, if you use aspirin, please make sure it's the enteric coated kind (Eco trin and Ascriptin are two brands). Our vet says no more than three consecutive days on coated aspirin, then at least 3 days off. Dogs' stomachs are, according to him, much more sensitive to stomach bleeds than are ours and our vet always seemed more concerned about our lab's tolerance for drugs than our beagle's. Not sure if that was a breed issue or what.

Eventually, the treatments only lasted about 3 - 4 weeks. My vet was the one to suggest we start medication, since it would be cheaper. Tramadol was a good alternative for a long time. Eventually, we added Gabapentin, then switched to Rimadyl. Each of these worked for a while (some longer than others) and alleviated his discomfort.

I'd absolutely second a blood test for tick-borne illnesses. One or another of ours have had Lyme, Anaplasmosis or Erlichiosis. The woods of central Massachusetts are tick heaven, it seems. A month of doxycycline & all's well (& it's not terribly expensive -- a plus!)

Good luck.

Outside of the answers already posted, yes injections are probably in your dog's future. Some vets might tell you to give your dog a baby aspirin as well.
When I was in massage therapy school, we studied animal massage. Have you tried that just to help relieve some of the stiffness? You can find books and articles and that won't cost you anything to do yourself.
Hope you find some relief for your pooch.

We recommend and carry a couple of different glucosamine supplements, namely Glycoflex and Dasuquin. Omega 3 fatty acids, such as a fish oil supplement, can be helpful too. We also offer Adequan injections and an all-natural herbal anti-inflammatory supplement called Vetri-ENSED that some dogs have done well on. As far as an actual pain medication, there are non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as Rimadyl and Previcox available. We usually recommend bloodwork before starting them long-term to check liver and kidney enzymes, and then rechecking a month after starting. Other pain meds we have available include Tramadol and Gabapentin. We do NOT recommend using anything a person would take over-the-counter, such as Tylenol or ibuprofen (highly toxic to dogs) - not even baby aspirin! Also, do not recommend corticosteriods, like Cortisone.

Where I work also offers laser therapy for arthritis pain, as well as physical rehab, such as swimming, underwater treadmill, and massage. There are lots of options out there you can discuss with your vet - costs really depend on them.

Aw... makes me sad when I hear about achey pups. The previous posters have listed anything I could possibly mention regarding meds. Not sure if anyone mentioned the possibility of non-medicinal therapies like acupuncture. I had an employer once who took their GSD for regular acupuncture treatments to help with Berkley's arthritis. It helped her.

As just a side comment, has your vet ever run bloodwork to check for tick borne illnesses in your dog? Our GSD is almost 9 and all this past year she got slower and slower and stiffer, started getting lameness for no apparent reason (favoring a front leg without any apparent injury), stopped running full speed, wouldn't/couldn't jump into the back of the car anymore, etc. Thought she was getting old and overdid jumping for a frisbee or arthritis finally was more than she could hide from us...
Took her in a month or so later for her annual physical and they ran a bunch of bloodwork (she had to have some anyway for other meds she takes) and they found she harbored erhlichiosis (a tick borne disease transmitted like Lyme disease). She was not having an acute case, but a sub-clinical case (which meant she didn't have any overt apparent serious symptoms---just the kind that can be attributed to age or arthritis--depression, achey joints, etc). They put her on antibiotics and within 24 hours (I kid you not, it was closer to 18 hours after her first dose) she was like a puppy again.
She has been her old "young" self again ever since.

And every time she seemed to favor a weak limb, when we thought it was all arthritis related, it was the same front leg.
I am NOT saying that is what is going on with your dog, but if your vet hasn't run bloodwork looking for it, or other diseases that might cause some less acute symptoms, it might be worth at least asking about.

Good luck to you and your pup.

Injections and oral prescriptions can help with the pain management. You can also buy dog aspirin at the pet store, and see if that helps. Our dog has genetic hip problems, and has since he was 5 months old. How long have you been using the glucosomine? It does take a while to start helping, I encourage you to keep giving it. (I also suggest finding gluclosomine supplement with chondroitin, manganese and MSM.) The supplements along with occasional (when it's bad, daily) aspirin, have seemed to help our dog tremendously. He is now 7 years old.

Maybe Adequan. It's an injection that costs about $50 per shot. You may be able to get it from your vet and do it yourself to save on costs. Frequency would depend on your vet's recommendation and your dog's level of degeneration, so I can't advise on total cost. It has a wonderful efficacy record, and the safety profile is better than corticosteroids. I know this because I worked on the trial for FDA approval :)

Another option would be to use NSAIDs or corticosteroids, which is pretty cheap but I'm not sure of the exact cost. It's just treating inflammation, but it should help quite a bit with pain relief.

Good luck, I hope you can find some relief for your poor pup.

probably suggest a pain killer for days that are really rough for the dog and continue with glucosomine/condroiton. (sorry about spelling hope you understand)