Old hound slowing down

My 9 year old Lab has bad arthritis in his right elbow. $600 in xrays to determine what was causing his bad limp. Had two opinions from surgeons and surgery is not an option. We've done some adjustments:
- smaller walks, more frequent
- I lift him in and out of the truck
- 1500mg Omega 3 oil capsules per day
- Tri-Acta H.A. powder high strength for large dogs (contains glucosamine sulphate and glucosamine hydrochloride), msm, chondroitin sulphate, and hyaluronic acid.
- dog nsaid (meloxocam) and tramadol if he has a bad day from being too active

We had accupuncture done as well and this definately helped

Dutch,

There’s a lot of old fat beagles around that never got to hunt and enjoy their best life. If yours could talk it would say “thank you and don’t worry about it”.

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Originally Posted by Fenelon

My 9 year old Lab has bad arthritis in his right elbow. $600 in xrays to determine what was causing his bad limp. Had two opinions from surgeons and surgery is not an option. We've done some adjustments:
- smaller walks, more frequent
- I lift him in and out of the truck
- 1500mg Omega 3 oil capsules per day
- Tri-Acta H.A. powder high strength for large dogs (contains glucosamine sulphate and glucosamine hydrochloride), msm, chondroitin sulphate, and hyaluronic acid.
- dog nsaid (meloxocam) and tramadol if he has a bad day from being too active

We had acupuncture done as well and this definitely helped

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Be careful with that meloxocam. It's very hard on the kidneys. (I'm not a vet but have dealt with that drug on my dog lately. I was told not to use it for more than 14 days. ) Better to use gabapentin for pain.

I use tramadol too - it is a sedation/ anti anxiety drug. Using it now to keep my dog quiet as he had major surgery 2 weeks ago.

As I said, I am not a vet, but you may want to check out some of my comments with your vet.

Re: meloxicam . Yes you're right Sharon about the potential for kidney damage. Our vet monitors kidney function by bloodwork every year. I guess it's a trade-off for giving a nine year old dog some quality of life and pain management. We tried gabapentin and it did absolutely nothing for managing his pain. We were told that gabapentin works well for neurological pain. Didnt' do anything for his arthritic joint pain.

We use a U.S. vet and after our second TPLO surgery on our Burness, they recommended a new drug called Galliprant® to prevent anticipated Kidney issues. So far after about 3 yrs, blood work shows no damage. With the pandemic, we had to get our Canadian vet to order it in, as it's not in common use here but can be had.

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Sadly, 1 in 4 dogs suffer in silence from canine osteoarthritis (OA)1 – a chronic, progressive disease. Early diagnosis and intervention can help reduce discomfort and disrupt the progressive cycle of multidimensional deterioration.2

As a veterinarian, when you see a dog in pain, you want to relieve them of its suffering right away. You want to provide the best care but often worry about the long-term effects of medication. However, waiting to treat OA until later in a dog’s life may be less effective.

Dogs can develop sensitization of the central nervous system after OA develops, causing maladaptive pain.3

Galliprant is an effective non-COX inhibiting NSAID that treats canine OA pain and inflammation early on, and can be used as long as needed.**†

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https://www.galliprantvet.com/us/en