Arthritis

[Dawn Penn Turpin]

Hey everyone, I rescued my husky which us 5 a couple of weeks ago from the shelter. He's started acting like he's having a little bit of a hard time getting up and down since the cold weather came in. I was just wondering if maybe it might be arthritis. Do any of your fur babies have it? I'm going to take him to the vet after this holiday weekend is over because no one is open 😔.

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[Andy]

Poor boy.

Let us know what the vets say 

[Dawn Penn Turpin]

Ok I will. Thank you Andy. I hope that that's all it is. It just worries me. Do any of your babies have it?

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[Removed #5]

I had an older lab - she was 13 and like yours, when it got cold she had trouble getting up and down (and up and down steps).  Take a look at this article and consider starting him on a regimen of glucosomine. 

While it seems natural to look to the "pain killer" shelf - it probably one of the worst things we can do to our pets.  When our joints get stiff and sore, we know they have been and we can take an NSAID (aspirin, Tylenol, etc) for the pain - but we also know not to exert ourselves too much or it'll be worse tomorrow.  Our furred friends don't know that, they simply know the pains gone away so they're going to play - bad move!  Add to that, most NSAIDS have bad side effects when given in a large enough dosage to relieve the pain.

Back to glucosomine - Kala's hips were beginning to wear (hey, for 13 she was doing good!) and an over the counter vitamin with glucosomine carried her on to almost 15 with only minor problems. 

Side effects with Glucosamine are few and generally mild compared to the benefits that can be gotten from it.  I would not be afraid to pick up a bottle of glucosamine (& vitamins) to use while waiting to head to the vets.  With Kala, it seemed to effect her within a couple of days though reports indicate that it can take up to a week for noticeable effect. (damn, now I beginning to sound like an add! )