Chow & severe arthritis

[ChowLover]

Hy everyone, I have Chow Chow named Aga who has severe form of arthritis in back legs (especially right one). Joint on the right hip is pressing some nerve (because of arthritis) which is constantly inflammatory. Pain is so strong that he sometimes gets epileptic attacks. He has trouble getting up, trouble walking...and all other standard symptoms. Till know he was treated with Rymadil for pain&inflammation relief and he was on diet (we had to get his lever in shape first) for lever mainly but he also took some joints supplements.
But in last 30 days pain progressed once more and now Rymadil doest work anymore. Veterinarian's suggested that we try with more aggressive meds but it is not solution of the problem, then they suggested operation (hip replacement) but it is not an option because it is much expensive and we would have to go to Italy (we are from Belgrade, Serbia).
Because of all of the above, I am looking for some new opinions, some new meds or .... Please if anybody had the same problem I would like to here what did you do abut it. Thanx in advance

[Owen Enterprises]

I am sorry to hear about you dog's pain. What supplements have you tried to use to help your dog?

There are a couple of problems with supplements.

1. One type of supplement may work in one dog and not another.
2. The quality is very variable and most of the time the quality improves as the price goes up.

Here we have absolutely no control over supplements. The quality is left to the manufacturer. A perfect example is glucosamine that is dirt cheap to expensive. The inexpensive products are glucosamine salts and the the expensive products are pure glucosamine. Then we have products that are a combination of both. Needless to say glucosamine salt is not near as effective as pure glucosamine. Therefore the results our pets see is variable to some improvement to great improvement. In severe cases these poor quality products don't work at all.

If total hip replacement is not an option I would try a variety of high quality supplements until I located the one that work the best.

[PawsitivePet]

I agree that the quality and efficacy of supplements does vary.

Here we have Cosequin and Dasaquin for animals - both of which have been tested and have given great results. I'm not sure what you have available to you. With that said, if neither of those are available, look for a good combination supplement containing glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, manganese and some even have a blend of herbs and enzymes known for their benefits for arthritis. If you have access to SynFlex, a liquid supplement, we've seen great results with that.

We also have Adequan which is an injectable polysulfated glycosaminoglycan given for dogs with severe arthritis. Good results have been seen with this as well. They are administered by veterinarians.

A few other things you can do - MicroLactin is a supplement from milk protein specifically from grass fed hyper-immunized cows. I do have personal experience with this and it has been wonderful. There is a product specifically for dogs called Dura Lactin, again, I'm not sure what is available to you, but, if Dura Lactin is not available, straight Micro Lactin marketed for humans works fabulously and is typically cheaper. Also, grains have been known to aggravate inflammatory response. Feeding a completely grain free diet can be very helpful. High protein to reduce muscle atrophy is beneficial as well as it is important to keep the muscles as strong as possible to compensate for the condition of your Chow's hips. Beef and other red meats have also been known to aggravate inflammatory response. High doses of Ester C with bioflavanoids have also shown to be very beneficial

If you don't already, add a good quality fish body oil such as salmon and/or sardine and anchovy oil. Both are great sources of omega 3 fatty acids which do help with inflammation.

Acupuncture and chiropractic treatments can help alleviate arthritis pain and help to increase mobility. You can also use a blend of essential oils to massage the hips.

Frequent exercise is very important to keep mobility in the hips - if you have somewhere your Chow can swim, that's the best form of exercise you can provide. Obviously keeping your dog on the slim side is optimal.

Good luck and let me know if I can be of any help.