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Arthritis in Shoulder

2K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  Flatwalk09 
#1 ·
I have an 8 year old lab that has developed arthritis in her right shoulder and would appreciate your comments and suggestions. I started giving her joint enhancer tablets over a year ago (Glucosamine 500 mg, Chondrotin 400 mg, MSN 100 mg), stopped working her on the ground and started swimming her daily. She still wakes me at 5:00 AM to let me know she is up and ready to go for a swim. Thanks
 
#3 ·
About the age it starts to show, yup.
Find a good antiinflamatory that works for her without side affects (GI upset) and give that as needed. I have a 10 yr old Who is lame a lot now on his old injured shoulder,He gets a Previcox a bit more than he used to especially if he overdoes it .
My 8 year old girl, gets one just if shes really sore after a big run , she doesnt get them very often but they do make a difference in the discomfort..
Have not used the Adequan on the older dogs but its a good suggestion to maybe ask your vet about.
 
#5 ·
My soon to be 10 year old has occasional flare ups in his right shoulder too. The problem is he feels great and runs just as hard as he always has. The next morning he can hardly walk! He gets fish oil and Tri Flex (glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM) daily. But these days it's up to me to set the limits, he recognizes none. When it does happen, I give him a half of a Previcox one time and then he is fine. So very hard to watch these guy get older; they just don't understand!
 
#10 ·
Big difference between arthritis and tendonitis. Many working labs have bicep tendonitis, they limp the same as bone arthritis. Adequan and glucosamine products will not help tendon issues. I suggest seeing a good ortho vet and get a diagnosis. If it is bicep tendonitis, sometimes they will use an arthroscope and cut the biceps tendon. Takes the pressure off the biceps tendon and tendon it runs under. Then the dog is pain free and they do not miss the tendon.

I use a therapy laser for various problems and have been very impressed with the results, especially when I used it on myself. I can feel the difference so it gives me confidence to recommend it. Knocked out a case of planter facitis in a week.
Acupuncture should be considered for either problem. I would use anti-inflammatories for only short periods of time. If used long term be sure to do the monitoring recommended. My best ever dog had issues with bicep tendonitis and she ended up not being able to take any of those drugs. When she flared up, I would use cortisone for short periods of time. In hind sight I wish I would have had her scoped and treated for what they saw.

As other have mentioned good warm ups and cool down when training, plus a be sure to slowly build up the work load. Get plenty of easy aerobic work in gradually increasing the work time. Also this the #1 reason I do not EVER let my dogs jump down from the bed of the truck. Landing all that weight on the front legs is a lot of extra stress they do not need to endure. I lift them down.

Good luck
 
#11 ·
Interesting Dr Nate, can a dog still work with a cut bicep tendon?
 
#13 · (Edited)
We have a dog who injured his shoulder several years ago. Massive tendon/muscle injury. He has great care from a sports/ortho vet and we've looked at it from every possible way (CT, MRI, ultrasound). After a roundtable with multiple vets we decided not to do the surgery as it would've been open not arthroscopic and the outcome would be iffy. We did do PRP injections and he wears also wears a brace to keep the shoulder close when it flares up.

Our mutt is a monster and doesn't know the words slow or careful. He flings himself off of inclines with reckless abandon. We have just learned to work with that. He gets cold laser treatments and occasional meds. I do a LOT of stretching with him too. I think it must feel good too because that is one of the few times he settles down and relaxes.

We can't train every day, don't train on inclines and if he's in a test and there's a ditch he can jump we just handle him through the situation. Sometimes that means a double handle and a fail but we're just fine with that.

Shoulder injuries are nasty buggers and think they're one of those things you can try to control but they flare up often.
 
#14 ·
This PRP stuff is very interesting. Being used a lot but not a lot of controlled studies yet. We had a PRP done on a horse with a small tear in his suspensory. With a lot of stall rest, hand walking and very slow return to work he is now back jumping. So I think there is a lot of room for this new stuff. Very interesting, looking forward to new research. Unfortunately, it can be hard to weed thru the "crap" literature for the better science and more unbiased research. We could be at the cutting edge of a dynamic new modality, or in 5 years we could looking back and laughing at how gullible we were.
 
#15 ·
We were fortunate to get in on a PRP study. Agree that we may be looking back in a few years and laughing. He has had lots of therapies thrown at that shoulder so it is really hard to pinpoint what worked and what didn't.

Ironically he took a tumble today while training so now it's back to take a few days off. Very difficult to navigate nagging injuries!
 
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