Does Your Pet Hurt?
Osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative arthritis, degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthrosis, is a type of joint disease that results from breakdown of joint cartilage. Subtle changes may include stiffness of the joint, swelling of joints, inability to exercise, or general “slowing “down. As these changes progress you might begin to notice a loss of muscle mass, weight gain, and complete exercise intolerance. September is National Animal Pain Awareness Month, in an effort to help pet parents monitor their pets we have put together this informational paper to help you.
Over 30% of adult dogs show some form of arthritic changes. These changes start as little things such as not wanting to walk as far or play as hard, slowness to rise or lay down, grunting or groaning while adjusting their positioning, or just a general decrease in activity. This may progress to not wanting to go up or down stairs, not playing with favorite toys, not greeting owners when they come home, and not jumping up onto furniture (couches or beds to sleep at night). Owners may also notice a change in nail length and wearing on their paws as dogs try to adjust the way they walk to ease discomfort. Dogs will also lie down instead of standing for periods of time or may be content to just lay in the yard instead of chasing down the pesky squirrel or rabbit that taunts them.
Our feline friends make it much more difficult to determine if they are in pain due to their survival instincts. Studies show that over 30% of adult cats and over 75% of senior cats have arthritic changes. With cats you have to closely monitor their behavior for slight changes. You may notice they no longer sleep in their favorite window spot, don’t run up the cat tower, or they stop jumping onto furniture or counter tops. As this progress they may not groom themselves as well due to a difficulty bending and getting to all their parts and places. Accidents might be discovered near the litterbox since getting into high walled boxes becomes difficult. Cats will also stop going up and down flights of stairs or decrease frequency of using them which can create issues with accidents or not eating as well if food or litter boxes are separated by floors.
If you notice any these changes in your pet don’t worry, just call to schedule a consult with one of doctors to discuss pain management and options to help relieve the hurt. We have a couple different options available for supplementation that offers lubrication of joints and increased joint health using natural products in both oral forms and injections into the muscle to distribute throughout the body. In addition to this we can offer laser therapy for specific targeting of a painful joint. The laser heats up the joint to increase blood flow and oxygenation which brings in healthy cells to decrease inflammation and reduce pain and swelling. The last options in our multi-modal approach are pet safe medications for pain and inflammation associated with chronic osteoarthritis. Please call today if you think your pet may be suffering from arthritis and might benefit from one of our available pain relief options.