# 8 year old Beagle has terrible arthritis :-(



## BostonCeltics (Oct 18, 2012)

Hi guys, this is my first post, as I am trying to get any advice for my poor beagle. 

He is 8 years old, and over the past 6 or 7 months, has developed what I think is arthritis. It started with just a sore leg, which we thought was maybe a sprain. It didn't get better for about a month, so we took him to the vet. Several visits and tests later, (and thousands of dollars) they found nothing. So I am assuming it must be arthritis, as that leg is still not better, and some of his other legs get sore from time to time as well.

He has been taking glucosamine which doesn't seem to be helping, and the antibiotics and tramadol given to him by the vet didn't help, either. I have been giving him small dose tylenol so that he isn't in too much pain, and he can at least get around a little.

I don't know what else to do, he has so much trouble getting up and down stairs, and while he doesn't seem to be in pain (unless you grab or twist his leg wrong) I don't like seeing my poor puppy struggling to get around. ANy advice? Thank you for reading!


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

Tramadol is a good narcotic pain killer. but a NSAID also works well on arthritis and can be combined with Tramadol. A medication like metacam could be added to his normal medication. Also try a joint support supplement called SYNOVI G-3. it has glucosamine in it along with other joint support supplements. 

Tylenol is toxic to dogs. we never have recommended it , although some say its ok in small doses. I would not recommend it. there are better options. Some vets will recommend some over the counter human drugs and some things are ok. but many human drugs work differently in a dogs system then in a human system. Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen are 2 drugs known to be toxic to dogs. 

and also based on where you live maybe have your dog checked for lymes disease. if not already. I have seen 8 yr old dogs develop arthritis even severely but I personally do not see it a lot. If its in the rear leg it could be a torn ACL and in that case it takes time to heal.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Tylenol will kill your dog. Plus, tramadol is far stronger than tylenol, so if tramadol wasn't working, tylenol certainly won't. (Tramadol isn't actually a narcotic, though it is classed as such. I know, I take it.) I would get a second opinion from another vet. It's exceedingly odd that tramadol isn't giving any relief, but there's nothing that comes up in tests. Plus, you can see the damage caused by arthritis in x-rays. I've seen my own x-rays and it's not hard to find.


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## BostonCeltics (Oct 18, 2012)

Thanks for the reply guys.

1- Sorry, I get the medication confused... I'm not giving him Tylenol, I'm giving him low dose aspirin. 

2- It's his left front leg, not his rear. 

I'll look at some of the recommended medication.


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## BostonCeltics (Oct 18, 2012)

regarding lymes disease, his blood was checked, and nothing came back...


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## Fade (Feb 24, 2012)

did they do just a full blood panel or a specific test for lymes? and if they did do a lymes test it frequently comes back flase negative. a full blood panel won't check for lymes or other tick borne diseases. let said above from xrays you should be able to see arthritis or anything like that. and becareful with aspirin also. aspirin is ok for short periods of time but it seems to thin a dogs blood much more then it effects humans


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Fade said:


> Tramadol is a good narcotic pain killer. but a NSAID also works well on arthritis and can be combined with Tramadol. A medication like metacam could be added to his normal medication. Also try a joint support supplement called SYNOVI G-3. it has glucosamine in it along with other joint support supplements.
> 
> Tylenol is toxic to dogs. we never have recommended it , although some say its ok in small doses. I would not recommend it. there are better options. Some vets will recommend some over the counter human drugs and some things are ok. but many human drugs work differently in a dogs system then in a human system. Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen are 2 drugs known to be toxic to dogs.
> 
> and also based on where you live maybe have your dog checked for lymes disease. if not already. I have seen 8 yr old dogs develop arthritis even severely but I personally do not see it a lot. If its in the rear leg it could be a torn ACL and in that case it takes time to heal.


Great post!
.
Ask your vet about Adequan, doing a month long loading dose (once every 4 days).


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## Midnight351 (Nov 26, 2008)

Hi there,
My Shepherd mix has been going through the same thing. In August his arthritis kinda hit him like a ton of bricks. he could barely make it around the block. Stairs and jumping in the car were difficult, andd he was stiff getting up after laying down. He is 12 and a half and been good up until that point. I have had him on glucosamine and chondroitin since he was 4 but his arthritis is pretty severe in his hips. We went to the vet and did the bloods, urine and Xrays. His blood work is excellent. We then started him on Dasuquin which is a better glucosamine supplement with MSM. I also give him theraputic amounts of fish oil for antiinflamatory effects. He has also been started on a low dose of Previcox which is an NSAID. He gets tramadol as needed if he goes to hard on a walk. The thing that I think made a huge difference is adequan. We just finished our loading dose and going to once a week then twice a month. It is like night and day, it took a few doses. I really started to notice improvement after 5 injections and the best results after the 8th injection. Just today we went on a 2 mile walk and he was chasing squirrels! He could barely walk let alone chase anything. Yesterday we went on our trail loop next to our house and he did great trotting the whole time with his tail up. I can tell when he is in pain when he starts to drop his tail and he hasn't done that as much lately. He can do stairs easily although we still have troubles jumping in the car. He gets up much faster from lying down too. It is a huge improvement. He isn't like he is 2 yo again, but still a vast improvement. He does have more issues when the weather is colder and that is when I give the tramadol. All in all, I think adequan is great. I know it wont work for every dog, but if you try the inital loading dose you might be surprised.


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Midnight351 said:


> Hi there,
> My Shepherd mix has been going through the same thing. In August his arthritis kinda hit him like a ton of bricks. he could barely make it around the block. Stairs and jumping in the car were difficult, andd he was stiff getting up after laying down. He is 12 and a half and been good up until that point. I have had him on glucosamine and chondroitin since he was 4 but his arthritis is pretty severe in his hips. We went to the vet and did the bloods, urine and Xrays. His blood work is excellent. We then started him on Dasuquin which is a better glucosamine supplement with MSM. I also give him theraputic amounts of fish oil for antiinflamatory effects. He has also been started on a low dose of Previcox which is an NSAID. He gets tramadol as needed if he goes to hard on a walk. The thing that I think made a huge difference is adequan. We just finished our loading dose and going to once a week then twice a month. It is like night and day, it took a few doses. I really started to notice improvement after 5 injections and the best results after the 8th injection. Just today we went on a 2 mile walk and he was chasing squirrels! He could barely walk let alone chase anything. Yesterday we went on our trail loop next to our house and he did great trotting the whole time with his tail up. I can tell when he is in pain when he starts to drop his tail and he hasn't done that as much lately. He can do stairs easily although we still have troubles jumping in the car. He gets up much faster from lying down too. It is a huge improvement. He isn't like he is 2 yo again, but still a vast improvement. He does have more issues when the weather is colder and that is when I give the tramadol. All in all, I think adequan is great. I know it wont work for every dog, but if you try the inital loading dose you might be surprised.


That's been my experience as well. I have decided that I'll put my dogs on it at the first sign of being arthritic, because it can make the dog not need any NSAIDs for a lot longer. And since NSAIDs can have some side effects, and Adequan has few to none (occasional irritation at injection site), I'd rather start there.


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## georgiapeach (Mar 17, 2012)

I have a poodle with grade 4 luxating patellas in both rear knees (the worst grade, which normally needs surgery). I've had good luck giving him Cosequin DS with MSM daily (the normal maintenance dose is every other day for his size), along with a fish oil pill. Thhis is a glucosamine, condroitin, and MSM supplement. My vet is amazed that he's currently pain free. You could give this, along with whatever pain medication you and vet decide on.


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## DarkHorse7 (Nov 1, 2011)

Fade said:


> Tramadol is a good narcotic pain killer. but a NSAID also works well on arthritis and can be combined with Tramadol. A medication like metacam could be added to his normal medication. Also try a joint support supplement called SYNOVI G-3. it has glucosamine in it along with other joint support supplements.
> 
> Tylenol is toxic to dogs. we never have recommended it , although some say its ok in small doses. I would not recommend it. there are better options. Some vets will recommend some over the counter human drugs and some things are ok. but many human drugs work differently in a dogs system then in a human system. Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen are 2 drugs known to be toxic to dogs.
> 
> and also based on where you live maybe have your dog checked for lymes disease. if not already. I have seen 8 yr old dogs develop arthritis even severely but I personally do not see it a lot. If its in the rear leg it could be a torn ACL and in that case it takes time to heal.


Hi - I'd just like to mention to anybody outside of the US, Acetaminophen is actually Paracetamol.


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## BostonCeltics (Oct 18, 2012)

Fade said:


> did they do just a full blood panel or a specific test for lymes? and if they did do a lymes test it frequently comes back flase negative. a full blood panel won't check for lymes or other tick borne diseases. let said above from xrays you should be able to see arthritis or anything like that. and becareful with aspirin also. aspirin is ok for short periods of time but it seems to thin a dogs blood much more then it effects humans


Well now that I think about it and go through his records, I'm not sure they did ANY blood work which seems really really odd.. I haven't been too thrilled with this vet.

I appreciate all of the responses. Makes me feel a little better. I will look into Adequan for sure, if it is indeed Arthritis and not some disease.


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