sandra_slayton
Posted : 1/1/2007 11:56:12 AM
My oldest golden retriver, Buck will be 12 onn the 8th of next month and h e has arthritis in his hips and lower back. I am avoiding the NSAIDs (Rimadyl, Deramaxx, Metacam, etc) as long as possible because they are all hard on the dog, especially the liver. There have been a l ot of deaths due to the Rimadyl and also to Deramaxx. My vet does not use the Rimadyl because it is so rough and so many die. He does use Deramaxx and Metacam. I think, from all I have read, that the Metacam is probably the safests.
Right now I have Buck on 2 MSM/Glucossame caps inn the morning and at night he gets 2 Osteo Bi Flex caps, an Ester C, a fish oil, a multivitamin, a Vitamin E, a cranberry cap (he h ad his first and only kidney infection 6 months ago and I have had him on the cranberry ever since) and a milk thistle cap, hoping to have h is liver in the best condition possible when he does have to go on NSAIDs. Also, for pain (when he seems slow getting up, etc or after he has a had a busy day of 2 mile walk and going up and down the fence barking at the dogs on the other side barking at him) I give him White Willow Bark. He doesn't get it every day, just when I think he needs it.
Getting up and down is about the only time we can tell he has arthritis (except his spine is bowed and he can no longet stretch h is rear legs way behind him). Once up he always trots, never walks. He goes at a very brisk trot and sounds like a pony going thru the house. He can still get on the beds and sofa with ease. But, we know the time is coming he is going to need something for pain. Life expectancy for goldesn is 10 to 12 years so we feel lucky he is in the great condition he is in for h is age.