Learning to live with Canine Arthritis...

As I told you yesterday we had a veterinary appointment for Schatzie due to pain she was experiencing  in her hips. For the past 10 days if we touched her rear end she would cry out in pain and really just don't want anyone messing with her. She really didn't act a whole lot different I mean she was active, eating, pooping except for the cries when she anticipated a touch from one of us.

During her examine yesterday we were able to observe that the left leg/hip had complete range of motion, but the right did not...Dr. Julie decided to keep Schatzie over night and preform a complete blood work up (which came back fine) and she needed to take some radiographs to better diagnosis the problem. 

As you can see from this 1st radiograph, Schatzie's left hip (the one on the right) is perfect, the ball and socket look nice and healthy.  Now take a look at the other side (the one on the left) you will see severe arthritis ....degeneration of  her hip joint. In which results in cartilage damage and joint inflammation.  Now we totally understand her cries of pain.

Several things could cause this problem

1. obesity-- Schatzie is at the ideal weight

2. Lack of Exercise--not a problem for this dog, she's a go-go dog!!

3. age--Schatzie is only 5 so the disease shouldn't be this advanced

4. Injury or Trauma--we are unaware of any incident

5. Breed/Genetics--this is probably the culprit.

This next radiograph shows Schatzie's spine...a picture is worth a thousand words...a closer look at this we see that she has what they call "Spondylosis" kinda like a bone spur on the lower portion of 1st, 4th and 6th vertebra looking L to R on the x ray. I am guessing there is more further up the spine. 

Basically she's an arthritic mess...

Now there is no "cure" for arthritis we will just need to try and manage her pain and comfort levels by the following--

1. Twice a week for 1 month she will be given a Adequan injection. This med is designed to prevent further damage in the hip cartilage. After the 1 month she will be given an injection 1 time per month.

2. we will begin feeding her a diet specially for joint problems (new kibble)

3. She will also be given Previcox for pain management on days that she needs it.

4. We will continue to exercise, just being cautious not to overwork or stress her. No stairs! Dr. says swimming is the best and goodness knows Schatzie loves the pond.

She had her first injection this morning and is now resting behind the sofa...poor thing is exhausted. Her nose is a bit raw from rubbing on the kennel to get out last night, poor girl suffers from separation anxiety and being away from us last night added to her discomfort. I am glad we told them not to put a blanket in her kennel, she would have destroyed it :(

Hopefully the above plan will work. Our goal is to keep her as pain free as possible for as long as possible. 

I'm sure this will be an interesting learning experience, one I really didn't want to tackle. 

We will make the best of each and everyday--living it to the fullest with no regrets!!

Thanks to all that prayed and thought of us yesterday, it was appreciated.