Babysitting Arthritic Dog

heza

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Hi all.

Does anyone have experience with older, arthritic dogs? I'm babysitting my dog-niece this week. She's fourteen, now, and her arthritis acts up some. Mostly, she's been fine with me, except that her front foot starts to hurt her. She'll hobble around for a bit and then stand there, staring at me, holding it up like I'm supposed to do something about it.

Is there anything I can do? Ice it, put it on a heating pad, wrap it? Or is the best thing to do just let her be and rest if she wants... hop around all pathetic if that's what she wants...

She's already on medication, btw, so I can't give her anything.
 

Maryn

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Poor thing. She's telling you it hurts, so make poor-doggie noises and cut short anything that makes her use it.

I don't know much about dogs with arthritis except that it often gets pretty bad when and if it affects their hips. It sounds like her owners are treating her early, so unless they told you to do something beyond the meds, I'm not sure you should.

Maryn, mostly guessing
 

heza

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Thanks, Maryn.

She's supposed to have a ten-minute walk at night, but last night we let her skip it because of her foot. But she's a restless dog and just wanders around a lot. I wish she would lie down and rest her foot, but I think she doesn't like to get down before she's done all her wandering because it's hard to get up again (I know how she feels). It just makes me nervous, I guess, that I can't seem to help her.

(ETA: she really does eat up the poor-doggie noises, though, especially if she thinks she can get a pity snack out of it. ;) )
 

regdog

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I advocate warm compresses, gentle massage and poor sweet, doggie cooing.
 

Maryn

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Good point. A warm compress may not actually help the pain, but it feels soothing and goes very nicely with poor-doggie noises. It most certainly can't do any harm.

Maryn, who uses heat on her arthritis occasionally, but mostly just complains
 

cornflake

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I'd definitely try a heating pad, or a warming disc, if you've got one (they're like frisbee-sized discs filled with goo that you stick in the microwave for 5 minutes, then put in a fleecy sleeve and stick between blankie layers and it stays *hot* for like 12 hours), or heated blanket while you're awake and then you could fold it good and unplug so it stays warm.

Also if she holds her paw up, can't hurt to try massaging it. If it doesn't help, she'll surely take it back, heh.
 

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Heating uncooked rice in a sock in a microwave makes a nice heat compress too.
 

heza

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Thanks so much, you wonderful people!

Yesterday, she was in better shape after having rested. We went on the walk and then rested some. Right before bedtime, she even decided she needed to play. She was very energetic and hopping and spinning around with our other dog (I was very nervous our dog would knock her down).

This morning, she was really, really slow to get out of bed. I gave her a massage and rubbed her briskly to try to wake her muscles up. If she's stiff from lying around all day when we get home, I'll try some heat.

Thanks for the advice.

(Oh, I did try to massage her paw, but apparently, she doesn't like her feet touched. :rolleyes: )
 

Lady MacBeth

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My older dog had bad arthritis. The vet recommended daily walks. Not too far of course, but the dog's limbs would seize up worse if he was immobile. I found warm compresses (hot water bottles are great) worked and gently massaging the affected areas.
 

heza

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My older dog had bad arthritis. The vet recommended daily walks. Not too far of course, but the dog's limbs would seize up worse if he was immobile. I found warm compresses (hot water bottles are great) worked and gently massaging the affected areas.

Good to know! Thanks for sharing your experience.
 

regdog

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(Oh, I did try to massage her paw, but apparently, she doesn't like her feet touched. :rolleyes: )


It can be difficult with some dogs, believe it or not it is a dominance issue. A dog's feet make them vulnerable. A wolf that can't walk is left behind.

If it's not dominance it could be pain related.
 

heza

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That's interesting, I didn't know that about the dominance.

She seems to be doing better. I'm hoping the heat and massages have paid off. She's not limping on the foot anymore, and, miracles of miracles, she made it up and down the stairs last night so she could hang out with us. (I'm not leaving her all alone--the first few nights, my husband carried her up and down.) But she wanted to do it by herself this time. And this morning, she got up on her own.

I will probably suggest the heat and massages to my sister when she gets home.
 

Roxxsmom

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I've got a 14.5 year old dog with arthritic knees. Aside from giving her her metacam, lots of love, and soft beds to lie on, I'm not sure what else to do. There are nutritional supplements that can help some with arthritis. Duralactin is one. But they take a while to kick in. Roxy does better when she gets her daily walks, though she doesn't have the endurance she once did.

The old dog restlessness is strange. It may be because her "parents" are away, but Roxy does that too--gets up in the middle of the night and wanders into the kitchen. The last old dog (she passed on a few years back at 17) did the same thing sometimes. I suspect it's like what happens with older people. Their sleep patterns get disturbed.

Does your friends' dog like chewies? Sometimes a stuffed kong or rawhide or something can distract them when they get restless.
 

CrastersBabies

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When I read this on my "new posts" list, I thought it said, "babysitting an Arithmetic dog," and I was like, "WHOAH, when did dogs start doing math?"

So, yeah. Don't mind me.

As for arthritic dogs, we have one. She takes meds 2X a day. We take her for slow walks to keep her exercised. The only issue we've ever had is that we need to switch up the food we use to hide her pills because after a while, she begins to catch on and spits the pills out. Otherwise, she's golden.
 

heza

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Thanks Roxxsmom and Crasters!

She's gone home, but I told my sister about the things we did to try to make her more comfortable... and I think she did really well at our house.

The last couple of days, she was going up and down the stairs by herself, and that really surprised my sister.

I'm afraid I spoiled her, though. She won't take her pills, either, Crasters. My sister brought the cheese that "always gets her to take the pills." But she just kept spitting the cheese out. I had to cook and grind up chicken and sprinkle it on her food and hide her pills in that. And she would still manage to eat around her pills or spit them on the floor... so I just had to keep sprinkling. I figured it was more important to take her pills than stay completely on a diet for a week.

She did like chews. She's a snack fiend. We have this thing we do at our house—"bedtime snacks"—because it's the only way to get our dog to take her glucosamine. When niece-dog caught on, she would start whining for everyone to go to bed as soon as it started to get dark at 8:00... drove us crazy.

But anyway, she's home now, doing well and studying her algebra. ;)
 

heza

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I read back through this thread because...

... my own poor baby, Maddie, is having problems, now. She's only seven, but on Sunday she decided she couldn't use one of her back legs anymore. We got a vet appointment last night and the doctor decided to do x-rays. Turns out the baby girl has pretty bad hip problems. We'd noticed a few behavior changes lately, but didn't really clue in to them being from pain. Only in the last couple of days has she started limping.

The vet didn't say dysplasia, but now that I'm researching it, I realize Maddie exhibits a lot of the behaviors associated with it.

The vet warned us that the x-ray would be pretty brutal because of the way they have to position the dog to get a good view, so we asked for a sedative and pain reliever. Maddie was high as a kite (and oddly paranoid) for the rest of the evening, but it wore off about midnight and then I was up with her for the rest of the night (she was crying continually and couldn't get comfortable) until she settled down at 5:00 am—only to start crying again at 6:30.

My husband stayed home with her today, and she cried all morning. Around noon, she settled back down for a while, but he's been having to take her for very brief walks every half hour to an hour. She's taking a week of anti-inflammatory meds, but I guess they haven't reduced the inflammation enough, yet. I called the vet this morning, but it turns out they're closed on Wednesdays.

I really feel helpless. Last night, all I could do was make a pallet next to her bed and pet her all night, between trips outside (for some reason, she had to potty four separate times).

She's eating and drinking and wants her snacks, but she starts whimpering again every fifteen minutes or so. Everyone said heat was good for arthritis... is it equally good for hip dysplasia pain? And is this even the actual hip dysplasia pain or is it pain from an acute injury caused by the manipulation for the x-rays and heat might make it worse?

I've sent the vet an email, but we're not likely to hear from her until tomorrow, and I was really to come up with a game plan for things I can do for Maddie tonight if we have the same issues.

Thanks in advance.