We nose that understanding the impawtant risk factors & knowing how to intervene early is pawsitively necessary in order for you & your vet to pawvide the best pawsible care & to keep us fourlegger healthy, active & happy.  We recently learned that there are many factors that can create a greater risk for us dogs to dogvelope canine osteoarthritis, even in our early years. Hi CEO Olivia here to yap about OA or canine osteoarthritis.

Did you nose that reoccurring inflammation & degradation of cartilage, chronic, pawgressive pain & mobility challenges are characteristics of canine osteoarthritis (OA)?  I’m barking out the truth here.

Working dogs, agility dogs or dogs who play hard often put greater stress on joints  making them more susceptible to injury which may lead to structural changes that pawgress the disease.  Joint injury & surgery such as cranial cruciate ligament injuries, are a common cause of OA in dogs.

Being overweight leads to more stress on joints & puts us under greater pressure, leading to faster pawgression & severity of canine OA.  Even some breeds of dog are more susceptible to joint problems than others.  We nose some dog breeds are more genetically predisposed to conformational abnormalities (big word for a dog) such as hip & elbow dysplasia, & osteochondrosis (a term used to dogscribe disorders that affect the growing skeleton).

As I yipped above, OA can occur at any stage of our lives.  Sadly, many of the signs of OA are not visible to you or your Vet until us dogs are already into our adult lives. You nose dogs do not  like to complain & learn to adapt to our situations. By that time the pain may be chronic & it may be dog gone hard for us dogs to do the things we used to do so easily.

Stages 0 – 1 stages are known as pre-osteoarthritis. Dogs in stage 0 are clinically normal & without any risk factors. Stage 1 dogs are clinically normal (not showing any signs), but at risk due to the presence of one or more risk factors we yapped above.

Mild osteoarthritis is seen at stage 2.  Our mobility is likely affected especially during our favorite activities such as jumping, running or playing fetch. There may be subtle stiffness in gait, asymmetry, lameness & changes in static bodyweight distribution.

A dognoses of moderate osteoarthritis means a dog has pawgressed to stage 3.  This is when a dog will show obvious abnormality in limb loading, stiffness in gait & shift in static bodyweight distribution. It’s common for us dogs to stop using or reduce the use of the affected limb. We may stop going up the stairs or jumping up on our favorite chair.

With stage 4 aka severe OA, a dog will show signs of restlessness when standing.  They may even avoid standing or moving.  Severe lameness, weight shift & abnormal limb loading are signs of stage 4 OA.

As we already yipped signs of OA are often subtle until stage 3 or 4 making it dog gone difficult to detect at home & difficult for veterinarians to diagnosis.  Early screening, detection & treatment are critical for reducing pain, inflammation & maintaining mobility so us dogs can keep on pawing through our daily activities with ease & good dog spirits.

A multimodal (several modes) approach is best in the treatment of canine osteoarthritis.  This may include anti-inflammatory supplements/drugs.  Our go to are Omega Alpha‘s EZ Mobility SinewPet & HA 180 hyaluronic acid. Weight control helps reduce stress on joints while pawmoting greater energy & activity & helps us keep joints limber & muscles strong.

Low impact exercise helps benefit dogs with advanced OA. Exercise also helps with keeping our weight goals. Additionally, low impact exercise can pawsitively benefit dogs with advanced OA .  Physical rehabilitation can relieve pain, help joint mobility & muscle strength, while pawmoting cartilage, tendon & ligament health.

 

Chondroprotection (such as the use of glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate,  hyaluronic acid injections) pawmote healthy joint lubrication & help repair damaged cartilage. Our go to is Omega Alpha‘s GlucosaPet (helps to maintain strong bones, joints & ligaments), Omega Alpha‘s SinewPet (support & maintain the healthy dogvelopment of bones, muscles, joints, ligaments & tendons) & Omega Alpha‘s  HA – 180 hyaluronic acid (pawmotes & maintain proper function of the hips & joints. Hyaluronic Acid is a fluid found in the joints that keeps them lubricated so they can move smoothly & freely. With consistent daily use, HA-180 works to decrease inflammation & pain in the joints &, in turn, increases our mobility).

We nose you love your dog; come on, what’s not to love.  That’s why Dot, Jerry Underfoot & I do our dog gone best to dig up impawtant information, give it a good sniff & pawfer to share.  Share is caring 💜 nose nudges 💜

 

Have a pawsome week, CEO Olivia, Dot & Jerry Underfoot 💜  

 

  PS 🐾 Looking for wagnifient healthy & furbulously fun toys or pawsibly a supplement for the well being of your pawtacular good dog or cat? Shop Naturally

 

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