there is so much that can be done for your arthritic cat or dog that does not
involve giving them drug medication and every holistic treatment plan should
include some or all of the things that I'll discuss with you today
Hi I'm Dr.Alex Avery from OurPetsHealth.com helping you and your pet live a
healthier happier life I welcome to the second video in this arthritis series if
you haven't checked out the first video yet where I explain what arthritis is
what signs may indicate your pet has arthritis and how we go about diagnosing
it then that can be followed in the link below a lot of people want to know if
there's anything that can be done for their pet with arthritis that doesn't
involve giving them drugs and the short answer is yes absolutely while drugs are
by far and away the most effective form of treatment there are plenty of other
options they can either delay slightly they need to start them or can mean that
we get away with giving a lower dose or fewer often once the diagnosis of
arthritis has been reached a long term structured treatment plan needs to be
formulated we need to keep in mind that we're treating rather than curing the
condition as well as the fact that arthritis is a progressive disease this
means them what my work at first will need tweaking and changing us our pet
ages now is also a good time to take some baseline blood and urine tests we
do this for two reasons from the first of these is that our arthritic patients
they're generally older so there's always the possibility that they may be
suffering from other conditions and it'll be good to know about these before
treatments started second reason is that in rare instances and I'll discuss this
later a patient may experience a significant
drug side effect and this initial blood test will provide a baseline against
which future monitoring tests can be compared now a treatment plan that's not
just a case of starting a single medication and continuing with it
indefinitely instead a holistic approach needs to be taken and this involves the
process of evaluating many different options and introducing those felt best
suitable to each individual cat or dog there's no one-size-fits-all approach
and it's only after a considered discussion between you and your vet that
an appropriate strategy can be decided upon
now this treatment plan will likely consider the individual's lifestyle
their exercise and living arrangements nutrition dietary supplementation and
only finally drug therapy okay so let's work through the list of non drug
options available and how they may form part of
overall approach to the management of arthritis some options are likely to be
very familiar with while others you might not have considered at all one of
the most important if not the most important treatments for arthritis is
weight loss in those patients who are overweight or obese
we know that to weight loss of as little as six percent can result in a
significant improvement in comfort levels in our overweight arthritic pets
the more they lose the more comfortable they get this improvement may be enough
to avoid the need for multiple drug treatments and so it's an ideal first
step weight loss will also improve the health of arthritic pets in many other
ways too if you want to know more about cats and dog obesity if you want to
learn how to tell if your pet is overweight in the first place
discover the implications of being overweight and more importantly how to
get your pet to successfully lose weight then be sure to watch my related body
condition scoring an obesity videos link below now next on the list comes
exercise and physical therapies we know that an excess of exercise will make an
arthritic individual more stiff and painful but conversely no exercise at
all it will result in the seizing up and likely gaining weight so we need to
strike a good balance with this now this may be 40 minutes off a lead twice a day
for some but it may be limited to ten minutes three times a day and on a lead
in others what you certainly be avoided though in any arthritic patient is those
one-off days of really extreme exercise such as the dog who stays in the house
all week but then goes on a 10-kilometer run with their owner at the weekends
they'll probably enjoy it at the time but I'll certainly suffer over of the
following days now it's the impact and stresses on the joints caused by
exercise that's responsible for making things worse so we should avoid high
impact activities such as ball chasing where really rapid acceleration quickly
changing direction and sudden stops and jumping all increase the forces on a
joint massively now for cats this may mean that chasing a mouse on a string is
okay but flying around the room after a laser is just too much for them there
are also other ways of providing low-impact exercises with perhaps the
best one being hydrotherapy physiotherapy and massage therapy also
helping to maintain muscle condition and also help to prevent the range of motion
of a joint from reducing now these exercises and stretches are best
formulated by consulting with a specific veterinary physiotherapist they will
likely come up with an exercise plan best suited to your individual pet this
therapy will also have an impact on comfort levels and so help to reduce again the
need for additional drug treatment or allow a lower dose of these drugs to be
used so up next on the holistic treatment plan is environmental
management now these are generally quick and cheap solutions that can really
greatly add to an arthritic animals well-being when thinking about these
changes put yourself in your pet shoes and you'll see how much difference they
could make so let's start with bedding now warm soft thick bedding it will
reduce pressure and painful joints and help prevent them seizing up after rest
beds with a soft lip that are still easy to get into will help contain that warmth
and so reduce drafts that will further improve their benefit and along the same
line is insulating and draught proofing the bedding area be that in the house or
in a kennel outside are simple changes that can have a huge impact along the
same lines using heat packs on the affected areas can help ease the
symptoms of arthritis heat helps as it causes the dilation of blood vessels and
this increases the oxygen and nutrient delivery to the joint as well as the
surrounding tissues which eases stiffness and encourages healing heat
itself can also reduce the transmission of pain signals directly to the brain
any heat packs you should be warm but not so hot as to cause discomfort or
even burns in some cases and it also needs to be in place for around fifteen
to thirty minutes to really make a difference to the deeper structures
within the joint now conversely in an acute injury or if there's a sudden
deterioration in our arthritic patients cold packing should be used for the
first few days now this will limit swelling and inflammation in the first
place before then applying heat over the following days now the final
consideration for environmental management is the fact that jumping
steps and also uneven ground can pose problems to our arthritic patients
now this means that other modifications to their environment to consider include
having ramps to get upstairs or into the car if you have an arthritic cat then
having bedding food and water options all in accessible locations is really
important ensuring cat flaps are appropriately
located as vital and finally using shallow rather than deep litter trays
that are in easy accessible locations can help prevent unwanted accidents now
dietary supplementation may be the next addition to the treatment plan now the
best of these are certainly the essential fatty acids omega-3 fatty
acids which are also known as EPA and DHA are the first group of supplements
to consider these omega 3 fatty acids they're really well recognized for their
anti-inflammatory effect and so reducing the inflammation pain levels these fatty
acids are found in various oils such as fish oils like cod liver oil and
flaxseed oils and they're also added in specific ratios to prescription joint
diets and there is very good evidence that these diets significantly improve
comfort and mobility in our arthritic cats and dogs and as such they can be
recommended to any arthritic animal in fact when considering all of the
nutraceuticals or dietary supplements that are available its these diets which
there is the best evidence of a positive effect it's worth mentioning at this
stage that if your pet is being fed one of these diets then there's probably
unlikely any benefit to providing an extra dose of fish oil and in fact doing
so it may actually reduce the benefit by changing the fatty acid ratio it
contains ok so next up we've got green lipped mussel extract as well as
glucosamine and chondroitin supplements and these are the major dietary
supplement considered by most people and what may be surprising is that the
evidence behind these is actually less strong that you might imagine with there
being a lot of contradictory studies with any potential benefit seen being
much more modest so glucosamine and chondroitin are components of normal
healthy cartilage and joint fluid and the theory is that by supplementing them
we're providing the body with the building blocks to optimize joint health
plus points of glucosamine and chondroitin supplements is that they are
very well tolerated with no significant side-effects
apart from cost if any benefit is going to be seen then it can take some time so
if this treatment option is explored then it's important enough time is given
for a benefit to be appreciated now this may be for as long as 3 months or more
now I personally feel that some individuals benefit from these
supplements and some supplements probably better than others but in many
almost instances there's either no improvement or it's of minimal benefit
all this means that while they can be worth trying where funds are limited
they're probably better spent on different options that undoubtedly work
better also if an arthritic animal is on one of these supplements but it's still
showing signs of pain then they should either be switched to a more effective
treatment or another treatment should be given at the same time as them
polysulfated glycosaminoglycans are another option for the treatment of arthritis
these are found in such things as synovan and cartrophen and I tend to
think of these as injectable supplements now this drug is said to stimulate new
cartilage matrix to be produced while at the same time slowing down the ongoing
breakdown as well as improving blood supply to the joint it's administered as
an injection and given once a week for four weeks with this treatment course
then lasting for up to 12 months although generally it's much less than
this there are also various strategies being used for long term treatment the
data sheets and the drug company typically suggest always using the drug
in a course of four injections however it's frequently used differently such as
with monthly top-up injections being given depending on an individual's
response and pain levels now this is one drug where veterinary experience can be
a bit mixed with some vets claiming excellent results and other seeing
minimal improvement when used in their patients the published evidence also is
varied one literature review summarizes there being either weak to no evidence
to support its use while others report at most a moderate comfort level that
polysulfate glycosaminoglycans have any benefits in the
treatment of our arthritic patients personally I found results to be very
much hit and miss with those patients more likely to respond being in the
earliest stages of disease it's certainly also possible that this
improvement really relates more to the placebo effect or due to other
management strategies started at around the same time as the injection course
again though this option it's very well tolerated the side effects being very
rare it is said to have anticoagulant properties so stopping the blood from
clotting and it should certainly be used with caution in any animal of bleeding
tendencies however in all likelihood the risk is
likely tiny now there are other what are call alternative treatment options
available that may or may not be beneficial and these include acupuncture
laser therapy and stem cell treatment let's just say that the jury is still
out on these acupuncture may have a slight benefit although much of this
could be due to the placebo effect laser therapy seems to be a growing
trend although personally I have yet to see anything that convinces me that
any claimed effect is real and again not just wishful thinking
studies are limited but a recent review on human knee osteoarthritis concluded
that low-level laser therapy was ineffective
and so the likelihood is that in our dogs the problem is the same stem-cell
therapy has also started to take off both in human and veterinary medicine
now this is a cutting-edge technique while earlier reports are very promising
we're still very much in the early days of this treatment this means that we're
still working out if it actually works and if so what the best way to collect
these cells are as well as what the best route is one of the best doses and how
often we need to give this treatment by all means consider this treatment option
if it's available to you but be aware that the risks and the benefits are
still relatively uncertain in a few years time I suspect that it might be a
we using this treatment on the more much more regular basis we're just not there
yet so watch this space okay so as you can see there's so much that we can be
doing for arthritic patients that doesn't involve giving them drugs now
these strategies they don't replace the need for pain killing medication but
they might delay the need for it to start with or they might allow a lower
dose or fewer drugs to be used with arthritis being a progressive disease
though it's likely that further treatment will be needed sooner or later
so I hope this videos giving some useful and practical measures that you can
implement in your own arthritic dog or cat in the final video in this series
I'll be discussing drug treatment for arthritis as well as how we should
monitor our pets going forward and what their long-term prognosis is if you have
any questions if you have any tips of your own that you'd like to share then
please leave them down in the comments below I'd love to hear from you also if
it's your first time here consider subscribing to this channel to make sure
that you don't miss out on future content and allow me to continue to help
you and your pet to live a healthier happier
so until next time I'm Dr. Alex from OutPetsHealth.com because they're family