Bichon Frise with arthritis

MmmmmCheese

We have a 12 year old Bichon Frise who has had arthritis for the last year and a bit which has steadily been getting worse.

Over the last two days he has barely been able to walk. Has anyone else experience of what can be done for them to ease the pain or if any medications have worked? Or are they prone to getting spells like this and improving again?

Will be taking him to the vet over the next few days and terrified they’ll tell me that he needs to be put down.

tk123

What medication / multi modal plan is he on now? If he's unable to walk he needs pain relief - get the pain under control before you try anything else...I'm saying that because you're going to get tons of recommendations for different supplements, things to add to food etc(!). Take a look at Canine Arthritis Management's webpage/youtube/facebook pages - there's tons of articles and useful information. If your vet hasn't explained what a multi-modal plan is / they don't know about CAM you probably need a new vet(!) My guy gets laser therapy and it works very well for him.

sdp

plus 1 for tk123 advice. My little man suffered from arthritis, in the last couple of years of his life. he was on a pain relief plan from vets, once pain was under control, I added some supplements, the main thing is to ease his pain for now. there should be no need for him to be pts, once he's healthy in every other way, best of luck op.

irish_goat

Our springer has arthritis and we have him on prevacox which has helped keep it under control. We notice a big difference in him when he misses a dose. Your vet should be able to prescribe it.

mymo

My older boy has a little arthritis, he's nearly 12, we walk on grass mostly, every day, if we miss a day he can get a little stiff, don't over do exercise, keep it roughly the same or build up very slowly, I give omega 3 and 6 oils, nothing else at the moment, he's doing great. Always dry them if they get wet on walks, I only noticed after I was sick and he wasn't walked for a few days, he started limping, xray showed arthritis.

MmmmmCheese

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The vet has put him on a course of injections (I can't remember the name of them), one every week for the first four weeks and about 3-4 times a year after that. Hoping that will make a difference for him.

She also suggested taking him for short walks every day as opposed to longer walks a couple of times a week which I admit I had been doing. He just seemed so stiff after walks I felt they needed to be cut down on. Hopefully once the pain starts to subside he'll be able to manage them better.

DBB

MmmmmCheese wrote: »

The vet has put him on a course of injections (I can't remember the name of them), one every week for the first four weeks and about 3-4 times a year after that. Hoping that will make a difference for him

Cartrophen
When it works, and it usually does, it's good stuff indeed

sdp

So glad to hear that op.:)

mymo

MmmmmCheese wrote: »

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

The vet has put him on a course of injections (I can't remember the name of them), one every week for the first four weeks and about 3-4 times a year after that. Hoping that will make a difference for him.

She also suggested taking him for short walks every day as opposed to longer walks a couple of times a week which I admit I had been doing. He just seemed so stiff after walks I felt they needed to be cut down on. Hopefully once the pain starts to subside he'll be able to manage them better.

I've a dog with a touch of arthritis and daily walks really help, shorter regular walks are much better for them. He can still do 30-40mins a day, and I give omega oils as well.