Life after an Arthritis diagnosis
One of my dogs, Honey was diagnosed with arthritis in her hips about 2 years ago. She was only 7 years of age at the time and for a Tibetan terrier this is pretty young. Her littermate Millie is as spritely as a puppy and so having a direct comparison between both just demonstrated how bad Honey actually was. After discussions with the vet we transferred her onto Science Hill JD and Glucosamine and started her on acupuncture, I was also given Metacam that I could give to her when she needed it. She did improve after her acupuncture sessions and certainly the Metacam helped if she was in pain, but throughout the last year she had some poor periods where a short walk up to the local park resulted in her laying down half way and really swinging the hips and displaying pain afterwards. But now after 2 years I think I have finally found a balance that is working for her. In the last month I have made the following changes:
Diet: I have placed her on a holistic food called Robbies, this is a natural food produced by a company called the land of holistic pets http://www.landofholisticpets.co.uk/
Glucosamine: I changed her from a powder Glucosamine to a liquid Glucosamine called Flexicose, the reason I chose this particular Glucosamine was because a colleague of mine started taking the human form for his own knee and can now run an Agility course after the doctors said he needed an operation!
Magnetism: I bought a collar that has a small Magnet stitched into it which she now wears on her neck.
One month later after making all of these changes Honey more than managed a 3 hour mountain hike in our local mountains with no ill effects or signs of pain either during the walk or afterwards. I really never thought she would ever manage anything like that again and I am so happy for her. I cannot say which of these changes has had the most effect because I introduced them all around the same time. I know if I had been scientific about it I would have introduced each one individually, but all I care about now is that she is back enjoying long walks and not in pain. So for anyone out there whose dog suffers from arthritis just keep looking for solutions that work for your dog. You just never know!
