How To Care For Your Arthritis Dog

Dogs like human can be affected by arthritis that causes discomfort and great pain that could be crippling in one of more of the joints in the hips, elbows, shoulder, knee, wrist, ankle and backbone. Once this condition is diagnosed, your vet and you could work on an acceptable treatment option that would help keep your pet comfortable and free of pain.

Ways to take care of your pet dog with arthritis:

1) It is first very essential to make it easy for your dog with arthritis to move about in the home and yard; provide your dog with arthritis ramps that would assist his climbing up and down stairs. Ramps can also provide easy and comfortable access on furniture that your arthritic dog now feels the difficulty to get on and off by himself.  Ramps also prove very useful to get your arthritic dog inside and out of the car; this especially proves very useful when your dog is large and is difficult to lift and place in the car.

2) Make sure your dog with arthritis has a comfortable place to sleep; a comfortable and well padded bed  with nice thick blankets or cushions would not only make the dog comfortable, but would also release pressure on his joints. It would be great if you could invest on a heated bed if your arthritic dog appreciates it; such beds are readily available and help to ease pain in the joints affected by arthritis. However make sure the heat is not high as it could burn the dog’s skin.  

3) It is to be best understood that it is essential to make food and water accessible to the arthritic dog; this is essentially very important when the joints in the neck or front legs are affected and the dog finds it difficult to put his head down to reach the food and water dishes. You could reduce the reluctance of the affected dog to eat and drink by elevating the water and food dishes, so the dog can access both food as well as water without bending his legs or neck to uncomfortable positions.

4) Being obese and overweight could make fat cells secrete hormones that contribute to pain and make arthritis more severe; make sure your dog maintains ideal body weight. It would be best to not over-feed your arthritic dog and to encourage him to do the exercises with the advice of your vet. It would be best to talk to your vet regarding methods of how to reduce weight and maintain the weight of your dog or a suitable weight control program.

5) Help your arthritic dog in winter by heat therapy; the most common choice for this is sweaters and heated pet beds that are filled with pet-friendly fillings and have Velcro straps to help the pad stay on a pet’s hip. Your vet would be in a position to recommend best heating sources that would not burn your pet.

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