Black Lab, hip problems, What to do?

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B96brig4CC

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The problem with most animals that have hip and joint issues is grains. Dog food is stuffed full of fillers. Gluten is know for causing this problem in both humans and animals. We have our labradoodle on a grain free feed and once he was on it all of the ear infection problems went away and he should not have any health issue that are "common" among this breed.

We have done extensive research because the price of treating the ear infections was outrageous. Grains are the main problem with most ailments today in both humans and pets.

I am not a fan of scrips and since changing our own diets and that of our canine friend, my family stays well and have very few issues and kids never get sick or miss scholl even when something is "going around". People think we are crazy, but I am the only one of my friends that doesn't have high blood pressure, excessive weight, or high cholesterol. Our diet consist of mainly meat, and veggies. Very little fruit, or grains. Lots of meat. grass fed, grass finished beef always at home. Yes the grain cattle eat ends up in your system.

All this to say try buying grain free dog food for your pet or put em on a raw meat diet(we do the raw meat and cow inards when we slaughter a cow) and it should ease the arthritis and joint issues.
 

RidgeHunter

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Rimadyl and glucosamine gave my dog a few extra years. Happy years. They say Rimadyl is bad on kidneys, but for chrissakes, he was 12 or 13 when we put him on it, so who cares?. The difference Rimadyl made was absolutely huge. Be sure and talk to your vet about it.

Good luck to you and Roxy. It's heartbreaking to see your pup slow down, but I have confidence you can have her feeling better in short order with some treatment.
 

CHenry

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The problem with most animals that have hip and joint issues is grains. Dog food is stuffed full of fillers. Gluten is know for causing this problem in both humans and animals. We have our labradoodle on a grain free feed and once he was on it all of the ear infection problems went away and he should not have any health issue that are "common" among this breed.

We have done extensive research because the price of treating the ear infections was outrageous. Grains are the main problem with most ailments today in both humans and pets.

I am not a fan of scrips and since changing our own diets and that of our canine friend, my family stays well and have very few issues and kids never get sick or miss scholl even when something is "going around". People think we are crazy, but I am the only one of my friends that doesn't have high blood pressure, excessive weight, or high cholesterol. Our diet consist of mainly meat, and veggies. Very little fruit, or grains. Lots of meat. grass fed, grass finished beef always at home. Yes the grain cattle eat ends up in your system.

All this to say try buying grain free dog food for your pet or put em on a raw meat diet(we do the raw meat and cow inards when we slaughter a cow) and it should ease the arthritis and joint issues.
Thats good advice right there.
 

badrinker

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Start with basic husbandry: a thick foam pad to sleep on, hot-packs (those corn bags work well) on her hips when she's down, passive range-of-motion exercises to keep her loose, weight loss, etc.

Next step, add nutraceuticals: omega-3 fatty acids and a high quality glucosamine/msm supplement (I recommend Glycoflex as it's easy to give, but there are a lot of quality products out there). Adequan injections benefit some dogs immensely also. Long-term steroids are degenerative, so we try to steer clear of them (they also don't seem to offer much benefit in dogs).

Step 3, add pharmaceuticals. This generally means NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) Rimadyl, Deramaxx, Metacam and Zubrin would be common ones. These could be supplemented with narcotics when necessary (tramadol finds a lot of use here).

Total hip replacement surgery can be an option for some dogs, albeit a rather expensive one.
Ibuprofen is NOT safe for dogs (neither is Naproxine). Tylenol is ok. Aspirin is safe enough, but can't be used in conjunction with any of the more effective NSAIDs so I don't recommend it anymore.
 

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Roxy is not obese like some labs I've seen. She is around 90 lbs and could lose weight (just like me).

I am in Edmond and found the vets here charge like they are in Edmond.

Are the items "Rimadyl, Deramaxx, Metacam and Zubrin" only available by scrip from a vet or are they purchased over the counter.
If anyone has a good, reasonable vet in the OKC/Edmond area, I would love to have their name.
 

B96brig4CC

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Roxy is not obese like some labs I've seen. She is around 90 lbs and could lose weight (just like me).

I am in Edmond and found the vets here charge like they are in Edmond.

Are the items "Rimadyl, Deramaxx, Metacam and Zubrin" only available by scrip from a vet or are they purchased over the counter.
If anyone has a good, reasonable vet in the OKC/Edmond area, I would love to have their name.

If you live in edmond, I suggest going by farmers grain in downtown edmond and pick up some grain free feed for you buddy. What I said earlier may sound silly and far fetched but you can research it yourself and find that many people countered and reversed the hip problems of labs by removing the grain from their diet. My labradoodle maintains a health weight without having to measure food and it has taken care of skin irritation and ear infections for just pennies more than the food he use to eat.

Good luck and you will be hard pressed to find a vet that would recommend this as treatment. Just like regular doctors they want to treat patients ailment not fix them. They get kick backs on meds just like docs do.

Also, don't know of any truly good vets in Edmond. Ours tried to tell us that we have to neuter our dog or he will begin to have "problems" and aggression issues. I'm sorry but cut my nuts of and see if I am more aggressive before or after you do that. They get calmer because they are now no longer a man. I trust vets about as far as I can throw them.
 

CHenry

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If you live in edmond, I suggest going by farmers grain in downtown edmond and pick up some grain free feed for you buddy. What I said earlier may sound silly and far fetched but you can research it yourself and find that many people countered and reversed the hip problems of labs by removing the grain from their diet. My labradoodle maintains a health weight without having to measure food and it has taken care of skin irritation and ear infections for just pennies more than the food he use to eat.

Good luck and you will be hard pressed to find a vet that would recommend this as treatment. Just like regular doctors they want to treat patients ailment not fix them. They get kick backs on meds just like docs do.

Also, don't know of any truly good vets in Edmond. Ours tried to tell us that we have to neuter our dog or he will begin to have "problems" and aggression issues. I'm sorry but cut my nuts of and see if I am more aggressive before or after you do that. They get calmer because they are now no longer a man. I trust vets about as far as I can throw them.
What brand food are you buying? I buy IAMS and think its a decent food. Not cheap, not real high...moddle of the line and they dont eat as much of it - which means better quality right there.
 

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