My Lab is hurting

[Duke41]

My Lab Jake is showing signs of arthritic right rear hip. He is limping around and a little slow. He is 10.5 years old and wieghs 85 pounds. He is in great shape except for the hip. The vet prescribed a pill that cost about 100 per month. Anybody have any ideas, what about plain old asprin?

[ProfessorM]

I would try it but the pill works great . My black lab, Oprah, has had both ACL's done several years back. Very expensive. She is about 11 now and gets around pretty good now. The price of the pills to the operations for hips is a hell of a lot cheaper for the amount of time the pups got left IMO. Also weight issues causes a lot of problems for bad hips and knees. Vet always said keep her weight down. Seems to be a problem for things named Oprah. Let us know if it works I would think it is worth a shot. P.

[stripersnipr]

A combination of Remadil and Creatin has added years to my oldest Dogs life. The cost is $85.00 a month. Theres a lot of money to be saved by internet shopping for the prescribed medication. On the down side Remadil has come under some fire lately for actually killing some dogs from a gastro/intestinal reaction. This past summer my brothers Boxer was diagnosed Osteoarthritis of the spine. The Vet put her on Remadil and she was dead within 72 hours. Dont know for sure if the Remadil caused it but talk to your Vet about it and see what he has to say.

[Raven]

there is also glucosamine for dogs....

arthritus is a deficiency disease

the right kind of lubricants ...in the form of

oils... added to the diet are a hell of alot safer

than pain medications and work better imho.

all pain meds do is mask the symtoms!

i just saw first hand on tv what my pain meds
are doing to my insides,,,and dropped them like a
hot potatoe. it's fish oil , glucosamine ,and chrondroitin
for me now.... an occasional pain med....
i cut down 90% on them

[Duke41]

I will look into that thanks Raven

[striperman36]

Glucosaimine works great for my Sheperd. I highly recommend it.

[jnski]

My dog is 12 years old and has been through the mill. Broke her back many years ago and the arthritis is finally starting to set in. The only thing that has helped her so far is buffered aspirin. I give her one buffered baby asprin a day and it has done wonders for her. If used properly, after a few weeks it works as not only a mild pain reliever but also an antinflammatory medication.
Hope everything works out.

[Mr.Mom]

The last dog I adopted was a 'Special Needs' Golden......he cost a good buck in meds every month but naturally was worth it, good dog and he enjoyed most of his time with us....I think we found pet meds to be the best deal for most of his pills, the rest came from a vet in the city.....

Like guys are saying shop around....

[teaser]

Originally Posted by Duke41

My Lab Jake is showing signs of arthritic right rear hip. He is limping around and a little slow. He is 10.5 years old and wieghs 85 pounds. He is in great shape except for the hip. The vet prescribed a pill that cost about 100 per month. Anybody have any ideas, what about plain old asprin?

I had the same problem with one of my dogs (a Rotty) and the vet gave her a shot, cost $75.00 but well worth it she was running around the next day like a puppy and she's been fine since, although he did say that she may need a booster bi-annually.
Just a little food for thought, I believe in the saying " A better living through chemistry."

[MrHunters]

all pain meds do is mask the symtoms!

i dont think that is necissarily true. take something like bursitis or a rotator cuff injury that causes swelling. you need something like aleve or stronger to reduce the swelling in order for the injury to heal. a benifit is pain relief but it definelty helps reduce the swelling which is causing the pain.

[sok]

Originally Posted by MrHunters

i dont think that is necissarily true. take something like bursitis or a rotator cuff injury that causes swelling. you need something like aleve or stronger to reduce the swelling in order for the injury to heal. a benifit is pain relief but it definelty helps reduce the swelling which is causing the pain.

It's partially true.
They are all marketed as pain relievers with the added benefit of being anti-inflammatory. In very very small print.
A good majority of common OTC drugs are only designed to treat the symptoms. NOT the cause.
(Say you get a cold. Decongestant, cough suppressant, pain reliever. None of which actually do anything to kill whatever is causing the cold. Just treating the symptoms as it runs it's course.)
And Raven does have a very good point.
I got pretty much the same advice from the family.
A pharmacist and two R.N.'s(Dad, Ma & the evil younger sibling.)
I have one (1) bottle of aspirin in the house, nothing else, on their advice.

As far as a pet goes...whatever it takes.
That's a part of the family too. At least my family.

[MrHunters]

Originally Posted by sok

It's partially true.
They are all marketed as pain relievers with the added benefit of being anti-inflammatory. In very very small print.
A good majority of common OTC drugs are only designed to treat the symptoms. NOT the cause.
(Say you get a cold. Decongestant, cough suppressant, pain reliever. None of which actually do anything to kill whatever is causing the cold. Just treating the symptoms as it runs it's course.)
And Raven does have a very good point.
I got pretty much the same advice from the family.
A pharmacist and two R.N.'s(Dad, Ma & the evil younger sibling.)
I have one (1) bottle of aspirin in the house, nothing else, on their advice.

As far as a pet goes...whatever it takes.
That's a part of the family too. At least my family.

ill agree with that.


im just saying the pain relievers do serve a purpose sometimes other than just relieving pain.