Arthritis & Adequan

[RDandSQ]

My 11 year old retriever is having trouble on walks (uphill) and had a full orthopedic exam and x-rays, which show some hip dysplasia (sockets look okay, but bone is wide) and arthritis. This is consistent with his gait on walks (head down). The vet suggested starting Adequan, 2x per week for 4 weeks.

He has had four shots (so it's been 12 days since the first shot). The vet said his experience indicates improvement can be observed in 3-4 weeks. So, it's a bit early.

I wanted to understand other people's experiences.

I'm finding good periods are bad periods. As an example yesterday morning (this is 3 days after the previous shot), he was eager for a walk and we had a very good walk, with little struggle on the hill, he came home and insisted on playing ball (even before breakfast - which is odd), scurried up and down stairs, ran after birds, etc. You get the idea, very active. He then rested while I was at work - he has an indoor enclosure which he prefers since he was crate trained as a puppy. So, at lunch I offered the same walk (3/4 mile, a bit more than 1 km); though he did not cut the walk short, he struggled a bit on the return, and has been generally out of sorts since (including this morning). This morning, I cut the walk short to 1/2 mile, and he was fairly quiet after the walk. He got agitated at the neighbor's dogs, and ended up hobbling back in the house.

Is this kind of variation just part of arthritis? Or, perhaps part of the Adequan induction period (I just gave him his 4th shot this morning).

I just wanted to get some idea of how things go during this period.

[hazelrunpack]

Did the vet do a tick-borne disease panel? Not sure what the ticks are like there, but here, we have a lot of them, and when the dogs are sick they show that good day/bad day routine.

That being said, however, it's not too unusual for a dog with age-related arthritis to overdo on the days they feel better, setting them up for a bad day. So go slowly with the exercise until you get a feel for what your sweetie's exercise tolerance.

[Longblades]

I'm in Canada so we used Cartrophen Vet but it is similar to Adequan in the way it works. You must be very careful to not let pooch overdo the exercise while you are giving the loading doses. As said above that can easily happen as they begin to feel better but don't let him get all bouncy. Finish your loading doses then slowly re-introduce exercise intensity and duration. When we used it, CV, I was very impressed with it.

[RDandSQ]

Thank you both. On this morning's walk, I came to realize, he is not "self regulating" on walks. Before the Adequan, he would declare time to turn back, and now he does not. This means I should look at his gait and decide for myself how he feels. I will try to keep him calm when birds are visible outside the windows.

I'm hopeful this indicates the injections are working.

[MaxaLisa]

Agree with ruling out tick disease.

I would also start a good joint supplement, or combination of a few.