Arthritis rears its head in many different ways. The most common shows up as a dog or a cat that is stiff, limping, unable to jump, slow to wake up or exhausted after a walk.

Our pets are stoic—or at least, they can’t talk—and once you notice the symptoms, arthritis has already set in and caused damage to the joints. This makes it important to look for any of the above symptoms—they can be subtle.

Arthritis is diagnosed first through a thorough history and physical exam. Routine blood panels are used to help rule out any other problem that typically occur with older pets. Radiographs are helpful in making any diagnosis, although a pet can have a normal radiograph and still have significant arthritis.

Some of the treatments are common sense and are easily done at home. The first and most important thing is to make sure that your pet is not overweight. If it is, there is a new food called Metabolic and Mobility made by Hills. It has been hugely beneficial in treating this problem.

Other treatments include supplements called neutraceuticals. A good example is chondroitin sulfate-glucosamine. Many pets do not respond to this, so don’t fool yourself in to thinking that this is all you need to do.

A large number of pets are substantially relieved from pain and are given the chance to move normally by the class of drugs called NSAIDs. When used judicially and under veterinary supervision, they are highly effective and are used in almost every case of significant arthritis.

This dog is getting noninvasive VNA therapy for its arthritic spine.

At Long Beach Animal Hospital, we don’t rely only on neutraceuticals and drugs. Many pets need much more, and we have two non-drug treatments that are highly effective. The first is VNA, and the second is acupuncture. You can learn about these two treatments, and much more about arthritis, by visiting our web link for arthritis.