Pets Osteoarthritis and Vitamins

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Pets Osteoarthritis is the most common form of a joint disease found in our pets.

However, it is not just related to the “age “of your animal. It is a degenerative joint disease that usually is associated with the wearing out of the cartilage.

Over a given period of time, the smooth cartilage that overlays the end of the joint starts eroding, but there can be other factors that will contribute to pets osteoarthritis

Trauma to the joints, lack of exercise, overweight or obesity, and than the other extreme, such as repetitive strenuous regimes on the pet can also lead to this ailment.

Inflammation is not always apparent in this ailment, but what is common is joint pain, a loss of mobility with the joints, and even a remodeling of the bones, especially in elderly pets.

These conditions will increase with progression of this aliment, and will become increasing debilitating for your pet.

There are many types of arthritis that can affect both humans and pets, and classify them if often quite difficult.

With pets osteoarthritis, not only is the degenerative joint tissues affected, but the synovial membrane is as well.

The cartilage is composed of cells (referred to as chondrocytes), that are embedded in an intercellular substance. The synovial fluid is usually thick and resilient, thus acting as a cushion for the joints so to speak.

Once started, the “osteoarthritis cycle” can erode the synovial cushion and thus start a vicious cycle that results in more damage, pain, and weakness.

Pets Osteoarthritis Cycle

The Pets Osteoarthritis cycle is something like this:

First the pet gets an increase in abnormal joint fluid, than the joint capsules start to thicken, which than results in decreased limb usage because of this cycle.

Than pain starts to set in, the muscle weakens and atrophy starts, weakness and stretched ligaments start to occur, and than cartridge and bone damage happens.

The cycle than repeats it-self and can keep causing further damage to your pet.

Before treatment of pets osteoarthritis can really begin, there must be an accurate diagnosis. Again, osteoarthritis does not just occur because your pet is old.

Some forms of this ailment are inherited, such as OCD, and hip or elbow dysphasia.

Other forms may be secondary to some type of trauma, and than other forms may be indeed because of advanced age.

For example, an older dog that is having “weakness” in the rear legs may lead to the assumption that it is simply arthritis. A proper diagnosis is required before the proper treatment can be made.

Treatment:

Most of the conventional methods of treatment have the goal of simply trying to ease the pain and the inflammation that has set in, but in reality these methodologies do very little to prevent the ailment from steps of progression.

Drugs of course are the first method of treatment.

There has, however, been a lot of insight and testing that have shown that supplementation of glucosamine and chrondroitin have greatly eased the pain and the progression of osteoarthritis.

Although very, very promising, there is still research by the medical community to fully back these claims.

Nonsteroidal drugs (NSAIDs) and corticosteroids have both been used. NSAIDs have shown clinical signs of relieving the symptoms but they do come with a very high rate of side effects such as kidney and gastrointestinal issues.

FATTY ACID SUPPLEMENTS

Corticosteriods have shown the same successful results but carry the same degree of concern with the side effects.

Lifestyle changes must certainly be addressed with pets osteoarthritis.

A failure to address your pet’s obesity and to develop a regular regime of exercise will allow this ailment to foster and grow, causing more pain and suffering for your pet.

Surgery is also an option. Hip replacement could be an option to consider.

However, there are still a couple of other options.

Since pets osteoarthritis is really where the cartilage breaks down faster than a body’s function can actually replace it, supplementations such as mentioned earlier, glucosamine and chrondroitin are quite safe as they appear to be very effective and have not shown side effects.

Glucosamine has definitely shown to stimulate basic cartilage production or reproduction, and chrondroitin has shown the capabilities to inhibit enzymes that actually breakdown and or cause damage to the cartilage.

Both have also been shown in tests to relieve stiffness, pain, and inflammation. There are several good vitamin and mineral supplements available in today markets.

Pets Osteoarthritis & Pet Meds Pharmacy