In this article we will talk about thearthrosis of dogs and cats and we will deal with everything you need to know in detail. Symptoms, prevention and natural remedies. What works and what doesn’t.
Let’s start by saying that joint problems fall into the “TOP 5” ranking of the most dangerous threats that can affect the health of your 4-legged friend.
They create a lot of discomfort, they cause pain, not only when they are in motion, but especially in the cold, in the awakening phase. They are chronic pains, persistent over time and tend, sometimes to relieve and sometimes to flare up, this depends on the external climate. These are the same dynamics that also affect us men.
A research of the Banfield Pet Hospital, Health Status Report 2019. ( https://www.banfield.com/state-of-pet-health ) highlights a frightening increase in osteo-articular problems that afflict cats and dogs.
Looking at the numbers, there is terrifying growth over the past 10 years, there has been a 66% increase in dogs and, hold on tight, a 150% increase in cats.
What are the unequivocal signs that make it clear if your 4-legged friend has a joint problem?
Sometimes they are there looking at you and with their compassionate gaze they seem to tell you “please do something for me”.
Being the owner, you need to be very careful to understand the clinical signs in order to be able to properly and in time treat your close faithful friend.
Here is a list of the main symptoms of severe pain in animals.
- stiffening
- swelling
- tremor
- lameness
A danger in every stage of life
The joints are continuously exposed to many diseases and risk factors that alter their correct functioning, compromising the mobility capacity of the affected animals.
These dangers affect all ages: from puppies, into adulthood, up to old age.
You must follow your 4-legged friend in his life path, to learn about the most common problems and risk factors.
The reasons are not always known, age is not the main cause, in fact it varies from genetics, injuries and abnormalities in a joint (i.e. hip dysplasia). The most commonly affected joints include the hips, knees, and elbows.
Let’s go and see, based on the life phase of our 4-legged friends, what problems they can develop.
Young age
Usually in the kitchens dysplasia develops due to the disharmonious growth of the bones that make up the elbow (ulna and radius). There will be wear of the cartilage and therefore the inevitable osteoarthritis.
There are some breeds that are more affected than others, here is a table that covers the main dog breeds:
| Hip dysplasia | Elbow dysplasia |
| Bulldog | Chow chow |
| Pug | Pug |
| Dogue de bodeaux | Rottweiller |
| Brussels Griffon | Bulldog |
| Neapolitan Mastiff | Fila brasileiro |
| Molosser (Lion of Africa) | Molosser |
| St. Bernard | Large Breed Hound |
| Large-sized hound | Bernese Mountain Dog |
| Spaniel | Russian black terrier |
| Russian black terrier | Shar pei |
Adults
In adult dogs and cats joint problems can arise due to wear and tear due to aging (just like us humans) and it is normal that this is the case, usually it involves front or hind legs, the back, especially the cervical, the lumbar area.
Even animals subjected to excessive physical activity (dogs that do agility, towing, etc …), or simply trauma (road accidents).
Overweight
What puts you on a quick path to the path of chronic pain and behavioral changes, they can be the extra pounds . Very often joint problems (osteoarthritis) and excess weight go hand in hand. So preventing excess weight is key to reducing your pet’s risk of developing osteoarthritis.
The difficulty in moving around caused by osteoarthritis can prevent animals from being active, leading them to gain weight, which worsens the joint condition.
You are sucked into a dangerous vortex from which it is difficult to get out.
The percentage of overweight and obese pets has reached epidemic levels
(little curiosity, when it comes to contagious diseases for animals, the term used is epizootic ), so the diseases commonly associated with excess weight, such as osteoarthritis, are on the frightening increase.
Joint problems have a very common consequence.
Arthrosis.
What are the effects of this unfortunate disease?
- Inflammation of the joints.
- Thinning of the cartilage.
- Chronic and progressive degeneration of the joints.
We have come to the moment when we need your FULL attention.
You are there?
Now “open your ears” because what we are about to tell you is of vital importance, it is very likely that no one or almost no one has bothered to tell you this inconvenient truth.
Arthrosis NOT it is a curable disease, but it can be controlled. Now you will discover how your faithful friend can be happy again.
Often there is confusion about the difference between healing and cure, and then let’s clear away any doubts through these few lines that you will read below.
To heal:
(from Treccani vocabulary) : With the recovery the person (in our case dogs and cats) loses every element that characterizes the disease and returns “completely healthy”, therefore he will no longer need to use medical aids for the treatment of the disease as HEALED.
Treat:
(from Treccani vocabulary) : It is an action carried out to try to correct a problem or eradicate a disease. Healing does not mean healing, but it can be cured to try to heal from a disease or, while continuing to have the disease, try to have a quality and dignity of life equal to someone who does not have the disease, despite being clinically the carrier of one. state.
Maybe to speculate they will have sold you the definitive solution to the problem, but this is not the case. Those who try to sell you a remedy to cure arthrosis lie knowing that they are lying.
But let’s go step by step, let’s start to see how it can be prevented.
How is osteoarthritis prevented?
1) Adequate diet
Without going into too many details about the diet (this is not the right place), you just need to know that an unbalanced or poor quality diet, very often we tend to spoil our animals by pampering them with “crap”, can create serious problems and more for joint health.
Remember that they are just like us humans, if they don’t have a healthy lifestyle, if they don’t have a detoxified body, a strong immune system that can protect them, they risk getting sick. The quantity of food that, if excessive, causes overweight and / or obesity is also very important.
If the animal is overweight, weight reduction is among the measures that are able to provide the best curative result.
2) Administer natural anti-inflammatory drugs in prevention : a very important help comes from mother nature.
Many natural active ingredients are real cure-all, we discover them almost as if they were great news, but in reality they have known each other for millennia.
They are able to protect the joints, to control pain because they have natural pain relieving properties and above all they reduce the inflammation that is the cause of the pain.
Therefore, giving natural supplements from an early age to prevent these annoying joint pains and problems is vital.
3) Controlled physical activity:
Those at risk, whether they are puppies, young people or adults predisposed to joint problems, should avoid too intense training or competitive commitments.
4) Routine visits to the vet:
He will be able to tell us how the puppy is growing and how his joints are, thanks also to preventive x-rays in the breeds indicated as “at risk”. These ultrasound scans are essential because they can “predict” if the animal can develop a particular joint problem.
If prevention is important, cure is essential.
Out there is full of self-styled experts ready to point you to the right remedy, but be very careful!
As previously said, and it is good to reiterate it, osteoarthritis is NOT curable but it can be controlled very well.
So, start to be wary of those who offer you the definitive cure that will bring your 4-legged friend to recovery!
Go on!
What can’t work?
Why can’t glucosamine and chondroitin alone work, even if they’re all the rage?
This is a sensitive topic because when a therapy becomes commonplace, it is not an easy mission to make people understand that that practice is wrong.
We certainly didn’t wake up one morning, inventing that glucosamine and chondroitin don’t work, there are several studies that prove this:
From an analysis of 10 studies involving over 3,800 subjects with the goal of verifying the effect of glucosamine, chondroitin or of the two in association on joint pain and radiological progression of the disease in osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. It turned out quite an alarming result.
The conclusions of the various studies tell us that glucosamine and chondroitin supplements for joint pain are ineffective both alone and taken in combination.
These studies tell us that: compared with placebo, glucosamine, chondroitin and their combination do not reduce joint pain or have an impact on joint space narrowing. Health authorities and health insurers should not cover the costs of these preparations and new prescriptions for patients who have not received treatment should be discouraged. (source: https://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4675 )
When the joints are inflamed, they do not improve no matter how much glucosamine or coindrotin you are giving your four-legged friend.
This is because these 2 active ingredients work as cartilage reconstructors, but the reconstruction becomes ineffective in the presence of inflammation.
If you don’t block the inflammation, you won’t have any benefit.
If you try to rebuild, the work will be completely useless.
So the essential activity is to go to extinguish the inflammation, which is the primary cause of pain.
Faced with this scientific evidence and this wrong practice of always administering glucosamine and chondroitin, we realized that there is extreme urgency and need to provide valuable advice on natural remedies which, thanks to their powerful properties, play a triple action to give 360 degree coverage to your dear faithful friend.
Here are the main actions:
- anti-inflammatory and pain reliever.
- preserves synovial fluid and cartilages.
- detoxify and rebalance the metabolism, essential to compensate for the imbalances of an inadequate diet.
Nature offers us an infinite number of remedies to take care of our body and our 4-legged friends, it is a real open-air pharmacy.
And here, exclusively for you, a careful selection of the most powerful remedies that mother nature offers to take care of and preserve the poor aching joints of your dog and your cat:
Let’s move on to analyze them one by one.
Aloe arborescens
Thanks to the processing method, “HDR® Method”, 3 very important plant steroid molecules are preserved:
- Campesterol
- The b-sitosterol
- The Luteolus
which have a calming and soothing action.
In addition to these molecules, acemannan and bradykinase also contribute to the calming and soothing effect.
Perna Canaliculus
In addition to the anti-inflammatory action, the perna extract provides glycosaminoglycans and other nutrients such as amino acids, essential acids, minerals, etc… Able to improve and prevent alterations of cartilage and connective tissue. It regulates the viscosity of the synovial fluid (fluid found between the joints, serves as a lubricant).
Black carrot
Thanks to the presence in high quantities of anthocyanins, precious and powerful antioxidants. Useful against free radicals, inflammation, circulatory problems, degenerative diseases and help slow down cellular aging.
Spirulina
it is the most precious source of vegetable protein in the world, it is also rich in iron and calcium for this reason it is called a super food. Provides a daily dose of strength and energy, essential in the rehabilitation phase of the dog and cat.
Devil’s claw
It is defined as the natural anti-inflammatory par excellence. Contains harpagosides, molecules with high pain relieving and calming properties. It is useful for promoting the functionality and well-being of the shoulders, back, neck and lumbar sacral area.
Orange carrot
It contains very high levels of beta carotene and lutein, essential for the health of the skin and eyes. In addition, the presence of minerals and vitamin E are beneficial for the skeleton and muscles.
Boswellia serrata
It is widely used, with excellent results, in the treatment of local inflammations, degenerative joint disorders, reduced motor skills, muscle pain, rheumatism, arthrosis.
Beetroot
Contains iron, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus. It has remineralizing and refreshing properties; its consumption is therefore recommended for weakened or convalescent dogs and cats.
Well, now that you know which are the most effective remedies for the treatment of joint pains of your 4-legged friend, you are at a crossroads.
Either way will change your dog or cat’s situation forever.
1) You can continue to use the supplements that have disappointed you in the past, neglect the hassles, do nothing, hoping that the situation can improve. But without intervening, as you can well imagine, nothing good will happen.
Your poor 4-legged friend will be trapped in the grip of pain caused by inflamed bones and joints.
The inflammation spreads, without keeping it under control, the annoying pains will only get worse, until they are unbearable.
Joint stiffness will begin to negatively affect freedom of movement.
2) A path to heal joints and stop pain.
Now that you really know what works and doesn’t work, you can actually take care of your dog and cat, it would be a real shame to ignore this valuable information. Your faithful friend will thank you for life.
Your 4-legged friend will be able to go for a walk, or be able to play freely with you, without pain and full of energy.
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