Arthamid - how long does it take to work?

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Trem1234!

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Hi there, we had my daughters pony injected with arthamid in his coffin joints due to arthritis 2.5 weeks ago and would love to know anyone’s experiences with how long it took to see a difference. We have had no change as of yet. I know it can take up to 4-6 weeks but was just interested to know if people who have used it on their horses have seen affects early?
 
We had ours injected yesterday with it too but for hocks. Vet said at least 1-2 months and possibly 3. I guess depends on the horse, severity and joint…they will all differ I suppose partially as the gel needs to bond with the joint capsule
 
I believe it can take several months to fully work, our local vets tend to steroid first and revisit to check how horse has responded and then at this point Arthramid.
This makes sure the joint being medicated responds well put also the steroids are quick acting and give relief while giving the Arthramid time to work
 
HorsesRule2009 said:
I believe it can take several months to fully work, our local vets tend to steroid first and revisit to check how horse has responded and then at this point Arthramid.
This makes sure the joint being medicated responds well put also the steroids are quick acting and give relief while giving the Arthramid time to work
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My vet did this and still expected me to bring the horse back for arthramid when the steroids had not only failed to work but (I'm guessing due to removing cushioning fluid in the joint) but caused a horse who was only lame on flexion, and then only 2/10 at the most, to go catastrophically lame, visible even in walk.

I think maybe some vets are a little too keen to recommend it!
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Mine gave me the choice of steroids, Arthramid or Alpha 2 EQ. Mine was so hard to inject though we had to do it under xray guidance, im not sure it will have much effect if her joint space is that small!
 
ycbm said:
My vet did this and still expected me to bring the horse back for arthramid when the steroids had not only failed to work but (I'm guessing due to removing cushioning fluid in the joint) caused a horse who was only lame on flexion, and then only 2/10 at the most, to go catastrophically lame, visible even in walk.

I think maybe some vets are a little too keen to recommend it!
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That's interesting, my vet has advised me to do arthramid first as being a better long term option if it works. My horse has had an intermittent low level lameness, and the visible damage to the joint (fetlock) is minimal. Both my own vet and the referral vet who did the mri were positive about steroid use and recommended it as an option if I wanted the horse sound faster. I've never previously heard about such a bad outcome with steriods, only the minimal risks of laminitis, joint infection or failure to work.

I'm sorry about the outcome for your horse, that possibility was not mentioned to me at all.
 
nutjob said:
That's interesting, my vet has advised me to do arthramid first as being a better long term option if it works. My horse has had an intermittent low level lameness, and the visible damage to the joint (fetlock) is minimal. Both my own vet and the referral vet who did the mri were positive about steroid use and recommended it as an option if I wanted the horse sound faster. I've never previously heard about such a bad outcome with steriods, only the minimal risks of laminitis, joint infection or failure to work.

I'm sorry about the outcome for your horse, that possibility was not mentioned to me at all.
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I've never come across steroids making things worse either. There was a lot of fluid around the joint but he was sound. The x ray was dire, it was a surprise he hadn't been lame before, especially as it was a front fetlock. On the flexed joint you can see bone on bone impingement at a spot in the middle. The vet was shocked when she saw it. Walking him back in to get the x rays she said we were hoping to find nothing on them. I was pretty shocked when she continued to insist that she could put arthramid in when the steroids had actually made things so much worse. I ended up telling her, this was just before Christmas, that I was too old to believe in Santa Claus and Christmas miracles!
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IME experience about three weeks but I have seen it be sooner and later .
If the horse is very very mildly lame I would go to arthimid first .
If there’s acute inflammation I do steroids and arthimid on the same assuming there’s space in joint to do that .
 
Mine was injected due to hock arthritis 5 weeks ago. No steroids as he has cushings and is at risk of laminitis. He wasn't lame and waas doing well after 3 weeks but the wet weather making our fields and hacking routes( we don't have access to a school) muddy and slippery have put his rehab on hold.
 
nutjob said:
That's interesting, my vet has advised me to do arthramid first as being a better long term option if it works. My horse has had an intermittent low level lameness, and the visible damage to the joint (fetlock) is minimal. Both my own vet and the referral vet who did the mri were positive about steroid use and recommended it as an option if I wanted the horse sound faster. I've never previously heard about such a bad outcome with steriods, only the minimal risks of laminitis, joint infection or failure to work.

I'm sorry about the outcome for your horse, that possibility was not mentioned to me at all.
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I've also had a horse end up much worse after steroids, in his case there was an initial improvement, but the effect rapidly wore off. He then went from 1-2 10ths lame prior to jabs to broken leg, pts lame
 
Trem1234! said:
Hi there, we had my daughters pony injected with arthamid in his coffin joints due to arthritis 2.5 weeks ago and would love to know anyone’s experiences with how long it took to see a difference. We have had no change as of yet. I know it can take up to 4-6 weeks but was just interested to know if people who have used it on their horses have seen affects early?
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Mine was done 6 weeks ago. I didn't see any obvious changes until week 5, and week 6 just now.
 
Boulty said:
I’ve never heard of using arthramid for sidebone before. Have you found it helpful/ effective in the long term?
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Yes, he was only probably 1/10 lame but he had his coffin joint injected to cushion the surrounding areas and it helped a lot. That was over a year ago now.
 
Mine just recently had arthramid after steroids and we are into week 4 now.
I can’t believe the difference already (coffin joints both fronts) I really hope they last a good while but if all goes well I’ll not hesitate to do them again.

The results are better for mine than they were with steroids.
 
Mine had her hocks done 2 weeks ago, I wouldn’t expect to see any improvement but she does seem to be more comfortable already…maybe just coincidence though 🤣
 
Just wondering how your horse is getting on? Mine is 6 weeks post hock Arthramid and is seemingly a lot better behind.

Had the physio out today who confirmed she is a lot better than she was and much less sore through her hind legs and back…but now she’s a bit short in front 🤪 it does ease off with a minute or two of trot/canter and she strides out fine…jumps brilliantly etc so suspects she might have some arthritis in her fronts too, possibly coffin joint, hard to know.

Anyway it’s not really affecting her ridden work at all so we are just going to monitor it for the next few months. Will get it properly checked out if it’s becoming worse.

Fix one bit and then find something else 🫣 overall though I’m pleased the Arthramid seems to be helping but it’s still early days, my vet said 1-2 months really till we’d see much difference x
 
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