Arthritis treatment in elderly dog

[wren123]

My 13 year old lab has arthritis in her elbow, managed for years with keeping slim, controlled exercise and yumove advance360.
She suddenly started showing signs of it troubling her rather than normally being sound. Vet gave her full blood tests kidneys and liver normal but high normal.
so I asked about librella, vet said they’ve had excellent results with it but it’s unavailable at the moment to new dogs as the factory can’t keep up with demand. They’re going to call me as soon as it becomes available.

Metacam is ineffective on her, I suggested galliprant but because of the high normal kidney and liver results he’d rather not give that at the moment and wait for the librella. We left it with me saying if she deteriorates further then I’ll call about trying the galliprant.

Any helpful suggestions please, I’m obviously very worried.

 

[TheresaW]

I can’t really help with what you can give her now, but we have recently taken on an elderly (12yo) collie. She has been checked over by our vet, and is in good shape right now, so only on joint supplements.

One of my very close friends is a vet nurse, and she was telling me about librella should the time come that Ellie will need more help. She said that there is a waiting list at the moment, but should be freely available come January.

 

[wren123]

Thank you for your reply.

My vet said that they hope to get some librella in october and has put her on a waiting list so hopefully we won't have to wait until January.

 

[paisley]

Do you think some interim alternatives would help until you can try the new medication? I'm thinking of things like a physio check up, treadmill hydrotherapy, that sort of thing.
Only suggesting as mine had an after walk stiff off fore investigation and one shoulder muscle needed a lot of work. So lots of little exercises to do, massage once a week, plus a fancy SportzVibe massage coat (on sale, dont judge me!?).
He's improved, but still being super careful. Can really sympathise with your worry though.

 

[wren123]

Thank you for those suggestions, I'll have a look into physio.

I hope your dog continues to improve.

 

[fankino04]

What about the magnetic dog coats? Not sure how good they are as no personal experience but can't do any harm??

 

[wren123]

I'll have a look at them, thank you.

 

[GSD Woman]

Do you have access to laser treatment? Where I work we offer laser treatment packages and most owners notice a difference. I've used it on myself and it helps or at least short term for me. I don't use it regularly though.

 

[fiwen30]

Can only send hugs & vibes, and hope that the librella becomes available quickly. We started our older cat on solensia (the kitty version of librella) last month, and she’s a changed animal.

 

[fankino04]

Also not sure what your vet has said but ours did warn us that sometimes the librella can make them feel so much better that they totally overdo it and injure themselves so maybe just be mindful of that too if all goes well x

 

[wren123]

Thank you for all your comments.

She does seem slightly better today.

I've found a local vet that does laser therapy.
I'm going to call my own vet on Monday if she hasn't improved a lot more, and propose either laser or trying a three week course of galliprant as the benefits might outweigh the risk. I shall also ask about physio and hydrotherapy.

 

[blackcob]

I have a 12 year old with elbow arthritis who also has Not Good liver and kidney values. We were lucky enough to start on Librela as soon as it was introduced so she has access to a supply now but to be honest it didn't do a lot for her, at least not enough to withdraw the NSAIDs she was already on, which was disappointing as it seems almost life-changing in other cases.

To be honest, having established that the elevated liver and kidney values were neither caused by anything immediately sinister nor anything really treatable, the vet and I agreed that keeping her pain free and mobile were more important in an elderly large breed dog than theoretically protecting liver/kidneys. YMMV with this and it's important to be able to have these frank and honest risk/benefit conversations with your vet.

 

[wren123]

@blackcob I totally agree with you. My dog is 13 I want her remaining time to be as comfortable as possible.
I'm fully prepared to have the conversation with the vet.

I'm sorry librela didn't work as well as you'd hoped.

 

[wren123]

Well I'm very pleased to say she has improved slightly over the last week and is much more cheerful in herself. But after a long chat with the vet we're going to start 30 days of galliprant today and he's going to call me straight away when librella comes in.

 

[Thistle]

Keep pushing for Librela, my vet says supply chain issues have improved (my elderley staffie has been on it since March.

 

[wren123]

Thank you @Thistle, that's useful to know. I'll call them weekly.

 

[wren123]

Just an update, still no librella, I’m calling the vet weekly to check.
However she’s been on the galliprant a week now, no side effects, and she is massively improved.
We arrived yesterday in Northumberland for a week in a cottage and rather than staying here in the cottage the majority of the time (albeit the cottage has nice views from the garden) we’ll take her out for a gentle amble and sit Looking at the sea.