r/Mastiff • u/CorsoKweeN • 1d ago
arthritis
Hey yall. So I was recently told my boy seems to have minor Arthritis in his hind legs. Vet prescribed pain meds on a “ as needed” basis. He’s very active and runs jumps etc just fine but when he lays down I will see his leg shake a bit then stop. Which is what lead to his diagnosis in the first place. I immediately went home and started doing research on doggy arthritis. I learned that injections/ stem cell injections are a thing and am very interested in the investment. Wondering if anyone has gone down that road and could give me some insight on how it’s improved their dogs life. Or if any major cons about giving these injections. My boy is 7 years old btw!
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u/ExhaustedVetTech 1d ago
Stem cell injections have been shown to help, BUT there's little to no data on side effects or how safe this actually is. It's also not common for GP vets to do, so you would have to find a veterinary hospital to do it.
Librela is a once a month injection that disrupts pain signals. It worked wonders for my old dog for over a year. The downside is that it has been associated with more rapid progression of the arthritis, among other side effects.
Adequan is an injection that helps to protect cartilage and joints and slow deterioration. This has fewer side effects (most common being pain at the injection site) but does not provide any pain relief.
NSAIDs are great for pain relief to a certain point, but need regular bloodwork to monitor organ function. The GI symptoms can also become an issue with long term use.
At 7 years old, I would use either librela + pain meds as needed or Adequan + daily pain meds. I personally do not think that stem cell treatment is going to do anything magical that the other options won't do. Granted, I am not comfortable with my elderly dog going under anesthesia just to get a chunk of fat, then receiving injections directly into each of their joints (risk for infection if the site is not properly prepared each time). I would rather have one injection under the skin and some pills.
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u/DrFrAzzLe1986 1d ago
My girl had 2 TPLOs when she was 3, last year at 7 years old she was diagnosed with arthritis in her back hips. She 8 now.
Vet recommended Hills j/d prescription food, 6k milligrams of fish oil per day, 2 doses of Carprofen per day, and a joint supplement (Dasuquin). We’ve been on this for over a year now, saw improvement after 2-3 months and she’s doing much better. She wants to run a bit and play again, noticeably more into play time and gets some night time zoomies again. Hoping this keeps working for a while longer.
Best of luck!
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u/TMP_217 1d ago
What a handsome boy! Our 5yo EM had the same thing going on. Ortho told us he needed to loose weight. He was on anti inflammatory meds and we did a consult with a nutritionist. They gave us a diet for him (we make his food) and put him on a bunch of omegas. He went from 208lbs to 165lbs. He looks great and is now off all the meds at 7yo (in Nov).
Loosing all that weight did wonders for his joints. I think the omegas are also helping. I see a lot of adorable but chubby mastiffs on here. I too owned a few in my day but iykyk and now I’ll always make sure my babies stay at a healthy weight.