| Do you think your dog may have arthritis?
I will use our old dog Katie as an example of how you might determine if your dog is showing signs of dog arthritis. We have had numerous dogs in the past that have suffered from dog arthritis. So we became quite aware of the signs of dog arthritis and what to look for.
Katie is a relatively small dog and has been extremely active in her life. She has never been overweight and always been very healthy. However, when she became about 11 years old, we noticed some times when she would begin limping for no apparent reason after playing outside. This was the first sign of dog arthritis we had. We realized that we needed to calm her down a bit and not let her be so excited. Because every time she got too carried away with playing too hard she began limping.
This was the earliest sign of Arthritis that we saw in her. As she got older, another six months to a year, we noticed that she was a little more careful when she would jump up on the bed and jump off of the bed. She wasn't as smooth as she used to be and that too was another sign of arthritis and stiffness she was getting.
At this point you should always consult your vet and allow him or her to make the diagnosis.
Most dogs will suffer from arthritis later in their lives. Any dog over 10 or 11 years old is bound to show some of these symptoms. We also noticed at times she would lie down very gingerly. She was very careful as she lay down as if she was perhaps hurting a little bit because of her arthritis. Now keep in mind that dogs don't feel pain nearly like humans do. They handle pain much better than we do, but still it is there and it is obvious when it is bothering them.
Another sign that Katie has dog arthritis is that sometimes when she just attempts to get into the sitting position she must try several times. She will go down about half way and then raise up, scoot over a little bit, try it again, and sometimes have to try it three times before getting down into the sitting position. Likewise, when she tries to rise out of the sitting position she is oftentimes much slower and behaves differently than she used to when she was younger. These are all signs of dog arthritis.
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And of course, as dogs develop full blown arthritis, they have trouble climbing stairs and going down stairs and you won't see them playing nearly as rough. This is because they have learned that playing hard often times results in sore and tender joints. All of these are signs of dog arthritis.
In severe cases the arthritis signs may even involve a slight whimpering or yelping when touching part of their body. For example, touching the hip joint might result in some localized pain and the dog may show some discomfort.
Just keep aware of your dog and be alert to differences in the dog’s behavior over time. Larger dogs will show these symptoms much more and also earlier than smaller dogs. Larger dogs have more weight to carry. If they suffer from Arthritis the extra weight affects their joints more severely than in smaller dogs.
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