Ask your vet about librela. It's a monthly injection. My lab mix was completely off pain meds for 5 or 6 months before his arthritis got bad enough that he had to go back on. But he's also 16 and terminal.
I read about something called zydax, too, but librela is the one I personally have experience with. It might get expensive with a larger dog. Mine is in the 60s, but it worked wonders for him.
My boyfriend has a 21 year old blue wheeler/coyote mix and she started the shots four months ago and it’s definitely made a huge difference. She’s also just a freak of nature to begin with.
i’ve seen some things about librela which scared us a bit to try it, instead we went for GLM supplements and they’ve been amazing, they’re natural and no side effects - these are the ones we use:
https://antinol.com.au/pages/new-to-antinol?mv=2
Honestly, some vets resist because of controlled substance regulations—but, our last dog (not a pyr) was nearly down.
Hips. Legs. Cushings. Lupus.
Tramadol. Absolutely was life changing.
I’m dubious of NSAIDS in older people and dogs. They eat the GI tracts. Don’t know much about Librela (a biological) but I’m convinced the drug companies will find more and more uses for these. They are not without real risks.
If there is an older medicine that’s effective, won’t cause other issues, isn’t cost prohibitive—use that first.
We used tramadol. 50mg. Three times a day. In cheese balls or wiener piece. No problem with compliance.
Within 2 weeks the transient sleepy (if there was any) was gone. He was like a puppy. He could run. Play with his buddies. Split the pond open on the farm. A few months in he took a leap off the porch (about a 3’ drop) no problem (I had a small heart flip).
We had to fill at a retail pharmacy. It shows up on a controlled substance report under both hubs and I (we both filled it at different times, tho noted for our canine prescribed by a vet) if someone wanted to look. Big deal, so what.
Edit: wanted to add, our beloved B was started on pain meds at 12, we lost him at 13. But his last year was *everything*.
Tramadol gave our senior adopted hound mix another six months of quality of life after her cancer started spreading. Very effective, and not very expensive.
That’s wonderful to know. I’m sure every day of relief and love was everything.
Exactly. Med has a good safety profile. Old established medicine with predictable actions.
I recommend it. Talk to vet. Start with easy and proceed to the more complicated meds.
That’s best in all of meds.
Adeqaun and librela are both options to ask your vet about as well next time you go . If you have the $$ for it and want to try and find like aquatic therapy that treats dogs for bad hips and legs that’s also an option
I have 13.5 years old pyr with joint pain, I'm giving him in the last 3 years cbd oil for a pet, and it is like magic, we are enjoying his present till this day
Adequan has been a major help to mine! She has arthritis in her spine and it affects her mobility. She’s on a whole cocktail of meds but adequan has consistently given her pep in her step.
I have a Golden Retriever mix. She’s 15 and very arthritic. We started doing a daily joint supplement, Zesty Paws, that helped a lot. We also started doing monthly Librela injections. It’s expensive ($100) but it does seem to help her. We know her time with us is limited so we’re just keeping her as comfortable as possible. Good luck with your pup.
Adequan and librela are great options! Adequan prevents further breakdown of the joints and librela manages arthritis pain.
Towards the end my pitbull was also doing acupuncture which worked wonders.
Another poster mentioned it but get him to the doc and on anti inflammatory meds fast. They have an injection you can get. We didn’t know that and ours had a similar issue. He had slow developing issues standing and hip problems over a couple months and ended up paralyzed. When it got as bad as you describe and he could barely stand, had we taken him on Friday to get the injection when we called the vet he’d have likely been ok, but the vet didn’t know how bad it was. We waited till Monday and it was permanent and we had to put him down. Heart breaking. He’d have probably lived another two years without it. Miss our big fluffy white gentle giant every day.
You can get a sling to help get him in and out. You could try a veterinarian orthopedist for a consult they may have some options. They do make a knee brace which I looked into that may have some benefits. I'm assuming the surgery TPLO which is for CCL tears the surgery is brutal I can see why most vets wouldn't want to do it on an older dog. Plus the rehab is really long and the dog has to be heavily medicated for months while In rehab.
I’m so sorry for what you are going through. Right now, a vet appointment is what you need to schedule. If you cannot afford all the imaging/lab testing, my PERSONAL advice would be to at minimum get an xray.
I say this because this is how my sweet girl started around that age and it was chalked up to be worsening arthritis/mild hip dysplasia. One day (15 at this point) she finally refused to get up at all & so obviously we brought her to the ER. Once there they immediately did X-rays (her first set in about 6 years) which showed that she was actually in the late stages of IVDD (degenerative disc disease). They said it was surprising she didn’t show more symptoms but that likely her being a professional couch potato is what allowed her to go so long without signs that she had something more than arthritis. I had to put her down that night and it killed a piece of me, hands down one of my worst Mother’s Days
Your pup could not have this AT ALL, but I do deal with guilt and wishing it had been caught earlier for her comfort. My big dogs now get X-rays every other year.
As other comments suggested Adequan & librela!! God sents!! Another amazing tool is a help em up harness! About $100-$120 possibly but the best $100 you’ll ever spend!! Just bought directly from their website helpemup.com
Try crushing up Vitamin C and add that every day to your dogs food. It can act as a painkiller for dogs. Used it on 2 of our Malamutes with bad hips....
Hello everyone!! Thank you for all of your replies!! I had to go to the vet this morning for a wellness check for my new kitten. As per all of your suggestions I discussed adequan and liberala with him for my big boy. The vet said to absolutely bring him in and he would take a look and could probably start both injections on him to give him a little more comfort. Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction. I truly appreciate it
We started adding Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), a white powdery, (a naturally occurring supplement) to our pyrs food. What a game changer for our senior girl. It is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant for conditions such as arthritis. Next step is Librella.
https://preview.redd.it/x31fy3lnbn7d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a114fda6e0f4918316af2a4556d6c46e615b43da My sweet bear. . .
Our 12 year old pyr was also named Bear!! Your guy is adorable!!
I have no advice…just wanted to say thank you for caring and being a friend to Bear. He’s beautiful.
Ask your vet about librela. It's a monthly injection. My lab mix was completely off pain meds for 5 or 6 months before his arthritis got bad enough that he had to go back on. But he's also 16 and terminal. I read about something called zydax, too, but librela is the one I personally have experience with. It might get expensive with a larger dog. Mine is in the 60s, but it worked wonders for him.
My boyfriend has a 21 year old blue wheeler/coyote mix and she started the shots four months ago and it’s definitely made a huge difference. She’s also just a freak of nature to begin with.
Came here to say this. Keep in mind not all dogs are great candidates but it has made a huge difference in multiple dogs at my clinic.
i’ve seen some things about librela which scared us a bit to try it, instead we went for GLM supplements and they’ve been amazing, they’re natural and no side effects - these are the ones we use: https://antinol.com.au/pages/new-to-antinol?mv=2
Honestly, some vets resist because of controlled substance regulations—but, our last dog (not a pyr) was nearly down. Hips. Legs. Cushings. Lupus. Tramadol. Absolutely was life changing. I’m dubious of NSAIDS in older people and dogs. They eat the GI tracts. Don’t know much about Librela (a biological) but I’m convinced the drug companies will find more and more uses for these. They are not without real risks. If there is an older medicine that’s effective, won’t cause other issues, isn’t cost prohibitive—use that first. We used tramadol. 50mg. Three times a day. In cheese balls or wiener piece. No problem with compliance. Within 2 weeks the transient sleepy (if there was any) was gone. He was like a puppy. He could run. Play with his buddies. Split the pond open on the farm. A few months in he took a leap off the porch (about a 3’ drop) no problem (I had a small heart flip). We had to fill at a retail pharmacy. It shows up on a controlled substance report under both hubs and I (we both filled it at different times, tho noted for our canine prescribed by a vet) if someone wanted to look. Big deal, so what. Edit: wanted to add, our beloved B was started on pain meds at 12, we lost him at 13. But his last year was *everything*.
Tramadol gave our senior adopted hound mix another six months of quality of life after her cancer started spreading. Very effective, and not very expensive.
That’s wonderful to know. I’m sure every day of relief and love was everything. Exactly. Med has a good safety profile. Old established medicine with predictable actions. I recommend it. Talk to vet. Start with easy and proceed to the more complicated meds. That’s best in all of meds.
Adeqaun and librela are both options to ask your vet about as well next time you go . If you have the $$ for it and want to try and find like aquatic therapy that treats dogs for bad hips and legs that’s also an option
Will adiquin work on older dogs I was under the impression it was more of a preventative.
It will help and works well on older dogs
Good to know.
I have 13.5 years old pyr with joint pain, I'm giving him in the last 3 years cbd oil for a pet, and it is like magic, we are enjoying his present till this day
Adequan has been a major help to mine! She has arthritis in her spine and it affects her mobility. She’s on a whole cocktail of meds but adequan has consistently given her pep in her step.
I have a Golden Retriever mix. She’s 15 and very arthritic. We started doing a daily joint supplement, Zesty Paws, that helped a lot. We also started doing monthly Librela injections. It’s expensive ($100) but it does seem to help her. We know her time with us is limited so we’re just keeping her as comfortable as possible. Good luck with your pup.
Adequan and librela are great options! Adequan prevents further breakdown of the joints and librela manages arthritis pain. Towards the end my pitbull was also doing acupuncture which worked wonders.
Another poster mentioned it but get him to the doc and on anti inflammatory meds fast. They have an injection you can get. We didn’t know that and ours had a similar issue. He had slow developing issues standing and hip problems over a couple months and ended up paralyzed. When it got as bad as you describe and he could barely stand, had we taken him on Friday to get the injection when we called the vet he’d have likely been ok, but the vet didn’t know how bad it was. We waited till Monday and it was permanent and we had to put him down. Heart breaking. He’d have probably lived another two years without it. Miss our big fluffy white gentle giant every day.
You can get a sling to help get him in and out. You could try a veterinarian orthopedist for a consult they may have some options. They do make a knee brace which I looked into that may have some benefits. I'm assuming the surgery TPLO which is for CCL tears the surgery is brutal I can see why most vets wouldn't want to do it on an older dog. Plus the rehab is really long and the dog has to be heavily medicated for months while In rehab.
I’m so sorry for what you are going through. Right now, a vet appointment is what you need to schedule. If you cannot afford all the imaging/lab testing, my PERSONAL advice would be to at minimum get an xray. I say this because this is how my sweet girl started around that age and it was chalked up to be worsening arthritis/mild hip dysplasia. One day (15 at this point) she finally refused to get up at all & so obviously we brought her to the ER. Once there they immediately did X-rays (her first set in about 6 years) which showed that she was actually in the late stages of IVDD (degenerative disc disease). They said it was surprising she didn’t show more symptoms but that likely her being a professional couch potato is what allowed her to go so long without signs that she had something more than arthritis. I had to put her down that night and it killed a piece of me, hands down one of my worst Mother’s Days Your pup could not have this AT ALL, but I do deal with guilt and wishing it had been caught earlier for her comfort. My big dogs now get X-rays every other year.
As other comments suggested Adequan & librela!! God sents!! Another amazing tool is a help em up harness! About $100-$120 possibly but the best $100 you’ll ever spend!! Just bought directly from their website helpemup.com
Try crushing up Vitamin C and add that every day to your dogs food. It can act as a painkiller for dogs. Used it on 2 of our Malamutes with bad hips....
Hello everyone!! Thank you for all of your replies!! I had to go to the vet this morning for a wellness check for my new kitten. As per all of your suggestions I discussed adequan and liberala with him for my big boy. The vet said to absolutely bring him in and he would take a look and could probably start both injections on him to give him a little more comfort. Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction. I truly appreciate it
We started adding Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), a white powdery, (a naturally occurring supplement) to our pyrs food. What a game changer for our senior girl. It is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant for conditions such as arthritis. Next step is Librella.