How To Know If Your Dog Has Arthritis

When dogs reach old age, they suffer many ailments similar to ours. One of them is arthritis, although it can also affect those animals that are overweight. Let’s see what it is, how it affects our dog and how to know if our dog has it.

What is canine arthritis?

Canine arthritis is very similar to human arthritis. It is a degenerative joint disease and it is referred to when it affects one or more joints. This causes inflammation or joint degeneration and produces stiffness, lameness and pain. This will limit the movement of the animal.

This can affect any dog, regardless of age. But the most normal thing is that it occurs in dogs:

• Over 8 years old. After 8 years a dog is considered to have entered old age. With this come the ailments of age. Among them, arthritis. It is normal that with the passage of time and use, the joints wear out and suffer and then degeneration and inflammation are generated.
• Large breed. Large breed dogs bear a lot of weight throughout their lives in their joints, favoring their drainage and the onset of arthritis.
• Dogs that are obese or overweight. When a dog has a heavy weight, his joints must support more than usual and there is an overload on them. This can be another reason for arthritis.
• In addition to these cases, there are two very prone breeds: the Labrador Retriever and the German Shepherd. Those who have undergone joint surgery may also suffer it.

How to know if your dog has arthritis

Once we know what arthritis is and the dogs more prone to having it, the question we can ask is how to know if our dog has it, since it can affect any animal.

The most common symptoms of canine arthritis are:

1. Lameness. If something has changed in the way your dog walks with a slight limp, he may have pain in one of his joints. Make sure the lameness was not caused by something that has been punctured or pinned or by a blow. If you have ruled out these options, take your dog to the vet so that he can indicate the level of damage from this and the treatment to follow.
2. If your dog is stiff when he wakes up, this is a symptom of arthritis. Depending on the severity of the disease, the level of stiffness will be higher or lower.
3. Chronic pain. If you see that your dog feels pain when walking and this makes him stay in strange postures, do not hesitate, he has arthritis. To detect this, we must be observers and be attentive to the behavior of our animal. This pain will reduce your movements and decrease the intensity of the exercise as well as your steps.

Other cases of arthritis

1. Feel it. If you feel some firmness, but be careful not to hurt it, and see how it complains when touching certain joints, it is very likely that your dog has arthritis.
2. Despondency. Pain can make your pet not feel like anything, and appear to be down or even depressed. His body, like ours, defends itself from what hurts it. The animal associates walking with pain, so it prefers not to move unless it is imminently necessary.
3. Loss of appetite This is a common symptom of any illness that causes pain. As we say, our guts turn and our hunger goes away, and the same thing happens to dogs.
4. Take your dog to the vet if you notice any of these symptoms, since arthritis, although it cannot be cured, can be treated to make it more bearable.