5 ways to help a canine That Limps at Night
Last updated on October 17, 2017 By Puppy Leaks 6 comments
If you met my canine Laika during the day you’d have no idea she has arthritis. She’d gladly run 5 miles, hike a mountain or swim for 7 hours straight. and that’s what makes arthritis hard to manage – she still wants to do all those things during the day, but I can’t let her.
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I have to limit her exercise every single day. If I don’t I’ll she’ll be in pain later on, and no one wants to see their canine in pain.
If she bolts out the door and takes off after a rabbit she’s going to be in pain later. One quick sprint is all it takes to make her night miserable.
As hard as I try to manage my dogs activities during the day mishaps happen. in some cases it’s that quick sprint after a bunny, other times it’s an unforeseen bolt up the stairs.
Why Do Dogs Limp at Night?
Dogs that have arthritis can be challenging to manage because their pain isn’t necessarily present during the day. My canine rarely shows any signs during the day, it’s at night when her symptoms come out.
If your canine has arthritis (specifically osteoarthritis) and limps at night it’s likely because of one of the following:
Soreness from too much activity
Stiffness from inactivity
Colder temperatures
Now this is what makes arthritis so hard to manage – too much exercise triggers soreness, too little makes them stiff. finding the best daily exercise routine for your canine is key.
Low impact exercises & maintaining a healthy weight help make arthritis much more manageable. They keep your canine trim which reduces extra pressure on their joints, and those exercises help keep your dogs muscles strong.
Walking, swimming, and indoor games are great exercises for dogs with arthritis. avoid strenuous activities that put a lot of pressure on their joints such as playing frisbee or jogging.
Maintaining a healthy weight makes arthritis simpler to manage.
How to help manage pain in a canine That Limps at Night
Despite how much effort I put into trying to keep Laika’s exercise low impact throughout the day we still have nights where she suffers, especially during the winter. nights where it’s hard for her to get up on the couch, and nights where she limps. Here’s 5 methods you can use to help manage your dogs arthritis pain.
1. speak to Your Veterinarian about pain medication Options
I know there’s a lot of articles out there that say you can manage your dogs arthritis naturally. That’s fine, but in our case those methods weren’t enough. We tried four different holistic options, but sadly they didn’t work for us. rather than see my canine in pain during those rough nights I give her prescription pain medication when necessary.
When you’re taking care of a chronic disease like arthritis you have to realize that some days are going to be worse than others. Those nights where your canine is limping & in pain – those are the nights where you use medication to help ease your dogs pain.
Pain medication isn’t something that needs to be given daily either. We selected a NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatoty drug) which helps decrease inflammation & ease pain that we give Laika on those bad nights. While there are some potential side impacts we had to weigh the risk vs benefits, and our veterinarian assisted us come up with a list of things to look out for.
When it concerns pain medications there are a lot of options. speak to your veterinarian about what medications are best for your dog.
There’s a lot of medication options available for arthritis. speak to your veterinarian to find the one that’s best for your dog, and remember to ask about the potential side effects.
2. try Out Some Glucosamine Supplements
If there’s one supplement that’s known to work well for arthritis it’s Glucosamine. I’ve observed enhancements when using them, but sadly we haven’t yet found a brand that works great in the long term.
The problem I’ve found with glucosamine is that they work really well for a couple weeks and then seem to taper off. You switch to a new brand and the same things happens. They work well for a few weeks then taper off. We’ve tried 7 different brands but they’ve all had limited impacts after a month or two.
While we’ve found that they do work remember that there are a ton of brands out there, and your results will vary. Dogs may have great results with one brand, and none with another. and it’s not uncommon for brands to lose it’s effectiveness after awhile.
To gauge the effectiveness of glucosamine I’d recommend taking notes. give your canine the supplement in the morning, and then keep your canine on a routine schedule for 10 – 14 days; the same walk, same play, same activities. At night (or when your canine tends to get rigid or limp) write down on a scale of 1-10 how well your canine seems to be doing.
After a couple of weeks look back and see if you’ve observed an overall positivnullnull