My dear Newfie girl has been diagnosed with severe arthritis as if she needs any thing else with her on top of the aortic stenosis and all her food allergies, she was x rayed friday and managed to come through the anasethic thank god, shes now 2 years 10 months and the specialist told us she wouldnt see 3. Recently she delevloped a slight limp now and again then one day she really hobbled I thought it was shoulder but the vet said it was her elbow, he prescribed her tablets that had no effect at all, she was then not too bad for 3 weeks then she was worse than ever again, it came on so suddenly and went off again just as sudden, my son arrived i saw him come through my back gate then caught sight of the dog going towards him really limping again, I think shes doing something to a joint as she gets up, pulling, or strainig something that night she was very stressy all night and obviously in pain and i stayed up with her then phoned the vet in the morning we fed her about an hour before she went and she literally turned round from eating and walked away totally normal so when she got to the vet there was nothing at all wrong so they had her back in friday for the x rays thankfully her bad heart stood the strain of the anasethic they were really careful with her and only gave her 1/3 of the normal dose and she cooporated really well with them without being totally asleep, they x rayed both elbows and one shoulder both of the elbows show bad arthritis and the shoulder is clear.
All the meds for arthritis are very bad for the heart I already have her on glucosamine and chondrotion, omega 3  and since she has been limping Rhus tox is there anything else  I can give her that will help its really heartbreaking to see her trying to get about when she is really bad.

My old lad has arthritis, and as well as PLT from the vet, glucosamine and condroitin and omega fish oils I've just started him on green lipped mussel. It's too early to say if it's helping, but I now feel he's on everything possible.........unless anyone can think of anything else.

Dawn R.

You could try Devil's Claw which is supposed to be good for joints.
It might also be worth getting her checked out by a chiropracter.

Firstly so sorry to hear about your girl
Read this on dorwest herbs http://www.dorwest.com/products.asp?dept=47
I have personally used all that they lists for arthritis and it did really help our very old border terrier we had who has now passed away but he was active until he died and was diagnosed with arthritis about 4 years before that, we never kept him on the drugs the vets gave as they just didnt seem to do anything.
In such a young dog even with the heart problems is surgery still an option to help correct the elbows?

Let us all know how she gets on

Emma

I found cortaflex more effective for my large GSD than anything else.

Glocosimine, chrontion?fish oils is what we are using on our young Border with OCD in his right shoulder, and keeping their weight down - not easy with a Newfi I guess, good luck.

My large crossbreed has severe artritis in both knees.  We manage it with:
Vetriflex supplements - we get them from the vet as they are covered by his insurance but as an alternative I would give glucosamine & chondroitin
Fish Body Oils (Omega 3) - high dose.  Vet recommends 2-3 x 1000mg capsules daily (dog weighs around 50kg)
Vitamin E
Ester C ( natural anti-inflammatory & more stomach friendly than Vitamin C but same effect)

I also have a 3 year old Newfie.  I give her more or less the same supplements (except the Vetriflex but she has normal G&C instead) as none are harmful and she is a pretty healthy specimen although I have no idea whether that is attributable to the supplements at all but I work on the assumption that it can't hurt to give them :-)  Her only real problem is a mild skin condition and the fish oils and vit E help with that greatly.

If you are considering alternative treatment for her I would use Belladonna and Rhus Tox.  I use this on my 2 GSD's who unfortunately suffer from arthritis is their hips.

Belladonna and Rhus Tox ( 6x potency for both remedies) first day - 2 tablets every hour for 7 or 8 doses.
Then give the Belladonna and Rhus Tox 2 tablets 3 times per day until you see that the pain has stopped (usually about 1 week) once you see this stop the Belladonna.
Then for 3 weeks - Rhus Tox 2 tablets 3 times per day.  If it re-occurs then start on the Rhus Tox again - 2 tablets 3 times per day for a couple days.

I hope this helps your Newfie.

I've just put my older arthritic 2 on Riaflex Glucosomine Chondroitin & MSM, and also Riaflex Devil's Alternative. I have found them excellent because, unlike most products, they don't contain filler. They are designed for horses so a little goes a long way. You can e mail the supplier, who is very knowledgeable,tell her your breed and the symptoms, and she will give you free, and very honest, advice about which products will suit and how much to give. When I e mailed about one of my horses, she didn't try to sell me something which she knew would not work and instead advised me to contact a chiropractor. I found her by just Googling Riaflex, which took me to her e bay site and I was able to contact her. My dogs are greatly improved after just 2 weeks, although she told me to allow 6 weeks for full effect.

thanks for the replies every one, does any one know if MSM can be safely used with a heart condition that and the devils claw is about all thats left to try, and also if insurance will pay out on any of these alternative remedies. The vet just suggested the glucosmanine and Chondroitin no mention of them prescribing it for her and she is already on the supplements we are reeling at the minute hubby has been on long term sick since april and still no sign of him going back to work yet.
the x rays show really bad arthritis around the outer part of the joints, no mention of any corrective surgery possible her heart is very bad, I doubt any vet would be doing a surgery unless it was life threatening. the new vet that listened to her hert for the first time looked so worried he only gave her 1/3 the normal dose of the anasethic  so he could control her by gas as he said he couldnt take out what he injects her with but the gas was totally controlable. but she cooporated so well with them she didnt need any ( thank god) I still think her problem is she is slipping a joint some where I have arthritis and my pain doesnt come and go at a flick of a switch she can be perfectly normal then really bad within a second, we thought it might be the way she pushes herself up on the tiled kitchen floor but we have covered it with a horrible bit of carpet for her ( big shock going from white to dark grey lol) thinking this would be short term that still hasnt made any difference to her some times she is fine no limp at all then suddenly its terrible. I dont think the vets are going to find it unless its like it when we get her there and both times she has been now shes been perfect by the time we walk in the surgery. The first time she yelped when they moved the elbow joint thats why they thought it was elbow, the second time only and hour from her virtually not being able to walk at all they put her legs into positions i didnt even know dogs legs went into and there wasnt a murmer from her.

I have 2 largish breed dogs on Devils Claw and one tub, which costs about £25, will last me for 6 months, so it should last you at least a year. The Riaflex joint compound is about the same price and should last you at least 6 months. You can e mail her with any queries. Her advice is free.

thans for the info dont know if I am looking at the same thing but the price of the Riaflex i see is £28 for a one month supply for her size http://www.riaflex-equine.co.uk/product_riaflex_complete_canine.htm there is a chart on that page that has dosage,

You need to look in equestrian supplies on ebay. the one for horses is stronger, so you need less and it lasts you longer. I give my Labs 1 teaspoon twice a day so a newfie would probably need about 1 1/2 times that amount. You only give this dose until the dog has improved and then you drop to a maintenance dose, which is about half this amount.

We use Synflex - a liquid glucosamine/chondroitin product & swear by it. We managed our 18 & 1/2 stone Mastiff with arthritis on this alone for about 2 and a half years. We have recommended this product to many people and they all say the same - it really is amazing stuff that actually works. You need to use double the recommended dose for the first 10 days. It is also very realistically priced, unlike some, unsuccessful remedies we have tried in the past.  Here is a link to the supplier, http://hwize.com/synflex/synflex.html?mastiff