Hi

I have posted in the past about my sheltie,  Isla.  About 4/5 years ago she sustained a ligament injury to a hind foot,  she would have been about 4 or so at the time.  She was treated with rest and seemed to get over it but then one thing lead to another so that a cruciate ligament injury occurred later followed by a luxating patella.  Both of the last two injuries were operated upon.  She seemed to recover to some extent.  Before all of this though she had been a PAT dog, did a bit of agility and quite a lot of obedience training.  Since these injuries she has never been the same dog.  We have done physiotherapy and hydrotherapy which seemed to help a little.  She has been on Metacam but at the moment we have changed it to Rymadol.  She has gone downhill though I feel and I don't know what to do really.  We  have moved recently to a different area and the new vet recommended me to take  Isla to see  a consultant for an opinion.  However although he was lovely, the verdict was as I thought.  He said the only thing would be to sort of fuse the foot (the one with the collapsed ligament) - the sort of procedure that probably the Supervet would do. 

The thing is,  there is no guarantee of success and the aftercare would be about 3 months where she had to be on cage rest (not that she is a difficult dog she is most placid) and being taken back to the vets for various xrays etc.  The cost would be £6000 plus with no guarantee of success.  Her insurance has long since been used and really at 9 and a half I feel she has been through enough.

Now she is so arthritic it is upsetting and can hardly hobble along.  Browsing this website I see that some of you use Golden Paste,  I have ordered some and some coconut oil but am not sure how to administer this?  Do I put it in her food?  She is overweight now owing to lack of exercise and I do worry about her future.  Any advice would be really gratefully received.

Thanks for reading this.

Putting in her food is the best way assuming she is happy with the taste.or she may take it in a little warmed goats milk . It has Coconut oil in it usually so I wouldn't add more coconut oil as well as it may be too fatty and cause stomach issues. Start with a small amount ,maybe just a quarter of a teaspoon and build up .
The other thing u could try is cannabis oil.many have had great success with this for arthritis and other things
If using gp  it should not  be taken if she  is on medication like rimadyl and metacam or any kind of blood thinners .

Thank you - so I should not give her Golden Paste if she is on Rymadol or Metacam?

I would speak to your vet the usual advice is not with antimflamatory meds but check .cannabis oil is fine though.have u treid green lipped mussel ,riaflex or yumove plus ? All worth trying for arthritic.conditions. some find acupuncture useful as well

> some find acupuncture useful as well

I can vouch for a few sessions of acupuncture which I had done with my Basset who found it so calming that basically he went to sleep!!    For exercise, as arthritic patients should be kept active as much as possible apart from when it really flares (usually more obvious during cold damp weather), have you thought about a hydrotherapy pool for dogs?   This give gentle exercise without putting undue strain on diseased joints.   Many better dog food does contain green lipped mussel also.

Check out Cartrophen injections too - I have a friend who swears by those for her dog.  They are natural and not NSAIDs. 

Devils Claw is also supposed to be good for arthritis, but you are right to try googling each supplement and finding out if it can be given with NSAIDs like Metacam.  You could try asking the vet but my experience with vets is that they don't know much about supplements or anything non-medical they haven't been trained to prescribe... but obviously some will...

I have given it alongside NSAIDs before but usually I find it better to the point that I remove the NSAID altogether.  But care should always be taken, of course.

As I'm sure you know, by far the most important thing you can do for her is to get the excess weight off - that will make a huge difference.  I know how difficult it is, though.  I have a dog with arthritis in her front toes and a slipped disc, who for a long time could only do 20 minute walks so the weight piled on and it's been a heck of a battle to get it off (2kg left to go now out of 9kg to lose originally).  For her, CBD oil has helped with the pain considerably as has switching to raw feeding as I simply couldn't get weight off on any commercial food at all.  Shifting some of that weight has made a massive difference to her pain levels and activity and providing I time the meds right, she can now do 30-45 minute walks which of course is boosting the weight loss and reducing pain levels in itself too (less pressure on joints).

Thanks for your replies.  I have stopped the Rymadol for the time being to see if the Golden Paste helps her.  How long should I wait before trying a little GP?  I only stopped the Rymodol a couple of days ago.  Quite frankly it doesn't seem to have much effect.  I have been trying to get the weight off Isla for ages, I did have some success when using the Hills RD diet wet food some time ago but it seems to have piled back on.  I have never fed her a raw diet,  what would you recommend? I am willing to try anything.   She is a very greedy dog and will scoff down most things.  I have had to cut her walks down to about 10 minutes, she is so slow. 

Thanks for your help.

You should be fine to try now.  NSAIDs usually have a 24-48 hour washout period when switching meds and it's been 48.

Furriefriends is the best authority on raw here, I'm still learning!

Haha Nikita .snowflake if u are on FB I suggest joining one of the raw feeding groups .something like barf UK raw feeding rebels or rawfeeding UK . otherwise if I can get a copy of Anne ridyards book the dogs dinner it will help.enormously

Raw is easy but does need understanding what u are aiming for and how to get the right balance. If u need info I am happy to help but probably better to join a group or get a copy of.the book it is also available on line . Honey raw food.suppliets also Dona good guide for free.or it was their food is rather expensive imo there are.otjer good quality ones for.less but their guide is a good start too

Just a thought but if she has slowed down that much through pain, then it may be that you need something stronger (e.g. tramadol) to get on top of that.  With arthritis the best approach is usually to really beat back the pain to start with then drop down to a maintenance dose.  Sometimes just going straight to maintenance isn't enough.

For losing weight, I always use Burns.  All the flavours of Burns are light in calories/oil/fats and the weight just comes off very well on it. 

I don't like it long-long term, as it's not very high in meat content and high in carbs, but instead of all the prescription diet foods with dodgy ingredient lists, it is great.