Animals – Pets in pain

Winter’s aches and pains are a reminder that we are not as supple and agile as we once were. The idea of jumping up onto the bench, table or bed are not the simple processes they once were. Muscles, ligaments and joints lose strength and flexibility with the ageing process and get sore easily. This may affect our outlook on life. Our once jovial and happy nature can be replaced with a grumpy, short-tempered demeanour. Even if we can’t notice it within ourselves, we can often see this process in our senior pets.

For example, the mature dog who is reluctant to rise from a lying position and when it does so, it walks slowly, displaying a stiff, stilted gait. Gradually it warms itself up and starts to move somewhat freely. The old cat who isn’t as keen to jump up into your lap and appears to take a while to think about the process before hesitantly accepting your help up. Or the cat who becomes grumpy and no longer seeks out your affection. All these are symptoms of pain, which may be due to arthritic joint changes.

Anti-inflammatory medications and cartilage/joint “green lip muscle extract-like” products (chondroitin) can result in dramatic improvement in people and their cats and dogs. Your pet’s quality of life improves. However, care is required when medicating with anti-inflammatory products. Different animal species metabolise or break-down medications differently. Do not give your pets human medications. They are frequently unable to eliminate them from their bodies and the negative effects of the medications can be amplified.

Chondroitin like products, which are aimed at improving joint cartilage, are a huge industry. They are frequently subject to little regulation as they fall into the natural supplement category. We have many sales representatives attempting to get us to sell these medications in our clinic. My response to them is, “Yes, I will stock and sell your product if you can tell me the specific quantities of the active ingredient which the product contains.”

We don’t stock or recommend many of these products because most claim the active ingredient, but they will not state the specific quantities on the labels. I would suggest you examine any of these medications you use yourself and take a similar approach.

I have always liked the concept of natural and healthy supplements, but I know most are no better than placebo sugar pills. Marketing is a wonderful subject. The best marketing ploys appear to be logical or we want them to be. Retailers like to take your money, but the actual results from some supplements are quite different from the implied claims.

Should your cat or dog be showing changes in happiness or appears to be sore or lame, then discuss your animal’s health concerns with your local veterinarian – we should be able to improve their quality of life.

Stephen McAulay, CEO and head vet, Wellsford Vet Clinic
www.vetsonline.co.nz/wellsfordvet