Do You Have A Pet With Arthritis, Joint, Or Spinal Disease?

[tex]

Maybe boswellia added to his or her food could resolve those problems. Look at this test report:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14994484

Those are pretty impressive results.

Tex

[Polly]

Oh my, Tex!

Talk about timing! I just this minute got home from the vet, where my 12 year old golden retriever was diagnosed with severe degenerative arthritis of the hips with compensatory changes in the spine. The vet prescribed Rimadyl. I will send him this article and see what he thinks. He describes himself as a "vet chiropracter" and also showed us some physical therapy stuff to do daily at home.

Thanks a million!!!!

Love,

Polly

[tex]

Hi Polly,

I'm very sorry to hear about that diagnosis. I definitely believe that I would try the boswellia first. Please read some of the articles at this site, about the severe side effects of Rimadyl:

http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html

I hope your vet is aware of the problems with Rimadyl, so that he can help you to put them in perspective, if you are seriously considering using that med.

Good luck, and please keep us informed.

Love,
Tex

[Courtney]

Wow, thanks Tex! My dog, Hildy, a beagle/lab/probably some other stuff mix, has arthritis. We're not sure how old she is...she was a rescue dog and had been through some pretty tough stuff prior to coming to us...but she definitely falls in the "mature" category. Her joints "crack" when she stretches, and we can tell the cold and standing for too long gets to her sometimes. So far, she hasn't been diagnosed with anything but age-related arthritis and we treat her mostly with range-of-motion exercises and a fish oil supplement that goes on her food. She has pain pills that we're only supposed to give her when we can tell she's having trouble. (I don't think it's Rimadyl. It's kind of like a Tylenol for dogs.) This is good information to have, though, and I'll hang on to it in case she gets worse. Incidentally, if you come across anything about allergies in dogs, I'd love to see it. Hildy's biggest problem is her summer allergies. She's miserable for about 4 months out of the year, and there's not much we can do but wipe her down when she comes inside from a walk (She's an inside dog.), keep up the fish oil, and use topical creams and sprays.

Thanks,

Courtney

[Pat]

This is weird. I just came across this website.

http://www.dogtorj.net/id1.html

Polly, I also have a nearly 12 year old golden and her son, 9. So far they are both healthy!

Pat

[tex]

Courtney,

While NSAIDs are a much bigger risk, of course, acetaminophen can be toxic to dogs also, if too much is used. Be sure to follow the vet's recommendations. In case you have any cats, there is no safe dose of acetaminophen for cats.

Since Hildy is part lab, this article probably applies to her, and might be helpful:

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/hunt ... _allergies

You're most welcome,
Tex

[tex]

Pat,

We've discussed Dogtorj and his articles many times on this board in the past, (probably mostly in the "Treatments" Forum). He is without a doubt one of the leading "thinkers" and reseachers regarding food intolerances, and GI issues, and he's light years ahead of most GI docs, in that respect. He most definitely has his ducks in a row - he knows what he's talking about.

Tex

[annie oakley]

I would try the Boswellia first also, When I worked at the humane society we used alot of herbs in place of nasaid etc. We even had seveal dogs on glucosimine, worked wonders. I am going to try thr Boswellia on My mini-pin.
Love Oma

[Pat]

Thanks, Tex. I'm way behind. Maybe some of the other newbies will enjoy reading his site.

Pat

[Polly]

Pat,

Thanks for reminding me about DogtorJ. I have exchanged emails with him in the past and am a believer in his diet philosophy. For the last 5 years my dog has been on an all-meat diet. I even just found biscuits (treats) made by Evo that are free from all grains.

Anyway, I just sent him off an email to ask his opinion about Rimadyl. He is now doing phone consultations more than emails so I may have to pay to talk with him about this. But I don't mind - 15 min. should be plenty.

Tex, I asked my vet about boswellia, and he was quite aware of it. Said that it is very expensive because of the very large amounts that must be given for therapeutic results. I'm cheking further though - hopefully DogtorJ will be available.

Pat, aren't goldens the BEST? This is my 4th one and I'd have a houseful if I could. Rusty has the sweetest temperament- I've never heard him growl - he rarely barks. I love this saying......."Golden retrievers think life is a party thrown just for them!" How true, how true.

Courtney, you might want to make sure that your dog never takes Rimadyl. In the internet research I've done, labs were the most susceptible to its adverse effects. In one study, 25% of the dogs who had bad reactions were labs.

Love,

Polly

[Courtney]

Thanks, Tex and Polly. I checked on Hildy's prescription--it's not Rimadyl, and I don't think it's acetaminophin. As I said, though, she only takes it very rarely. Most of the time, she takes a glucosamine supplement.

That's a very interesting article, Tex. It describes Hildy to a T. I've never seen a flea on her, but I hadn't realized that even one bite could cause such problems. Interesting that hunting dogs (or dogs traditionally bred for hunting) tend to have more allergies. I know beagles aren't used much for hunting anymore, especially in this country, but I think they were used as small-game hunters in Europe as recently as 150 years ago, which of course is a blink of the eye, genetically. I didn't realize that skin allergies in dogs were an autoimmune response, although that makes sense. I forgot to mention that Hildy has hypothyroid, as well. This may be a shot in the dark, but do you think putting her on a GF diet might help? If indeed gluten is the culprit in autoimmune? I've heard dogs and humans often have similar responses to allergens because of our long history of cohabitation. I'm sure Hildy would have no problem with an all-meat diet!

I'll have to look into DogtorJ. Maybe he has more information, too.

Courtney

[tex]

Courtney,

On the page referenced below, please scroll down to, and read, "DogtorJ.com's Elimination Diet", for information on how to control allergy issues:

http://www.dogtorj.net/id5.html

Also, if you read the article "Gluten Intolerance And Your Pet", on Dogtorj's site, I think you'll see that the grains in virtually all commercial dog food amount to a train wreck waiting to happen. The article also makes me wonder what our intestines look like, right after we finish eating wheat, casein, and soy. Consider this quote from that article:

There are three food ingredients that adhere to the villi of the duodenum and induce the change that is characteristic of celiac disease known as villous atrophy. These three substances are gluten (from the grains), casein (from cow milk products), and soy protein. Oh oh. Did you know that the last one was on the list? Hopefully so.

What is it that links these substances together? For one, they are all use as adhesives, either as non-food glues or as binders in the foods we consume. Gluten, casein, soy and even corn are all used in industry as adhesives, some even being waterproof. Put "gluten", "casein", "soy protein adhesive" or "corn adhesive" in the search engine of any computer and read the responses. Wow! They are not only used in the food industry to hold items such as oats together but they are put to use in industry to hold just about anything together.

As we all know, it is the nature of the starches to be sticky. And, as it turns out, the foods that are the "stickiest" are the ones that cause the most problems. This should not be a surprise once this issue is introduced. Casein and gluten are used for the most powerful adhesives. Therefore, it should be not be a shock that they are the number one and number two childhood food allergens according to the FDA. What is number four? Soy. What is number three? Eggs. (This is the first secondary allergen brought about by the damage done to the gut by the first two.)

Now, imagine these proteins leaving the stomach of a human or their pet. I have always used the illustration of three slices of pizza leaving our stomach. But, for this sake of this article, I will use a wheat, barley, or soy-based pet food to drive the point home. Now that you have an idea of where we are headed, you can imagine the stomach is filled with "glue-containing" food. This "glue" leaves the stomach after it has been worked on as much as possible by that organ. Of course, not being a ruminant like a cow or sheep, these foods are not completely broken down any more than the cellulose that they eat that non-ruminants are unable to digest. As simple-stomached animals, our pets and we are not designed to eat grasses like the ruminants do and all of the grains are in the grass family. They are all grasses that man has chosen to consume, with those in Asia picking their grass (rice), the Europeans choosing their grasses (wheat and barley), and those in central America picking corn. Here in America, we consume them all and in abundance.

In an attempt to digest these grasses and their "glue" (along with dairy and soy), our stomach adds as much acid as possible to break them down. Heart burn, anyone? (Yes, my two years of acid reflux abated after just one week of being gluten- free. This, again, should be no surprise.) But, the increased acid is inadequate to eliminate the "glue". It is this sticky substance that adheres to the villi of the duodenum. Whether it be from wheat, cow milk, soy, corn, or the others mentioned, it adheres to these finger-like projections of the intestine that are vital for the absorption of nutrients, effectively reducing the amount of those essential ingredients that would be absorbed into the bloodstream.

What are those nutrients? The vital substances are calcium, iron, iodine, all B complex, vitamin C, most water-soluble vitamins, and most of our trace minerals such as zinc, boron, manganese, magnesium and more. In other words, just about everything that is important other than our proteins, fats, and calories are absorbed by the duodenum. How well can this organ function when it is coated with "glue"? The important thing to realize here is that this happens to everyone and every pet that eats these foods.

That bears repeating. This happens to everyone and just about every simple-stomach creature that eats these foods. We have simply focused on the worst-of-the-worst.... as in the celiacs, casein intolerants, and soy intolerants...in which an immune response is mounted against the glue leading to severe villous atrophy. This immune assault also generates the warning antibodies that we call "allergies" to tell you that this is process is taking place. Otherwise, it would be a "stealth operation" that goes on undetected for years and years until the bottom falls out. Yes, this is all too familiar of a scenario as well, isn't it? It happens in pets all of the time, I'm afraid.

So, the ultimate question is whether pets suffer from celiac disease? My answer is that it doesn't really matter. In the pet, every bite of the average commercial food has "glue" in it, whether it is of wheat, barley, soy, corn, or rice origin. Yes, there are better glues" than others and they are in line with what we see as the principle allergens in the pet, just as one would expect. Wheat and soy are the worst (now that dairy has been eliminated from pet foods) while oats and rice are the best...the least sticky. Corn is in the middle. This is exactly what we see as the main sources of food allergies in the pet, a problem of huge importance in dogs and cats. Now people can understand why lamb and rice foods have become so popular. Rice is the least of the adhesives and thereby less allergenic and lamb is (or at least used to be) an unusual protein source compared to beef and others, which have become the main secondary allergens in the pet. It does all make sense.

The image of the postprandial gut that comes to mind, is of a gummy mess. That couldn't possibly be conducive to optimum nutrient absorption. With chronic nutrient absorption restrictions, it's no wonder that we, (and our pets), become more and more susceptible to other diseases, as time marches on.

Tex

[crranch]

Another thing to try with the older arthritic dogs that works great is Adequan injections. It is basically an injection form of glucosamine and works wonders on animals that don't seem to metabolize the oral product well, I use it on both the horses and the dogs and it has kept a 25 year old mare and an 11 year old greyhound going strong...

Do beware of Remadyl, it can have some scary side effects, on our 16 year old whippet, we used Meloxicam instead, much easier on the system if you have to go the NSAID route...

Hugs,
Carrie

[tex]

Carrie,

I wonder how those Adequan injections would work on people?


Polly,

Concerning the cost of boswellia treatment, take a peek at my two posts about the cost of boswellia treatment, (posts numbers 8 & 9), in this thread by Hotrod:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8863

The question is, "why did they use so much product in that research project?".

Love,
Tex

[Pat]

Polly,

Yes! Goldens are the best! Ginger, our mom, still grooms her son, Prince. He always has the cleanest ears! Their favorite treat ( other than a real bone) is something I get at Costco called "Checkups". They are gluten free. Mainly potato four and rice four.

I love that saying! It fits them perfectly.

Pat