How to Help a Dog with Arthritis?

Dogs with arthritis or osteoarthritis need a little extra looking after and changes in lifestyle. Canine osteoarthritis is a disease that can affect one or more joints of your dog. This could affect the mobility of your pet and the overall lifestyle. However, there are remedies and practices that you can bring into their lifestyle to make it easier for them and relieve the pain. Take a look at the following to see how you can help a dog with arthritis.

Active Lifestyle

In order to prevent the stiffness of joints, it is necessary to keep them moving. Arthritis may make it a difficult for your dog to walk but exercise is a necessary factor in healing and preventing stiffness in joints. Try not to overexert your pet by taking long walks in one go. Instead have short smaller walks with breaks and rests in between. Exercising and increased mobility will help to rebuild muscle loss and increase the strength of limbs.

Dog Beds

Another thing you can do to help your pet is to get a good dog bed that is specifically made for pets who are suffering from arthritis. Sore and stiff joints will make it difficult for the dog in the usual flat dog beds. Instead, look for orthopedic dog beds. Look for ones that comes with orthopaedic foam that is at least four inches thick. It is also necessary to look for a bed that has enough space for your dog to lay in comfortably and stretch out without feeling crammed.

Weight Management

Another important practice your pet need is weight management. It is one of the easiest practices that can be adapted into the pet’s lifestyle. You need to talk to your vet about how to manage the dog’s weight. They will let you know about the necessary exercises and the amount of exercise your pet needs and will suggest the dietary restrictions and requirements necessary to maintain a healthy weight.

Ramps

When it comes to arthritis, there are certain activities that your dog will not be able to perform anymore. For example, they will not be able to jump into the cars, couches, decks and other heights. If you have a smaller dog, you will be able to easily lift him and place them in your car or couch but this can be difficult to do with big dogs that cannot be lifted. In such cases, get dog ramps and stair treads if necessary, for your stairs. This will help your dog get into places that are difficult to do with joint pains.

Covered Floors

Arthritic dogs are at the risk of losing muscle mass becoming weak. This makes it challenging for them to walk as it becomes difficult to gain traction on floors that are slick and slippery such as hardwood or laminate. You can however, make it easier for them to walk by covering the floors with something that helps to have more traction. Use materials such as bath mats, yoga mats, rubber runners, etc on areas where your dog tends to walk.

While arthritis may make it difficult for your pet, there are plenty of ways you make things easier for them. All you have to do is get them to follow the right practices and make some changes around the house to make things easier for them.

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