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Welcome to June's Case of the Month! This month we'll look at a dog with more than just aches and pains. |
MY ACHING BACK!
HISTORY
Jumbo was an 8-year-old dog whose owners had noticed him getting "a little slower" over the past 6 months or so. He didn't want to run around as much as he used to, and he seemed to have some difficulty getting up after he'd been in one place for a while. His owners felt he acted painful, but never did anything obvious like whining or crying.
PHYSICAL FINDINGS
Jumbo seemed relatively comfortable on his examination. However, when certain areas of his spine were probed or manipulated in the right way, he'd tense up a little. His owners allowed us to take some x-rays.
X-RAY RESULTS
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Ouch! Jumbo has a ton of arthritis in his back. Another view of the middle x-ray shows you what's what:
Actually, Jumbo doesn't have any normal disc spaces in the x-rays shown here! Normally, there's no bony bridging between vertebrae (bones of the spine). Spondylosis is a bony reaction to chronic inflammation in joints, and is usually seen only in advanced arthritis. In some cases, the spondylosis will completely bridge adjacent vertebrae and fuse them together. (You may not think of it this way, but your spine is a chain of joints between vertebrae.)
TREATMENT
Jumbo showed surprisingly little pain for the amount of arthritis evident in his back. He responded well to periodic use of anti-inflammatory medications. We also discussed some dietary joint supplements, which will take longer to have an effect, but which have shown great benefit in pets with arthritis.
DISCUSSION
It's unclear whether it's possible to prevent arthritis, but it is possible to reduce its effects when it appears. Here are some of our options:
As we see more older animals, we're seeing more and more with arthritis (2 of our 5 pets have it). Fortunately, the options for treatment are much better than even a few years ago. See you next month!
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