Hello Laurie!
I would love to pick your amazing brain for a hock problem.
One of my ex racing greyhound was retired at 2 y/o partly because of a hock injury the other part is probably because he was too much of a clown to be a decent athlete. He is now 9.5 y/o and arthrosis is really starting to affect him. I brought him to the vet this morning because he can't weight bear on it.
The vet did bilateral xrays to compare and the asymptomatic side looks perfect while we almost can't see the joint lines anymore in the tarsal bones of the right hock confirming it's mostly post traumatic advanced OA and not just age related. The vet gave us 10 days of Deramaxx for starters.
Up to a month ago I could walk the whole pack for a good hour at high speed so he was still fairly functional.
I will let him rest then restart a bit of physio on him but if I wanted to find a decent brace would you have one that you recommend.? I used to tell people to buy the Back in Track one. Do you have any other suggestions?
Thanks in advance...no rush
Retired physio momma to a pack of retired racers
SM
Tarsal arthritis
Re: Tarsal arthritis
Hi S.!
Nice to hear from you!
Okay… so, the arthritis didn’t start overnight. As such, I’d say, he’s just flared things up… no biggie. Great that the x-ray just showed arthritis (and nothing more sinister)!!
So, it’s all good news!
If he were coming to me, I’d do laser therapy, and whatever mobs or soft tissue work he’d tolerate.
In addition to the Deramaxx (and perhaps eventually instead of), discuss with your vet about Cartrophen or Adequan injections. They are brilliant for arthritis. I have tons of clients whose dogs are on them, and it’s pretty amazing!
I also like the supplement Cetyl-M - in addition to glucosamine, it’s primary ingredient is cetylated fatty acids. We’ve seen great results with it over the last 12 years. Other brands might be just as effective, it’s just that I have 1st hand experience with that one.
(Buy it off of Amazon if you decide to use it.)
In regards to a brace. Firstly, I don’t think that ‘supportive’ braces are necessary for arthritis, but I do like the Back On Track ones for arthritis. They’re not supporting anything really, they’re just ‘keeping it warm’ with the ceramic fibres. I have used them for patients for that purpose as well.
I hope this helps!
All the best,
Laurie
Nice to hear from you!
Okay… so, the arthritis didn’t start overnight. As such, I’d say, he’s just flared things up… no biggie. Great that the x-ray just showed arthritis (and nothing more sinister)!!
So, it’s all good news!
If he were coming to me, I’d do laser therapy, and whatever mobs or soft tissue work he’d tolerate.
In addition to the Deramaxx (and perhaps eventually instead of), discuss with your vet about Cartrophen or Adequan injections. They are brilliant for arthritis. I have tons of clients whose dogs are on them, and it’s pretty amazing!
I also like the supplement Cetyl-M - in addition to glucosamine, it’s primary ingredient is cetylated fatty acids. We’ve seen great results with it over the last 12 years. Other brands might be just as effective, it’s just that I have 1st hand experience with that one.
(Buy it off of Amazon if you decide to use it.)
In regards to a brace. Firstly, I don’t think that ‘supportive’ braces are necessary for arthritis, but I do like the Back On Track ones for arthritis. They’re not supporting anything really, they’re just ‘keeping it warm’ with the ceramic fibres. I have used them for patients for that purpose as well.
I hope this helps!
All the best,
Laurie
LAURIE EDGE-HUGHES