Arthritis in Dogs

My dog Co- had a bad case of dog arthritis. He was about 7-7.5 years old. Co- was miserable, could hardly walk, would fall of the porch in the morning... Arthritis seemed to affect him mentally too. He spend his days curled up in a ball on the floor, avoiding any kind of movement.

After the examination my vet gave me a few choices: Cortisone injections, pet Glucosamine, altering the diet. The vet told me basically that was it.

The diet change was to get off dry dog food and start buying raw meat for the dog, I was even given an address of the butcher shop, that would sell me the scraps. But over the years I've noticed that Co- doesn't really do well on with raw meat. He loves it, no question. But he would always get a diarrhea attack after having any significant amount of it. Besides I was a struggling student then. I don't think I could have afforded raw meat twice a day for the dog, even if that meat was scraps.

I also refused cortisone and glucosamine.

From what I know cortisone reduces any kind of inflammatory process in the body, but does it by wring out the poor adrenal glands, and it is not good for anyone, especially aged, weak and imuno-compromised. It increases mobility by reducing the inflammation and therefore pain and discomfort.

However, if the joint is affected with arthritis and weakened, cortisone will provide for a false sense of improvement, leading the body to increase the usage and range of motion of the joint, and, as it often happens especially with the hip joins, which are such crucial weight-bearing and articulating points of the body, lead to further injury. And then what? More shots? Or should we consider a hip replacement? In my opinion this solution is an exacerbation of the initial problem. It is a way to loose time while waiting for further worsening of the condition. Who knows, maybe after some extended cortisone use the dog's kidneys will fail. Then arthritis will be the least of his problems!

Besides, it is a temporary solution. Once you have chosen this road, you had to have regular injections. Of course, you could stop at any point, but the benefit would soon vanish.

Glucosamine contains a type of vegetable silicone, which coats the joints, which makes for smoother, less painful sliding of the bones against each other. This remedy also is only good while it is used. As soon as you stop using it, the effect ceases. The potential for overuse of the joint is also great.

Both methods are pretty costly and tie you to your vet.

I was thoroughly not satisfied with my given options.

While in college, I myself was interested in macrobiotic diet. I read a few books and experimented some with preparing the dishes, but somehow never really went all the way. But I remembered having had read of numerous cases of macrobiotic cures for arthritis sufferers. It seemed that it was worth at least trying it on Co-.

Macrobiotic diet is a brown rice diet.