Arthritis in animals – The Basics

Arthritis is a disease that your animal will likely experience at some point in his/her life especially with the progression of age therefore, its high priority as an animal owner (in my opinion) to understand what happens to the joints with this disease.

As always lets cover some of the relevant terminology first!

• Synovial Fluid – Is a thick lubricating fluid that can be found between joint surfaces.

• Synovial Joint – Is a joint designed for a high level of movement and utilises cartilage and synovial fluid to aid smooth movement.

• Joint Capsule – Is an envelope of connective tissue that encases a synovial joint.

• Cartilage – Is a tough, flexible and shock absorbing tissue that can be found lining the end of bones where joints are formed. Cartilage can also be found in many other locations in the body such as, the outer ear and nose, in which its role is to create form and structure to the soft tissues.

• Ligaments – Are a type of strong connective tissue that connect BONE to BONE, their role is to support and stabilise the joint, because of this you will find a high concentration of ligaments near joints.

So what is Arthritis?

Arthritis is a general term used for joint disease or joint pain.

In animals Osteoarthritis and OCD (osteochondrosis dissecans) are the most common types but what sets them apart?

Osteoarthritis:

Often develops with age or is secondary to trauma resulting in direct damage to the joint capsule or through abnormal loading of the joint in compensation to the trauma.

This type of Arthritis will often result in:

• Inflammation of the joint capsule

• Thinning and damage of the joint cartilage

• Bone spurs (abnormal growth of bone around the joint)

• Bone remodelling (as discussed in our Kissing spine post)

OCD

Often develops in younger animals and is especially common in rapidly growing breeds.

This type of Arthritis is the result of the bone incorrectly forming near the joint causing poor cartilage formation that leads to:

• Cartilage “flaps” which impair the two joint surfaces from moving smoothly.

• Loose cartilage fragments within the joint capsule: When these fragments ossify, they may be referred to as “joint mice”

• Inflammation of the joint capsule

• Thinning of the cartilage.

• Bone remodelling at more advanced stages.

This type of Arthritis is not always symptomatic and may be found on pre purchase x-rays in horses or noted in small breeds when investigating other conditions. Depending on its presentation, damage and location ect... it may be deemed clinically irrelevant by the veterinary surgeon especially with the absence of pain, lameness, and inflammation.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA):

Although much less prevalent than OCD and OA, Rheumatoid Arthritis is a joint disease seen occasionally in animals. RA differs from the other types as of Arthritis as its origin is that of an autoimmune disease.

What is an autoimmune disease?

A disease where the body mistakes its own healthy structures as foreign and attacks it, in the case of RA the body mostly attacks the joints.

RA will cause all the same problems as OA and OCD but usually appears in multiple joints at a time and may present with wider spread symptoms of ill- health.

Commons symptoms of Arthritis (all types):

• Lameness (continuous or intermittent)

• Pain

• Stiffness (especially after periods of inactivity)

• Swelling and heat of the affected joints

• Reduced joint range of movement

• Performance issues

• Depression (or aggression more so in smaller animals).

• Reduced performance

• Behaviour changes.

After diagnosis from your Veterinary Surgeon which is usually established through a thorough clinical history, physical assessment and diagnostic testing a treatment plan will be implemented.

Treatment modalities vary greatly from case to case and depend on severity with some animals requiring no treatment but strict lifestyle changes, to others requiring surgery and long-term medication.

Given that Arthritis has no cure it can often leave owners feeling quite hopeless in how to best help however, there are many small changes and owner can make that can make a big difference to the disease progression and the overall wellbeing of your trusted companion.

What CAN you do?

Find a highly qualified, registered, and insured therapist!

Whether your preference is a Physio, Chiropractor, Osteopath or Soft Tissue Therapist get some one on board to help guide you on the best way to manage your animal’s needs, this may include:

• Lifestyle changes (some of which you will see below)

• Adapted daily exercise

• Strength and conditioning exercises (to support and strengthen structures)

• Treatment (to manage pain, compensation and maintain optimal joint function within the limit of the disease)

• The knowledge on when to refer back to your vet by identifying negative physical changes before they become a problem (proactive Dx management).

Surfaces!

Often our smaller four-legged friends live in our households and one of the most common causes of arthritic flareups is from slipping on non-grippy surfaces such as wooden floors and tiles.

What can you do?

• Place rugs in high traffic/high slip rate areas.

• Grips strips on wooden stairs (if this is an area of concern)

• Dog boots (sometimes appropriate in cases where slip risk is too vast).

In our larger animals such as horses, hard ground is one of the biggest aggravators of arthritis, this can relate to the time of year and ridden surfaces.

• Avoid concussive gaits such a trot on hard surfaces such as roads and hard going. (If unavoidable reduce the duration to the bare minimum).

• Sometimes remedial shoeing within the summer months can greatly help some cases through additional support or padding to reduce concussion, you may also discuss going barefoot if the horse is already shod with your farrier (This is a hotly debated topic!! In my opinion each case is individual, and no one fit, fits all!).

Activity Changes!

In small animals this mostly refers to the games they play with their daily routine such as fetch and tug or the sporting discipline they participate in (Gun dog, Agility, Flyball ect..). Each of these scenario’s result in jolting/concussive or repetitive movements which can aggravate the arthritic joints and speed up its deterioration.

What can you do?

• Stop playing fetch or tug and implement low impact games such a “search and find” (If it’s truly unavoidable then a reduction in frequency and duration of these activities can be made).

• Drop down a level or two in competition grade, alter training and competition schedule or in some cases retirement from the sport is necessary.

• In horses the discipline they participate in may need to be altered by:

• Changing disciplines

• Minor- significant reduction in competition grade.

• Reduction in competition frequency.

• Avoid training the movements that aggravate the arthritic joint/s.

• Retirement from competition and in some cases ridden work.

Make a diary!

Yes that’s right! Start writing down your animal’s soundness and behaviours on a daily/weekly basis, what activities they have been doing and any traumatic events such a slips and falls ect. This sort of information can be crucial to identifying disease progression and when treatment modalities may need adjusting, identifying triggers of arthritic flareups which can help with future management of the disease or provide reason behind a “sudden” bad week.

Supplements:

They can help… but are often more helpful as an Arthritic prevention strategy (i.e taken as a routine supplement from a young age). This topic area will warrant an entire separate post as supplement quality, ingredients, ratios ect need to be factored in. However, you will unlikely be doing any harm by incorporating a joint supplement into the animal’s management and in some cases will help towards managing the speed of deterioration (dependent of supplement used).

Do your homework!

Pulling on my clinical experience the clientele that follow the prescribed “homework” in management prevention, strength and conditioning exercises and vet advice often have the highest rate of successfully managing the animals comfort levels and disease progression. Do not under-estimate the advice given!

The above suggestions are just a dip in the water of what you as an owner can do to help your animal companion. Always seek the advice of your vet and musculoskeletal therapist (Physio, Chiro, Osteo, Soft Tissue ect) before implementing strength and conditioning exercises, stretches and altering training routines as each case is different and will need managing accordingly.