Cold Weather Concerns For Older Pets

As the saying goes, “Getting old isn’t for the faint of heart.” I wonder if, when Mae West said this, she knew she would live to 87 years old. Getting older comes with medical problems, chronic diseases, and arthritis. Now that the cold is here, the more mature among us are suffering from cold-weather arthritis pain. How about by a 10-year-old Great Dane? Or my 15-year-old kitty? Well, these days, we are lucky, and there are a lot of things we can do to make growing older a little easier on our pets, especially during the winter season.

NSAIDs— “Doggie Ibuprofen”— Since human drugs are generally not as safe for pets, we have canine-approved NSAIDs. These are drugs that can generally be used daily or as needed for pain. They included drugs like Rimadyl, Metacam, or Galliprant. Some patients will respond better to one medication over the other, and there can be benefits of one over another, so it is important to speak to your veterinarian about what product is best. Blood work and monitoring are recommended as these drugs can have side effects. These drugs are not well tolerated in cats for long-term pain and are not recommended for arthritis in cats.

Librela or Solesia— These are injectable once-per-month medications recently approved for the treatment of arthritis in dogs and cats, respectively. It has been used for several years in Europe with great success. These drugs do not work immediately for most patients. It typically starts working after about one week and reaches peak effect at 60 days.

Gabapentin— This is an anti-seizure medication that helps with pain. The great news is gabapentin is extremely safe. The bad news is that it is not great as a primary means of pain control, and it can cause sedation, so if your pet is unstable on their feet, it may not be a great option, particularly for dogs. However, cats do extremely well on this drug as a primary means of arthritis management.

Tramadol— This is an opioid. Tramadol is a very safe drug for pain control. Unfortunately, study after study has shown that it doesn’t actually work well! It is recommended to be used every eight hours, but some studies have shown it to only be effective for as little as two hours, so this is not a great option.

Tylenol and Aspirin— Just don’t do it. The safety margin is very narrow; you can easily cause liver failure.

CBD— I mean, it’s convenient. I can just head over to March and Ash and pick some up while I’m there, right? Well, yes, you can, but here is what you should know. CBD has not been well studied in pets, so we don’t really know if we are overdosing or not giving enough, and actually, we don’t even know that it’s safe. So, like chocolate or coffee, just because it’s safe for us doesn’t mean it’s okay for pets. We just don’t know. It’s that simple. My advice: spend your money on something that we know works.

Supplements— There are many fabulous supplements on the market that include glucosamine, chondroitin, and fish oil. The best OTC products are considered to be made by NurtoMax under the trade names “Dasaquin” or “Cosequin.”

This is a good overview of current options, but please always speak with your pet’s veterinarian before starting any medicines.

Lastly and most importantly, remember, motion is lotion! Going for a walk is a great way to keep the joints functioning normally for us and our pets, so put on a coat, and we hope to see you out there getting your steps!