It is my opinion  much of the arthritis our dogs experience could be eliminated by changing their diets from a grain based food to a more meat based recipe.   Just because the first ingredient on the ingredient list is meat does not make the diet meat based.   The only way to distinguish if a food is meat based is to asked the company’s nutritionist (not customer support person) “what percent of their  food is meat when measured on a dry matter basis ?”  Judged on this basis, most pet foods are no more than 20% meat.   Grain based diets are hard for carnivores to digest and the poorly digested large grain protein molecules act as allergens which damage the intestinal lining and result in a “leaky gut syndrome”.    This leaky gut allows grain protein molecules to get into the blood stream where they can migrate to the pet’s joints and set up an inflammatory reaction.   Feeding a meat based diet helps to prevent the above sequence of events.   Supplementing the diet with digestive enzymes, fish oil, and antioxidants will help reduce the likelihood of arthritis.

If your dog has already developed arthritis there are a number of ways to help slow the progression and reduce the discomfort from the disease.   Injections of  “chondroprotective” substances which increase joint fluid production and  encourage cartilage repair can be very effective arthritis remedies.   Personally I am not a big proponent of  using non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) to reduce inflammation and pain because their long term use may result in gastro intestinal, liver, and kidney disease.   It has also been shown that long term use of NSAIDs in humans actually results in cartilage degeneration.   Providing glucosamine, chondroitin , MSM, Gerizyme, Adequin, Legend, Zeel , systemic enzymes, hyaluronic acid,  Comfort Zone  and antioxidants in place of NSAIDs can help restore joint integrity and, in my opinion, is a much preferred approach.

Other ways to treat advanced arthritis include physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, “infra-sonic therapy”,  “pulsed magnetic therapy”, prolotherapy, gold bead implants, cold laser therapy, Electro Crystal  Rebalancing  and massage therapy.   Teaching pet owners how to massage their pet and provide passive range of motion can be very helpful in extending and enhancing their pets quality of life.

Finally, I want let my readers know about a very exciting advance in arthritis therapy.    Adult stem cell technology is now available to help treat advanced arthritis.   The stem cells are harvested from the patients own fat.  These stem cells can be injected intravenously or directly into joints.   These injected primitive cells will develop into connective tissue and cartilaginous cells which will help to rejuvenate the damaged joint.   This technology is has already been used successfully in hundreds of dogs and horses and although still on the expensive side is now available to the family pet.   Presently I am one of the few veterinarians certified to provide such therapy.

Detecting the early signs of arthritis and instituting early treatment can make a huge difference in the  success of therapy.   Providing a high quality meat based diet, with omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants along with weight management can help prevent the onset of arthritis and help extend both the quality and quantity of the pet’s life.

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Woodside Animal Clinic is a unique, very personal,  one doctor practice where, for over 35 years, Dr. Simon has been healing dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, rodents, and reptiles with both conventional and alternative medicine.  Dr.  Simon is the author  of 4 pet care books and he writes a bi monthly holistic pet care column for  ”Natural Awakening ” magazine.

Woodside Animal Clinic  sees pets from all over the greater Detroit Michigan area including Royal Oak, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Detroit, Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Warren, Centerline, Clawson,  Troy, Sterling Heights, Southfield, Birmingham, Bingham Farms, Franklin, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi, Wixom, Brighton, Livonia, Plymouth, Commerce, Ann Arbor, Ortonville, Waterford, Union Lake,  Rochester,  Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Utica,   Romeo,  Windsor, White lake and Toledo

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If your pet has a recurrent or chronic disease that has not responded to the best efforts of conventional medicine why not give alternative medicine chance to show what it can do.   Recurrent ear infection, skin allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, and osteo arthritis are just a few of the many chronic diseases that have conventionally required continual drug therapy to suppress symptoms which have been reducing the pets quality of life.  These drugs may be temporarily successful at reducing symptoms but their long term use often results in side effects that may make use of these drugs of questionable value.

Because alternative medicine takes a more holistic view point in its quest for healing it may  focus on an organ system that appears to have no relationship to the symptoms that are being addressed.   Since alternative medicine sees  all organ systems as connected  its therapy is often geared to using modalities that affect the organism as a whole rather than a drug geared to treat a symptom or the organ system where the symptoms occur.

 When alternative medicine feels it must directly address symptoms the use of herbs, homeopathic remedies, specific nutrients, and plant produced hormones will accomplish the task with minimal side effects.    Keep in mind that many of our most celebrated drugs were originally isolated from plants but then were concentrated and/or synthesized in laboratories.   The extraction of active ingredient from the plant and the isolation of it from the other synergistic balancing chemicals found in the intact herb is what makes a drug more likely to produce side effects.  Because drug production isolates and concentrates what it  believes to be the “active ingredient” it looses the safety net that is present when using the whole herb with its less concentrated, better balanced mix of chemicals.

 Alternative health care professionals believe that the pet owner should play an integral part in the healing of their pet.  The practitioner believes that a partnership with the pet owner is necessary for the most rapid and successful healing to occur.  In order for the pet owner to serve as an effective member of this healing partnership they must thoroughly understand their pets problem and the plan for healing.   Consequently the holistic practition must schedule longer appointments to allow for client education and to answer all the pet owners questions. 

 Alternative vets believe that inflammation resulting from nutritional and environmental toxicity in combination with nutritional deficiencies is one of the very basic causes for ill health.   Minimizing toxin intake and maximizing toxin excretion is the foundation for health and healing.  

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  Dr. Simon is the owner of the Woodside Animal Clinic in Royal Oak Michigan where he has been treating dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, ferrets, rodents, and iguanas with both alternative and conventional medicine for over 30 years.  Dr. Simon is the author of 4 pet care books and writes a monthly column for the Mirror newspaper.

Woodside services the Oakland  and Wayne County  area including the cities of  Berkley, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Southfield, Birmingham, Troy, Warren, Clawson, Sterling Heights and Farmington Hills. 

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As the arthritis progresses the dog may begin to hold up or favor one limb. He or she may walk with short stiff steps and the dog’s gait may show a hind end instability. At the end stages of arthritis the pet may not be able to rise without the owners help.  It is very sad when an otherwise healthy animal is euthanized because their owner is unable to lift them up to get them outside when they need to eliminate.

It is my opinion that much of the arthritis our dogs experience could be eliminated by changing their diets from a grain based food to a more meat based recipe.   Just because the first ingredient on the ingredient list is meat does not make the diet “meat based”.   The only way to distinguish if a food is meat based is to asked the company’s nutritionist (not customer support person) “what percent of their food is meat when measured on a dry matter basis ?”   Judged on this basis, most pet foods are no more than 20% meat. Grain based diets are hard for carnivores to digest and, consequently, the poorly digested large grain protein molecules act as allergens which damage the intestinal lining and result in a “leaky gut syndrome”. This leaky gut allows grain protein molecules to get into the blood stream where they can migrate to the pet’s joints and set up an inflammatory reaction. Feeding a meat based diet helps to prevent the above sequence of events. Finally, keeping your pet on the slender side in old age and better yet all his or her life will definitely reduce the risk of arthritis developing,   Supplementing the diet with digestive enzymes, fish oil,  antioxidants, and  herbal anti inflammatories will help reduce the likelihood of arthritis.  

If your dog has already developed arthritis there are a number of ways to help slow the progression and reduce the discomfort from the disease. Injections of “chondroprotective” substances which increase joint fluid and encourage cartilage repair can be very effective. Personally I am not a big proponent of using non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) to reduce inflammation and pain because their long term use may result in gastro intestinal, liver, and kidney disease. It has also been shown that long term use of NSAIDs in humans actually results in cartilage degeneration.  Providing glucosamine, chondroitin , MSM, Adequin and antioxidants in place of NSAIDs can help restore joint integrity and, in my opinion, is a much preferred approach.

Other ways to treat advanced arthritis include acupuncture, chiropractic, “infra sonic therapy”, “pulsed magnetic therapy”, prolotherapy, low level laser therapy, physical therapy and massage therapy. Teaching pet owners how to massage their pet and provide passive range of motion can be very helpful in extending and enhancing their pets quality of life.

Finally, I want let my readers know about a very exciting advance in arthritis therapy. Adult stem cell technology is now available to help treat advanced arthritis. The stem cells are harvested from the patients own fat. These stem cells can be injected intravenously or directly into joints. These injected primitive cells will develop into connective tissue and cartilaginous cells which will help to rejuvenate the damaged joint. This technology is has already been used successfully in hundreds of dogs and horses and although still on the expensive side is now available to the family pet.  

The only problem with stem cell therapy ithat it is relatively expensive and requires the pet be anethetized for the harvesting of the adult stem cells from body  fat.   Prolotherapy is a less expensive option and one sense could be seen as the “poor man stem cell therapy” because it also stimulates the body produce more supportive connective tissue around the unstable joint.

Detecting the early signs of arthritis and instituting early treatment can make a huge difference in the success of therapy. Providing a high quality meat based diet, with omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants can help prevent the onset of arthritis and help extend both the quality and quantity of the pet’s life.

                                  ****************************************************

Woodside Animal Clinic is a unique, very personal,  one doctor practice where, for over 35 years, Dr. Simon has been healing dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, rodents, and reptiles with both conventional and alternative medicine.  Dr.  Simon is the author  of 4 pet care books and he writes a monthly pet care column in the Mirror newspaper.

Woodside Animal Clinic sees pets from all over the greater Detroit area including Royal Oak, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Detroit, Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Warren, Centerline, Clawson,  Troy, Sterling Heights, Southfield, Birmingham, Bingham Farms, Franklin, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi, Wixom, Brighton, Livonia, Plymouth, Commerce, Ann Arbor, Ortonville, Waterford, Union Lake,  Rochester,  Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Utica,   Romeo and Flint.

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