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YahooArthritis is a disease that affects all mammals at some point in their life. Understanding how arthritis works will greatly improve the success of treatments. Arthritis can be divided into primary or secondary.
Primary arthritis can be due to a disease process such as Rheumatoid arthritis, which is an immune mediated disease. This means that the body attacks itself causing damage to joints. This is mainly found in humans.
Secondary arthritis happens when there is damage to the joints such as trauma, but is most commonly due to a degenerative joint disease. This can be due to various factors and is found in 25-30% of all dogs and cats. DJD, or degenerative joint disease, causes destruction of the woven matrix which makes up cartilage. The purpose of cartilage is to coat the bone surface and protect them from friction between bones during motion. The cartilage also acts as a shock absorber when weight is placed on the joints. Most of the damage from arthritis is irreversible but there are medications that can help.
Help your pet lose weight. The first step to treating your pets arthritis associated pain should be weight loss. Weight loss and obesity is one of the most common problems causing pain in arthritic patients. Increased load on joints causes inflammation and increases the rate of cartilage destruction. Decreasing weight is the safest and most effective method for decreasing pain in the joints.
Start some daily nutritional supplements. Below are some of the most popular and common natural medications for arthritis. (These medications can be purchased over the counter.)
- Neutroceuticals--These are known as a "chondroprotective" natural substances. They have been shown to protect cartilage from further damage due to degenerative joint disease. Neutroceuticals have no known side effects, which makes them the most popular first choice for prophylactic treatment of joint disease. Glucosamine and chondroitin are the most effective and well studied types of nutritional supplements. They have been shown to stop destruction of joints as well as repair damaged cartilage. It is important to buy high quality supplements since they are not regulated by the FDA like other pharmaceuticals.
- Green lipped muscles--This treatment is new to the market but has been shown to help slow destruction of the cartilage. It is often used as an additive in joint health diets.
- SAM-E-(S-adenosyl-L-methionine)--This is one of the newest drugs being researched for pain control in human and pet arthritis. SAM-E is a synthetic substance of that is found in all living cells. It's currently been shown to stop the inflammation in joints that is responsible for the pain and destruction of the cartilage. Human studies showed it as effective as NSAIDs in controlling pain, without any of the side effects. This makes SAM-E a great, safe treatment.
Start NSAIDs. If pain is not controlled and the energy levels have not increased after starting you pet on natural supplements, then you may want to consider NSAIDs. NSAIDs, Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, have been used for many years in both veterinary and human medicine. They provide good pain control but do not help to repair or stop destruction of the joints. They also have many side effects including causing bleeding within the stomach and causing kidney disease. They should be used with caution and only when needed for pain.
