4 Ways to Help Your Senior Dog Walk Better (Pain Relief)

Helping your senior dog maintain mobility and comfort is crucial as they age, especially for breeds like Labradoodles prone to osteoarthritis. This guide for pet parents explores five effective ways to improve senior dog mobility through integrative veterinary medicine, including switching from processed kibbles to anti-inflammatory diets, using high-quality Omega-3 capsules, and specific joint supplements like Jope. By focusing on root-cause inflammation and proper diagnostic physical exams, you can help your aging dog walk better and enjoy a higher quality of life.

In this episode, Dr. Randy Aronson and veterinary student Olivia Sacci discuss a listener's question about a 12-year-old dog struggling with arthritis despite using standard glucosamine. Dr. Randy shares his 40 years of experience, highlighting why Omega-3 capsules are superior to bottled oils to prevent oxidation and how injectable treatments like Adequan can help cartilage "imbibe" water for better cushioning. Whether you're interested in the science of hyaline cartilage or looking for practical home exercises, these veterinary-backed strategies provide a proactive approach to senior dog wellness and pain management.

#seniordogcare #dogmobility #holisticpethealth #osteoarthritisinpets

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Books
Four Paws in Five Directions; by Dr. Cheryl Schwartz
The Forever Dog; by Dr. Karen Shaw Becke...

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

So Deirdre is from Bellingham, Washington. Nice. Nice new city. Beautiful area. Um have you been? No, I've never been. I've never heard of that place before. Um, she says, My dog is 12 and has arthritis. Uh, he limps a lot, he's a labradoodle, nothing seems to be working. She's mostly given him glucosamine supplements. Do you have any suggestions? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

So this is a uh this is a really, really good question, and one we see very often uh in our in our labradoodles, and uh, you know, and especially as they get to be mid or later age, uh Deidre's dog's 12. Not uncommon to see some what we call osteoarthritis involved. So osteoarthritis is a condition really where it comes from inflammation in the body. And we've talked in in podcasts in the past about getting inflammation out of the dog's body. I've talked about people reading my friend Dr. Karen Becker's book, The Forever Dog. It really gives a lot of science behind the principle of getting inflammation. But as you guys know, I I really love to get them off more and more of the dried, heavily processed kibbles, uh, air-dried, you know, freeze-dried raw, frozen raw, lightly cooked. All of those are great ways to go for our animals. So in a situation where we have arthritis, the the biggest thing is that Deirdre's dog needs to be looked at by her veterinarian. Yes. Because we often have animals coming into our canine collab, which is our physical therapy rehabilitation area, for arthritis. And on further examination, when I get to examine the dog, there could be a much more serious problem going on. Uh, we see in Arizona something called valley fever, which can cause lamenesses. We see, unfortunately, cancers that can cause that. So it really needs a good physical examination. It needs to be basically figured out where that arthritis is, possibly uh some follow-up x-rays or radiographs, and then they can be addressed much, much better. So on a simple basis, eliminating the inflammation as we talked about. I love them also being on an omega-3 fatty acid.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

I was gonna say the supplements is the other part of that.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Absolutely. So definitely an omega-3 fatty acid. I try to stay away from regular fish oil because fish oil is omega-3, six, and nine, and nines can be inflammatory for our dogs. But an omega-3 product, which will always have some omega-6, is really, really helpful for these guys. Um, and also I really like a joint supplement called JOPE, J-O-P-E. Uh Deirdre mentioned glucosamine. We find a lot of the glucosamines don't really get into the joints that well. And this Jope product is an ultra-collagen two with a little bit of turmeric, works beautifully. It's a chew, and I really like that as a joint supplement for a both.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I'll I'll follow that up. My dog, who Dr. Randy has seen, because I trust you so much. Um, he also had a surgery on essentially his knee. We don't have to get into that, but he started to develop arthritis in that, and he's on both of those. He's on an omega-3, um, which I also would like to ask you about the kind of liquid versus the capsules, because you told me some good information about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Perfect. So you want to take it away?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Sure. So my my comment to Olivia was uh and it often to my clients, my pet guardians and parents, is I really like omega-3s in capsules versus a bottle. Why? Because in a bottle situation, as soon as you unscrew it or you pump it, you suck oxygen into that oil. And that is it oxidizes the oil and it causes our dogs to have to form what they call free radicals to scavenge that oil. So they have to work harder to really use that product. In a capsule, you can either pinprick it or a lot of big dogs will just eat it out of their food.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Mine does. Good.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

And that's so that makes it so much easier. So I really like the capsule form the best.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, and I've transitioned over to that. I also use Jope, so and he's doing great. Yeah. So I feel like those products have been vetted. Um, and I appreciate all of your insight. Yeah. Because I've utilized it myself.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah, and then, you know, for deer down the road, there are also things that can be done. There's a really wonderful product called Ataquan that we use a lot at the Canine Coal Lab and Pause Veterinary Center here in Tucson. Uh, it's an injectable product, but it makes the cartilage in the joints imbibe water, get spongier. Uh, of course, there's rehab, and we we do all of that with exercises given to our people through our wonderful rehab techs, uh, and underwater treadmill, laser, all of that. But you know, that has to be determined on again after a good physical examination by Deirdre's veterinarian.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

I just had a light bulb moment because I'm learning about joints in school. And you just said adding fluid to the joints, and I feel like so much just made sense because we're talking about the different kinds of joints, like your uh hyaline cartilage, your fibrocartilage, all those sorts of things. Anyway, this is not important, but I'm learning so much. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Well, but you're bringing it all together now, and then that really helps it. So I hope that helped, Deirdre.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Perfect. Thank you so much for your questions, as usual. If you guys have other ones, please feel free to add them to uh the Instagram, the YouTube channel, or the website, which are all at Dr. Randy Petbet. Um, and thank you guys so much for your questions.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yep. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.