Greetings,
Welcome to this month's issue of The Pet Arthritis Chronicle. Please pass this along to your friends!

Table of Contents:

1. Featured Articles from The Pet Arthritis Resource Center
2. Osteoarthritis and Digestion
3. Pet Arthritis Message Boards

Featured Pet Arthritis Content

A Guide to Glucosamine Products for Pets Canine Hip Dysplasia Stories of Users of Rimadyl Natural Arthritis Relief for Pets Recommended Books on easing arthritis pain in Pets Using Glucosamine to Ease Arthritis Pain in Pets

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Osteoarthritis and Digestion

Osteoarthritis and the Digestive System
Much like humans, the digestive system regarding arthritis in pets is extremely important to maintaining health where arthritis is concerned. Particularly in older pets, the digestive system begins to function in a less efficient way where it can become a major issue.

Diet and the Digestive System
As your pet ages, their muscles weaken and become more inefficient. This makes it much more difficult for food to pass through their bodies. At the same time, it is critical that a pet has a nutritious diet particularly when they suffer from osteoarthritis. That issue becomes even more important when your pet is taking supplements to alleviate their arthritis problems.

One way to view the problem is to consider that if your pet is not digesting food as well as they used to, neither are they digesting their supplements as well. Of course, that becomes self-defeating when trying to address osteoarthritis. That is one of the primary reasons that so much focus is placed on providing your pets with the best possible diet.

Antioxidants and the Diet
Antioxidants have historically been used to protect the liver from free radicals. Most use Milk Thistle (an herb you can buy in any health food store). Losing free radicals is equally important for pets as it is for humans if the digestive system is going to function at its highest efficiency.

If your dog weighs fifty (50) pounds, give them a daily dose of about 50 mg. of Milk Thistle. This will assist in maintaining a healthy liver in your pet. As a general guideline for doses, use the 50-50 rule just mentioned. For example, if your pet weighs 25 pounds, use 25mg. of Milk Thistle.

Aiding the Respiratory System Along the Way
Your pet's respiratory system also suffers with aging. As they age, they lose cilia (a small, hair-like part that helps clear the mucus and other obstructions from the airways.) Their overall ability to breathe is reduced due to outside sources such as pollution and cigarette smoke.

Since oxygen becomes scarce for the pet, their blood-cleansing ability decreases; brain cells suffer; and, their cardiovascular system has to work double time. By adding moderate exercise and using antioxidants to their diet, you have increased the oxygen available to them and helped them to fight off the effects of pollution and other toxins that invade their bodies.

Other antioxidant enzymes such as Catalase and Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) are also excellent additions to your aging pet's diet. (Generally, these are available through your veterinarian.)

Take these simple added precautions and you will see a much healthier, happier pet that is winning their battle with arthritis.

See you next time.

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Pet Arthritis Message Boards

Dogs

• Canine Hip Dysplasia
• Arthritis in Dogs
• Glucosamine for Dogs

Cats

• Feline Hip Dysplasia
• Glucosamine for Cats
• Arthritis in Cats

Other Animals

• Arthritis in Other Animals

Here's a few sample posts from the Forum...

Jim W
Posted on 29 Apr 2003

I have a Black Lab mix (Harley -9yrs) who's arthritis has recently been getting worse the last few weeks. He started having trouble getting up after laying down for a period of time. Now, he limps for awhile before getting a full range of motion. He is still not that bad. He will run after squirls in the yard and what not. I have been giving him glucosomine and chondrotin for a few months now. It seemed to be working and now it seems to be getting worse, as if he strained himseld or something. I am taking him to a new vet today in hopes they have something different besides Rimadly to give him. I am scared to death to even start him on that. Anyone have any advice?

Post your own message on The Pet Arthritis Message Board now!

This concludes the May Issue of The Pet Arthritis Chronicle. Look for the next issue in your inbox on June 15th, 2003!

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Have a great May from The Pet Arthritis Resource Center and The Pet Arthritis Chronicle. See you next month!