Is arthritis visible or invisible?

[Deb's Tiny Dogs]

I'm getting mixed message fro the tech at the vet school. First we were told, as we already knew, that this surgery would not take away arthritis he already had and wouldn't stop new in the future, but might slow it down.

I wanted to know if when they opened him up for surgery, would they be able to clearly tell if there was a lot of arthritis or not? she talked all around the question without giving us a solid answer.

Does anyone know?

Now, I'm wondering, if this surgery doesn't remove/stop arthritis, why not, when the problem has been taken care of?

How am I going to know if he needs to be on arthritis meds?

[Dauxside]

Deb, X-rays typically show a loss of joint space in the affected joint; Blood and other special imaging tests such as an MRI may be needed. Laboratory blood tests are valuable diagnostic tools. They are usually not definitive when considered alone.

[Deb's Tiny Dogs]

Originally Posted by Dauxside

Deb, X-rays typically show a loss of joint space in the affected joint; Blood and other special imaging tests such as an MRI may be needed. Laboratory blood tests are valuable diagnostic tools. They are usually not definitive when considered alone.

They took a pretty comprehensive blood panel, but just for seeing if he was o.k. for anesthesia.

I just don't know how I am going to know if he will still need supplements and/or arthritis meds after this. Certainly, nothing as expensive as an mri was discussed.

What I'm wondering is when they cut him open and looked at everything, should they have been able to tell the level of arthritis then?

[Dauxside]

They should have an idea, but arthritis is a progressive disease...what shows now won't be the same in, some case, say several months or years.

For an idea (I have loads of arthritis sites as it's an issue I deal with for my own health) see:

http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/node/909

[borzoimom]

Arthritus is a progressing disease as you already know.. With hottie it only because visuable ( other than symptonactic ie by what he was showing) later and by then was turning into other forms like calcium deposits etc. The original start of this was in the muscle- so no- it was not visable. All we had to go on was his symptoms- stiffness on rising etc.
I will say though we had for years on glycoflex 3. Or similar products. It really seemed to help. Also raw oatmeal- the old fashion kind as this helps to balence the phorophrus in the body to help absorb deposits. Its one teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight. ( or one tablespoon for 30 pounds body weight) given twice a day in the food.

[Deb's Tiny Dogs]

Originally Posted by borzoimom

Arthritus is a progressing disease as you already know.. With hottie it only because visuable ( other than symptonactic ie by what he was showing) later and by then was turning into other forms like calcium deposits etc. The original start of this was in the muscle- so no- it was not visable. All we had to go on was his symptoms- stiffness on rising etc.
I will say though we had for years on glycoflex 3. Or similar products. It really seemed to help. Also raw oatmeal- the old fashion kind as this helps to balence the phorophrus in the body to help absorb deposits. Its one teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight. ( or one tablespoon for 30 pounds body weight) given twice a day in the food.

O.K. Thsnks!