Pet Tips Arthritis When it comes to arthritis, the most important thing is keeping your pet’s weight under control. All arthritic pets have sore joints, causing less activity which leads to weight gain. Daily gentle play keeps these arthritic joints loose and lubricated plus it burns calories. Other things to do include: provide soft bedding, groom areas difficult for your pet to reach, try raising your dog’s food bowl so they don’t have to bend down as low to eat, and change your cat’s litter box for a cookie tray making it easier to get in and out. Some pet owners are big believers in light massage. Another idea is nutritional supplements for arthritis. Buffered aspirin works great for both dogs and cats but get your vet involved when using any arthritic drugs. Baby aspirin, adult aspirin, rimadyl, and estrogenic are some of the drugs you could be using everyday to treat your cat or dog's arthritis. Most people don't know that with regular use, which is how they are designed to be used, they slow the body's natural healing of joint cartilage. It's not a good situation when the drug given for arthritis pain is making the arthritis worse. Fortunately, new research shows that giving glucosamine/condroitin products override the negative effect of the anti-inflammatory and help damaged cartilage heal. Just using these products by themselves, it is rare that arthritic pets don't show marked improvement in mobility and reduction in joint pain. If you have a stiff, slow moving pet, no matter what age, I recommend you talk to your vet about these products.
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