Fact Sheet on Osteoarthritis

What is osteoarthritis (OA)?
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, occurring mainly in older persons. It is characterized by chronic degeneration of the cartilage of the joints, thus, is also called degenerative joint disease. Management of the disease includes medical intervention using drugs, exercise and physical therapy and consideration of orthopedic surgery.

Can osteoarthritis affect dogs as well?
Canine osteoarthritis is the most common joint disorder diagnosed in dogs. It is a painful, debilitating, degenerative joint disease that can result from the normal aging process, abnormal bone development and joint conformation, or occur due to accident and injury. It may affect dogs of any breed, size or age, although it is more prevalent in older or senior dogs.

How common is canine osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis among dogs is more common than one may think. Quantitative surveys of veterinarians in the US revealed that one out of five adult dogs suffer from osteoarthritis. This translates into more than eight million dogs diagnosed with OA in the US alone.

How does OA affect dogs?
Consider a dog’s daily activities – walking, jumping, running, climbing stairs, playing. The dog’s whole range of motion depends on the soundness and health of many components -- cartilage, tendons, muscles, bones and nerves that make up the joints. Thus, when any one of these is defective, moving becomes an arduous task. In fact, the dog’s motion is limited if not altogether stalled. He will be unable to jump and play like he used to. What kind of life will that be?

What parts of the body are usually affected by OA?
In humans, the condition usually affects the hip, knee and thumb joints and may result from overuse, and is most common as the body ages.

In canines, it can affect one or more joints in the rear and the fore legs such as the hip, elbow and shoulder. Canine osteoarthritis can occur as a result of the normal aging process or brought on by predisposing conditions such as hip and elbow dysplasia.

What is hip dysplasia?
It is the most prevalent disorder of the canine hip and is the most significant cause of osteoarthritis in that joint. Hip dysplasia is characterized by abnormal bone growth, specifically the femoral head or “ball” of the hip.

What is elbow dysplasia?
It is one of the most under-diagnosed orthopedic conditions in dogs. As the name suggests, it involves the “elbow” joint. Normally, a ball-and-socket effect makes it possible for the bones to fit. With elbow dysplasia, however, the precise fit is not possible due to the defect in the formation of the bones.


How can you tell if your dog is suffering from osteoarthritis?
Animals and humans react to pain the same way, that is trying to relieve pain by avoiding the cause. The big difference is that humans can articulate pain and have other humans who can recognize the problem and prescribe solutions. Animals instinctively hide pain, especially when threatened. In fact, animals will not normally show they are in pain because this will make them easy prey.

So what are the signs to look out for?
Basically, the pet owner must observe any change in activity levels, sleeping and eating habits. Observations such as “my dog doesn’t jump or play like they used to” usually points to the presence of pain and osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritic pain hits when the affected joint is moved or subjected to inadvertent pressure. Thus, one sees suffering dogs favoring one leg over the other or limping to ease pressure off a hurt leg. But as the condition advances, the pain inevitably becomes so unmanageable; the dog may refrain from moving at all.

Therefore, as a pet owner, look for the early signs – reluctance to move or slowed activity. Do not wait for it to progress into lameness and stiffness. Try to catch the condition during its early or mild osteoarthritis stage. Do not let it advance into the moderate and severe or advanced stages.

What characterizes the early stage of osteoarthritis?
In the early or mild stage, the dog may be active but slow in getting up in the morning. It may lag behind on walks; hesitate to run up stairs or climb, jump or play. Other signs include mild pain if the affected joint is touched or licking of affected joint occurs.


How would one describe a dog suffering from a moderate case of OA?
Moderate cases involve a greater decrease in activity. At this stage, dogs have shorter strides when walking, feel moderate pain if affected joint is touched, occasional whining or whimpering, prefers sitting over standing and slow to rise from a resting position.

How would one recognize the signs of a dog suffering from a severe case of OA?
Severe cases involve dogs that would “just lie around all day” and is greatly incapacitated. These dogs cannot so much as walk more than five steps or even rise. Other signs would include frequent licking of affected joint, increased instances of whining or whimpering and the dog will not allow the affected joint to touched or palpated.


What can one, as a pet owner, do to help your dog live a full life?
Although, the above-mentioned signs should help you recognize if your dog is in pain, it is best to remember that individual animals experience and express pain differently.

Other dogs may become quiet, restless or withdrawn. While others may whine, bite at a body part and be more aggressive. It is, therefore, encouraged that common sense and empathy be the foremost tools in recognizing signs of osteoarthritis.

Since dogs cannot talk and tell you where it hurts, it is up to its human keepers – the pet owner and the veterinarian to provide pain relief. Pay close attention to your dogs. If you notice even slight changes in its activity level or suspect him to be suffering from pain, take him to the veterinarian.