Wheelchair for bad arthritis

[TooTooMommy]

Our sweet Meaty is almost 10, and has terri-bull arthritis in his elbows and spine He's on LOTS of meds, and he's also had cold lazer therapy that didn't help. Our vet assures us he's NOT suffering. IF he were suffering..... well, we all know the best thing to do.

Anyhoo, my pawsomely smart hubby has been working TIRELESSLY on making him a wheelchair to take some
of the pressure/ strain off of his poor elbows. He has worked SO hard on this; it's unbelieva-bull! He's re-designed it a few times, re-built, bought more parts, then realized a different design would be better, and then rebuilt it AGAIN! This photo is the original one he started on a few months ago. He is STILL working on it and making changes. Such a wonder-bull Daddy he is, right?

Have any of you tried something similar? It is seriously sad to watch him walk, I pray this helps!!!

 

[TooTooMommy]

I forgot to mention that another way we help take the strain off of his elbows is by lifting the front of his harness when he needs to potty/ take a short walk. Hubby attached a long rope to his harness in order for us to be able to lift it up a bit in the front. It's difficult to walk him like that for too long, since he weighs 80 pounds.

I'd love to hear what everybully else does for their arthritic babies!

 

[Dollys Owner]

What a wonderful job your husband is doing !!!

I give my dog Acti-Flex 4000 https://www.bigdweb.com/product/acti+flex+solution+32+oz.do,ground turmeric powder, organic virgin coconut oil, and salmon oil from capsules ( and vitamin e once weekly ). I know @2Bullymoma gets good results with Movoflex supplement.

Galliprant is the safest anti-inflammatory, but very expensive.

Adequan injections are supposed to be good.

You can also try cannabadiol oil, supposed to be good for pain.

 

[Cbrugs]

CBD oil is good for arthritis. You can also try liquid glucosamine or GLM (green lipped mussel powder). Maybe even acupuncture.


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[ddnene]

Aww... your poor baby, but that wheelchair looks amazing and your hubby IS a wonderful bull daddy!!! My boxer had arthritis and a neck spur, we did Adequan injections for her. They did work for awhile, but eventually they stopped working. I would try the CBD oil... I have heard wonderful things about it.

 

[Hankster]

YES! Your baby is blessed to have a daddy like him!!!!!! what a wonderful job he's doing to ease your boys discomfort. it looks great and i wish for you all comfort in all your efforts... Great job Dad !!

 

[Annie1991]

You have a wonderbully family!! I use Movoflex on Punk. She is 9 years old and was getting very stiff and not wanting to jump up on the bed or couch. Since Movoflex she isn't stiff and jumps up and down. Of course, she has always been an up and down, up and down, in and out, in and out girl. (dog door to back yard) I would love to see the finished product and you should patent it because all of our sweeties are getting older and some would be able to use your new invention.

 

[2BullyMama]

Movoflex is what we have used, but I think adaquin shots meant be a better option.

Your hubby is awesome!!

 

[TooTooMommy]

Thank you for all the suggestions, everybully!
I didn't mention it in my original post, but Meaty "TooToo" was getting
regular Adequan injections for a long time; but we didn't see any improvements.

Here is what he takes:
2 Gabapentin / twice daily
2 Tramadol / twice daily
1 Vetprofen/ twice daily
2 Extra-strength Cosequin joint supplements / once a day


I would LOVE to give him more natural things
such as CBD oil because we are aware of some of the possi-bull bad side effects of all the meds he's on!
Reasons we haven't tried CBD oil:
1. How would we know the purity of it ?
2. How would we dose it ?
3. The most important--- if the CBD oil DID work and we slowly weaned him off of his meds, what if we got
a new batch of oil that wasn't as good?

I know CBD helps a LOT of people and doggies, and I'm glad !! But I tried it recently for my very painful
arthritis, and it didn't help at ALL, and it was VERY expensive!

 

[TooTooMommy]

Update on hubby's pawsome handmade wheelchair: wellll, we finally tested it with Meaty, and it doesn't quite work yet. Hubbs made MORE changes (bless his dedicated heart!), but now he's thinking he might just have to buy one.

Even though different meds / supplements could help even more, we still want a way to help take the weight off of his
poor elbows when he walks; it is so sad to see!

Ugh---and we ALL know that even though arthritis is painful, MOVING is still good. Sooo, we take him on short walks. The SAD thing is, he wants to keep walking and walking, so we're afraid that TOO much walking will hurt him. He also definitely does NOT jump anymore, and we also help him up and down his doggie stairs.

I'd LOVE to know how you guys deal with activity with your arththritic babies!?! As we all know, a vet can only tell us so much----it's wonder-bull to ask other bulldog owners, since we are with them 24/7 !!!

 

[Hankster]

oh lordy i dread these days It's so hard to see, but you have to feel very good about all the time and effort your putting into making him the best bully he can be

 

[TooTooMommy]

I'd also love to know what y'all think of this----one of the vets we saw recommend we take him to an Orthopedic specialist who might do elbow implant surgery. Ummm.....a major surgery like that at age TEN.....NO! I'm curious how common joint replacement surgery is for bulldogs? I can imagine recovery from a BACK leg or hip replacement being less complicated than an ELBOW, since they carry so much weight in their shoulders!

 

[2BullyMama]

[MENTION=15364]oscarmayer[/MENTION] any insight?

My girl was arthritic but the Gabapetin and laser therapy really worked for her. Her issues were spine and hips


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[Dollys Owner]

Thank you for all the suggestions, everybully!
I didn't mention it in my original post, but Meaty "TooToo" was getting
regular Adequan injections for a long time; but we didn't see any improvements.

Here is what he takes:
2 Gabapentin / twice daily
2 Tramadol / twice daily
1 Vetprofen/ twice daily
2 Extra-strength Cosequin joint supplements / once a day


I would LOVE to give him more natural things
such as CBD oil because we are aware of some of the possi-bull bad side effects of all the meds he's on!
Reasons we haven't tried CBD oil:
1. How would we know the purity of it ?
2. How would we dose it ?
3. The most important--- if the CBD oil DID work and we slowly weaned him off of his meds, what if we got
a new batch of oil that wasn't as good?

I know CBD helps a LOT of people and doggies, and I'm glad !! But I tried it recently for my very painful
arthritis, and it didn't help at ALL, and it was VERY expensive!

I copied this from a previous post of mine about CBD oil from doing some reading on Reddit, but I've never bought it so I'm not an expert on it:

The CBC distillery has good prices https://www.thecbdistillery.com/product/500mg-15ml-cbd-tincture-fullspectrum/ , for eg. this 500mg/15ml dropper bottle has 33 mg per mL , try 2-5 drops once a day for a few days, then increase to twice daily depending on response

I would recommend not wasting money on cosequin, if you really want to give glucosamine and MSM, give the Acti-Flex 4000 and turmeric, since the bioperine in Acti-Flex will help the turmeric get absorbed. Also I think Movoflex is better than cosequin, so buy that next time instead.

It may be worthwhile to talk to vet- I would try to take him off Vetprofen right away after starting CBD oil, since that is an anti-inflammatory drug that can cause stomach ulcers and kidney and liver issues long term. Tramadol doesn't work on opiate receptors in dogs, it works on serotonin and adrenergic receptors, and it can stop working after a while due to tolerance, so that may be one to taper off of if CBD oil starts working. Gabapentin is worth continuing long term.

 

[TooTooMommy]

[MENTION=2894]2BullyMama[/MENTION]----I'm SO happy those things helped your sweet girl!

It's also difficult because one vet was more concerned about his spine;
yet the second one was WAY more concerned about his elbows. We've seen the xrays and been given sooo much
conflicting info,
it's overwhelming.

We had high hopes when Meaty had laser therapy & Adequan injections; but there wasn't any improvement.
As I said before, I just pray that our vet is correct when he assures us he's NOT suffering! We are trusting that
since he's on SO many meds, he's NOT.



Ugh, maybe we'll try accupuncture!


This pik was 7 years ago....it breaks our hearts that he can't jump for snowballs, chase his fave ball, etc. anymore