Too much PLAY or early OA?
Take the OA risk quiz to see if your dog could be
showing the early signs of canine osteoarthritis (OA).
MANAGE OA: the earlier, the better.
WHAT IS OA
Canine osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease and the most common cause of chronic pain in dogs.1
Your Dog’s OA Risk
OA can affect dogs of all ages – from growing young adults to aging seniors. Catching it early can help decrease the effects.
Treating OA
Diet and exercise along with OA medications can help ease your dog’s pain and even treat the disease of OA.
Osteoarthritis (OA): Need For Early Diagnosis
B. Duncan X. Lascelles
BSc, BVSc, PhD, FRCVS, CertVA, DSAS(ST), DECVS, DACVS“The reality at the moment is that despite the fact that osteoarthritis is a young dog disease, we are diagnosing it much later on in life. In fact, I believe over half of all osteoarthritis cases are diagnosed in dogs between the ages of 8 and about 12 to 13.
“So we’re diagnosing it far too late. The destruction of the joint, the destruction of the organ of the joint has already occurred. The pain as a disease has already set in.”
Denis J. Marcellin-Little
DEDV, DACVS, DECVS, ACVSMR“There is tremendous benefit in diagnosing osteoarthritis earlier. Like most medical problems, we do a much better job treating them when we become aware of them before end-stage, before they become very severe. “Diagnosing the problem early will let us implement a lot of different strategies that are going to modulate the problem over a long period of time. We’ll be able to treat the problem in simpler ways, in less aggressive ways, in safer ways, in smarter ways. We’ll have the opportunity to educate the owner or so over time.”
Kristin Kirkby Shaw
DVM, MS, PhD, CCRT, DACVS, DACVSMR“If you as a veterinarian can identify dogs at risk of developing osteoarthritis, you get the opportunity to change this dog’s entire life.
“You can have powerful conversations with this client and really change the whole course of this dog’s life, keeping them active for a very, very long period of time.”
Julia Tomlinson
BVSc, MS, PhD, DACVS, CCRP, CVSMT, DACVSMR“Early diagnosis is really going to help the management to try and keep the patient as active in life and as comfortably active in life as long as possible, which is also going to feed into helping reduce obesity and happiness of the client-dog companionship.”
Bryan T. Torres
DVM, PhD, DACVS-SA, DACVSMR“One of the huge benefits about being able to identify something like osteoarthritis early is we really improve our chances of maintaining quality of life, maintaining joint function, maintaining the patient, the animal, the dog’s ability to do the things that they love to do for as long as possible. And that really is something that we should all strive to do.”
Whit Cothern
DVM“We all know that if we can diagnose and begin management of that disease process at a younger age, that it’s a much more successful outcome for all parties involved: the pet, the pet owner, and the veterinarian.”
The participants are paid consultants for American Regent Animal Health. The opinions of these consultants may not be representative of American Regent Animal Health.
© 2020, American Regent, Inc. NP-AC-US-0033 11/2020
Osteoarthritis (OA): Need To Treat Early
Mark E. Epstein
DVM, DABVP (C/F), CVPP“...we only have a certain amount of capital of time and attention from the owner. So it does make it a significant challenge.
“My guidance would be that with any inclination of a COAST one or a two dog, that if you can make sure that the subject is brought forward, it is introduced to the client at that point, then you will have gone a step further than probably you otherwise would have. If we can move the profession that far, that’s an important step to take.”
Denis J. Marcellin-Little
DEDV, DACVS, DECVS, DACVSMR“It is in the patients, the owners, and our best interests to manage osteoarthritis from its early stages, not from its late stages.”
Julia Tomlinson
BVSc, MS, PhD, DACVS, CCRP, CVSMT, DACVSMR“If we start treating very late in the disease, then we’re really just trying to play catch up. We’ve already lost some motion in the joint so you have some stiffness that’s going to factor in and feed into pain and inactivity, which again is going to feed into other problems in practice such as obesity.”
The participants are paid consultants for American Regent Animal Health. The opinions of these consultants may not be representative of American Regent Animal Health.
© 2020, American Regent, Inc. NP-NA-US-0344 11/2020
Osteoarthritis (OA): Not Just An Old Dog Disease
Mark E. Epstein
DVM, DABVP (C/F), CVPP“If a dog has hip dysplasia, they were born with hip dysplasia. So even as puppies, that pathophysiology is beginning. Even if they’re not symptomatic, they have the OA and we need to kind of fill that, find those patients.
We need to fill that void in there and then catch it also when it’s just beginning to be symptomatic, when we can educate pet owners when to recognize those earliest parts.”
B. Duncan X. Lascelles
BSc, BVSc, PhD, FRCVS, CertVA, DSAS(ST), DECVS, DACVS“So, these young puppies have developmental disease that is driving, initiating osteoarthritis.
“... I think it’s incumbent upon us to try and make the diagnosis of that disease earlier. If we can do that, I think we can improve the future for those dogs.”
Kristin Kirkby Shaw
DVM, MS, PhD, CCRT, DACVS, DACVSMR“I think that osteoarthritis is truly a disease that starts in young dogs.
“It’s almost always more often identified in older dogs, but the young dogs that have a risk factor for developing osteoarthritis are truly the ones that we should be identifying but are most commonly the ones that are being missed.”
The participants are paid consultants for American Regent Animal Health. The opinions of these consultants may not be representative of American Regent Animal Health.
© 2020, American Regent, Inc. NP-NA-US-0342 11/2020
Dogs of OA.
- Esptein M, Kirkby Shaw K. Osteoarthritis in Dogs and Cats: Novel Therapeutic Advances. 2016 NAVC Proceedings, pp. 863-865.