Posts Tagged ‘causes’
Causes of Dog Arthritis
Dog Arthritis and its causes can be broken down into two main categories and two subcategories:
- Degenerative Joint Disease:
Degenerative Joint Disease develops from acute or chronic trauma to a joint.
Acute Traumatic Arthritis – marked by a sudden injury or accident of some sort.An injury that disrupts the joints will cause inflammation that will then have the potential to lead to dog arthritis.Depending on the severity of the injury the inflammation may be stopped before deterioration begins.
Repeat trauma-induced arthritis – brought on by any repetitive stress on unstable joints.Poor conformation or hip dysplasia will create unstable joints or the activity itself, such as extreme sport, will lead to instability.A puppy with young, developing joints will sustain trauma to those joints if subjected to repetitive activity such as long jogs.Being overweight will subject the joints to excessive stress.In most cases you will not notice any signs of pain until it is too late, the damage is extensive.It is because cartilage does not have any nerves that this scenario occurs.Pain sets in only after extensive damage has occurred to the cartilage.
Stress or trauma, whether it be acute or chronic, causes the joints to release large amounts of an enzyme that breaks down cartilage.Normally, this enzyme would be used to create a healthy balance of cartilage buildup and breakdown, however when arthritis sets in the breakdown occurs too fast.
Degenerative Joint Disease cannot be entirely reversed but it can be managed with weight control, exercise, and arthritis medicine for dogs.Dog arthritis medicine can include nutritional supplements and homeopathic remedies. Glucosamine for dogs is a particularly popular and effective way to help manage the pain of dog arthritis. The safety of glucosamine for dogs is also an important factor.
2. Inflammatory Joint Disease:
Inflammatory Joint Disease is less common than degenerative joint disease and develops from either an infection or an autoimmune disorder causing inflammation in a joint.
Infective Arthritis – can occur if a joint becomes infected as a result of a wound, such as a bite or penetrating object.It is also possible that an infection originated in the bloodstream.Your veterinarian will aggressively treat this with antibiotics and maybe even cleaning directly into the joint.
Autoimmune Arthritis – normally affects multiple joints.Autoimmune arthritis may be more familiar to you as rheumatoid arthritis. An auto immune disorder means that the body does not recognize a certain tissue as its own and attacks it as if it were a foreign substance.In dogs, the cause of autoimmune arthritis remains unknown.
Inflammatory joint disease requires immediate attention from a veterinarian and medications available only from a veterinarian.