Canine Polyarthritis

shanejensen

We have a 6 year old lhasa/shitzu cross which has been having periods of limping, lethargy, depression for the past 8 - 10 months. Originally we thought that he probably had a general joint problem but the vet kept telling us he appeared fine (numerous visits). Last week we had a blood test done which came OK. One more visit to the vet and now he believes our dog has Polyarthritis most likely caused by infected decaying teeth. After some online investigation this makes total sense to me as he does have very poor teeth and chronic extremely bad breath.
My worry right now is that we have left this too long and that the damage is irreversible (the symptoms are becoming more frequent and are lasting longer and longer). The depression and lethargy seem to be extrmely bad right now.

Does anyone have any experinece with this? Based on the symptoms and how long this has been going on can we realistically expect a full recovery after a full dental cleaning and any necessary extractions? Are we at the time where the real hard decision has to be made?

We are having such a hard time watching our happy loving family member reduced to this so any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

borzoimom

Okay add this - old fashion oatmeal uncooked one teaspoon per 10 pounds ie one tablespoon per 30 pounds twice a day. Second- add 250 mg of vitamin C for any dog over 50 pounds nightly.
Oatmeal helps to process several things- Number one is retained calcium deposits or phororus imbalence. Its also great for the addreal gland to stabilize it to stop the reaction of several things.
vitamin C is great as well noted to prevent arthritus of all types. But being water soluable best to give at night or the longest time the dog sleeps..

Patt

Bad teeth can cause ALL kinds of problems. I would think that a vet would have notified you at the yearly visit that he had bad teeth.

There are NO guarantees in life. If it were my dog and the vet okay'ed a dental plus extractions, I would have have one done immediately. I would give the dog every chance available. Good luck!

kfd0326

I'm not sure if our old dog had Polyarthritis but I do remember that we had to have all (yes all) her teeth removed as all her teeth were rotten and the bad breath was unbearable. Once she healed she was back to her old spoiled self. She was a very pampered pooch and not long after she was back to eating apples, and all her favorite people food. Yes I know that contributed to the mouth full of rotten teeth but she lived to be 14 yrs old, not bad for a min Poodle/wire haired terrier cross.

Just a word of caution, before your "baby" has the surgery, just remind your vet what meds they are on. Ours was on an aspirin a day, which the vet forgot to let us know that she would have to stop that treatment before the surgery. We almost lost her on the operating table as they could not get her blood to clot due to the blood thinning from the aspirin.

Keep us posted.

PAK

The symptoms you describe with your dog are very similar to symptoms my 4-year old dog has displayed over the past 8 months or so. He was depressed, sleeping all the time, unable to jump up on things he could in the past, had bad breath, bad tremors, etc.

He had many tests and exams over this time period with all them coming out in the normal range. So, test-wise, he seemed normal, but he was obviously very sick. Although I knew what direction this was taking, he was finally officially diagnosed yesterday with Canine lupus (SLE). Although my dog does not limp per se, apparently that is only because he is a very stoic terrier who just sucks it up.

Although your dog's problem may well be related to dental issues, you might want rule out Canine lupus. Lupus has a wide variety of symptoms (including polyarthritis) and can be hard to diagnose.

I wish you the best of luck because I know what you must be going through.

BTW...my dog is a wire. :-)

peter love dog

I am having the same problems. Thank for the informations alot.