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This is coming from another thread but I didn't want to hijack it with my own questions.
Snowball is ~10 years old. He is, I think, in excellent health, most people we talk to are surprised when they hear his age. I'd never really noticed any stiffness before, other than several hours or so after he'd had significantly more exercise than normal. Recently, however, he has started to become wary of getting out of the back of my husband's hatchback and balks at going down stairs unless he thinks he's getting a walk or a car ride out of it. We thought it was a behavioral thing (e.g. negative feelings because he's slipped on the stairs when they were icy and he was very excited) but now I'm wondering if it has to do with him developing arthritis in his hips.
ANYWAY, my question is, to those of you who have older dogs, and especially dogs with diagnosed arthritis, at what point did you start actively treating it? And for those of you in cold climates, do the signs change with the weather/cold/rain? Off-leash he will still run around like a maniac; should I be limiting the intensity of his exertion?
Snowball is ~10 years old. He is, I think, in excellent health, most people we talk to are surprised when they hear his age. I'd never really noticed any stiffness before, other than several hours or so after he'd had significantly more exercise than normal. Recently, however, he has started to become wary of getting out of the back of my husband's hatchback and balks at going down stairs unless he thinks he's getting a walk or a car ride out of it. We thought it was a behavioral thing (e.g. negative feelings because he's slipped on the stairs when they were icy and he was very excited) but now I'm wondering if it has to do with him developing arthritis in his hips.
ANYWAY, my question is, to those of you who have older dogs, and especially dogs with diagnosed arthritis, at what point did you start actively treating it? And for those of you in cold climates, do the signs change with the weather/cold/rain? Off-leash he will still run around like a maniac; should I be limiting the intensity of his exertion?