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NooDr.
Noo's Monthly CareTipsAugust
- Aching Joints
While mild arthritis may be a natural ageing process in most animals,
arthritic changes progress far more rapidly in those joints that
have been damaqed or diseased.
While a simple joint sprain may cause nothing more than temporary
inflammation of the joint capsule, more serious injuries such as
damaged ligaments, dislocations and fractures -and certain joint
diseases - can cause early arthritic changes, as can those that
cause increased laxity or abnormal movements within joints.
In addition, surgery on any joint is likely to induce some arthritic
changes and so is limited to those conditions in which disease would
be worse without surgery.
Poor conformation can increase the likelihood of arthritis, and
certain breeds and individuals seem to be more prone to the development
of DJD.
Diseases such as hip dysplasia cause increased laxity and abnormal
movements within a joint, subject the joint capsule to increased
strain, and increase the chance of cartilage and bony damage within
the joint.
This means that most dogs with hip dysplasia will develop secondary
DJD in their hips. Similarly dogs that suffer from patella luxations
(dislocation of the knee cap which is relatively common in some
toy breeds) are more likely to develop arthritis in affected stifle
joints.
Osteochondrosis (OC) is a disease resulting in abnormalities of
the cartilage and bone within the joints of young growing dogs,
and predisposes them to arthritis in later life.
OC leads to areas of bone in the vicinity of the joints failing
to mineralise normally as the puppy. matures. This leads to focal
weak points which can become damaged.
The junction between the cartilage and underlying bone may be weaker,
which can predispose the cartilage within joints to becoming torn
or detached. There may be abnormalities in the underlying bone too,
ranging from irregularities and cyst-like cavities to bone fragmentation.
In the elbow, in particular, OC can mean that different parts of
the bone fail to fuse correctly (for example the anconeal process)
in the growing pup, leading to irregularities in the joint surfaces
and a lack of joint stability.
Surgical treatment of OC is necessary in some cases. The disease
is known to be inherited in certain breeds and, in some, programmes
exist to prevent breeding with affected dogs.
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