Senior Greyhound arthritis - any advice please?

[catherinep]

Hi all. Its been a long time since I posted here and I hope that you knowledgable people are able to help me learn from your experiences.
Our greyhound is almost 12 and over the last few months has deteriorating mobility due to arthritis. Metacam worked reasonably well for a while. He tried librela injections without success. Gabapentin was not tolerated well- too sedated and even dragging legs. He has just started tramadol 100mg at night and the metacam. He had a couple of good days but is sometimes freezing as he walks and having falls (this was pre tramadol as well). I presume this is due to the pain. This morning he fell and panicked and has lots of cuts to his legs etc. All cleaned up now but walking him is very difficult at the moment due to his loss of balance
He still seems to want to go out and he definitely still runs to the kitchen if he thinks there is anything for him!
I have bought a support sting/ lifting harness for back legs but the positioning does not seem great - I am sure some of you will have experience - should they be just in front of hind legs or further forward? are they ok for greyhound d shape? Don’t want to hurt him or pull him about. (But really need to prevent falls!).
Do you have any advice on how we can help him? (Any mobility aids etc).
He has a physio consultation booked for Monday.
It’s early days with tramadol but do you find that increasing pain meds helps stop them falling or is that mainly loss of muscle mass?
We have a review with the vet booked already
Sorry for all the questions!! Any advice will be appreciated
Supplement wise he has yu-move.
Many thanks. Catherine

[Mr Roo]

So sorry, i know you will try anything to help. Not had any real advice as not experienced this in ours, but when injured used a broad scarf around the skinny bit to help support them for wees etc.
Also with an old one [ but not as bad as your poor boy] had some success for a while with a Bioflow collar , it worked quickly with a couple of ours [15 years old] and if it doesnt work you get your money back . I think you get 3 months to send it back.Ours is still being used on a greyhound that i lent it to as she was a bit stiff on one leg and it has helped.
Good luck.
Some people say it is mind over matter but dogs don't know do they and it worked with ours.

[catherinep]

Thanks for your response. I had not heard of the bio-flow collar before. There seem to be some positive results. Worth a look!

[ragsysmum]

I've used bioflow collars on several dogs and friends dogs, and as Mr. Roo says, they work well on some dogs but not all. Worth a try though.

[lurcherlot]

I too have used a Bio-flow collar on several dogs, all of which were helped by it.

[catherinep]

Thank you all. I have ordered a collar- everything gained if helps and nothing lost! 🤞

[ragsysmum]

Hope it works well for your hound.

[Mr Roo]

Fingers crossed it will work. We noticed a difference within a couple of days .