“Good days and bad days” with arthritis

[HannahsHerd]

Hi all, my almost 5 year old pig Gingerbread has been struggling with advancing arthritis most severely in his back right knee for the last few months. His vet and I have been working together to find a treatment plan that works best for him we've tried…

- one session if laser therapy
- meloxicam .36mL daily -which didn’t improve symptoms so we are tapering him off
- at home heat therapy
-at home physical therapy
- Gabapentin .07-.15mL twice a day
- CBD
- Glucosamine (which he’s actually been on for years as a supportive supplement)
- An anti-inflammatory and high vitamin C diet
- I’ve widened the cage so he has less “sharp” corners to turn which were hard with is decreased mobility
-I’ve changed the cage layout to be pretty open without many obstacles in the way of walking paths and have distributed hay and water accessibly around the cage, one water bottle, one water bowl, two hay small bowls, huge walk-in hay box, hay “ponytails” as cavy central guinea pigs recommends in her hospital cage video on youtube, and generally trying to make sure he as everything within reach.
-I keep the room pretty warm ~70 F / 21 C

In general he has made loads of improvements compared to a few months ago. However, sometimes he just has bad days and I don’t know how to help him. Some days he can hardly walk and is basically dragging his back legs behind him while falling to one side. It’s just tragic to watch. On these days, aside from physically supporting him so he can walk, nothing seems to help him.
I just try to keep his area clean, bum baths as needed, offer warm/heated options for him, make sure he has access to food and syringe feed if I think he needs it. Is that all I can be doing?

For those of you who have had pigs in a more advanced stage of arthritis, is this just how the disease will look somedays? Are “bad days” like these part of the territory?
I’ve been questioning his quality of life when he has days like today, he’s obviously in a lot of pain.

Even on his best days he is not walking the way he used to. I know pigs will have different symptoms and improvements based on a bunch of factors but I’m wondering if anyone has seen improvements with something I haven’t mentioned or any advice at all for helping my sweet lil boy!

Thanks so much from the both of us! ૮₍ ´• ˕ •` ₎ა

 

[Spaniel]

The thing that stands out to me is the metacam. Has he ever been given a higher dose of dog metacam for twice a day at least initially? This is the first treatment given by my vets for arthritis. My pig Perry has mild arthritis in his spine and knee and when he had his initial flare up last June and now with his most recent flare, he’s having a higher dose of dog metacam initially for two weeks and then we will either treat flare ups as they happen at this higher dose or move him onto full time metacam with hopefully a lower daily dose over time. But settling that initial inflammation flare up seems to be a good first step.

Sounds like your piggy will need daily long term metacam if the arthritis is already more than early stages. I think maybe you didn’t see any improvement because it’s too low and only once per day.

Good luck

 

[piggieminder]

I agree about the Metacam depending on his weight that seems quite low. I have 2 boars with arthritis on .5 Metacam twice daily (both around 1.2kg). They also have .5 Johnson's 4 Joints once a day (the dog version). They are pretty stable on this and have been since October 2022. The arthritis causes them to cry when toileting sometimes. This is apparently quite common in piggies with arthritis either due to the pain when standing in one spot for too long or when they have grit in the urine which is caused by them not standing in the correct position to empty the bladder properly.
I'm guessing you are in the US as you mention CBD, it is not authorised here and is controversial. If you are in the US not sure if you can get the 4 Joints.
It's really helpful if you can put your country in your ID box, it helps with answering questions.

 

[HannahsHerd]

The thing that stands out to me is the metacam. Has he ever been given a higher dose of dog metacam for twice a day at least initially? This is the first treatment given by my vets for arthritis. My pig Perry has mild arthritis in his spine and knee and when he had his initial flare up last June and now with his most recent flare, he’s having a higher dose of dog metacam initially for two weeks and then we will either treat flare ups as they happen at this higher dose or move him onto full time metacam with hopefully a lower daily dose over time. But settling that initial inflammation flare up seems to be a good first step.

Sounds like your piggy will need daily long term metacam if the arthritis is already more than early stages. I think maybe you didn’t see any improvement because it’s too low and only once per day.

Good luck

I agree that the Metacam was too low, I had read that pigs metabolize the medication more quickly than cats and dogs and require a twice daily dosage generally around .5-1mL depending on weight. I brought this up on two different occasions and the vet highly discouraged me from a higher dosage due to negative effects in the long term like liver damage. They allowed me to put him in the .36mL of the Metacam for 3-5 days after his initial appointment because they said joint stiffness after an examination is not uncommon. I had also heard contrasting information about if Metacam cause liver damage used long term in guinea pigs but only on areas like this forum and have struggled to find the same information from an evidence based source. Since I didn’t notice the Metacam was doing much for him but the Gabapentin was I just chose to take him off of it and the vet supported that. It might’ve been too low but I don’t think the vet will prescribe a higher dose either.

I have considered getting a second opinion but unfortunately I’m seeing of the only two exotic vets in my area so there are actually only two opinions I can seek lol. When I’ve called the other exotic vet they said they don’t take any new patients / prescribe anything without scheduling a wellness exam first which makes sense but is generally booking months in advance. Obviously I’m looking for more immediate relief for Gingerbread than in a couple of months.

 

[HannahsHerd]

I agree about the Metacam depending on his weight that seems quite low. I have 2 boars with arthritis on .5 Metacam twice daily (both around 1.2kg). They also have .5 Johnson's 4 Joints once a day (the dog version). They are pretty stable on this and have been since October 2022. The arthritis causes them to cry when toileting sometimes. This is apparently quite common in piggies with arthritis either due to the pain when standing in one spot for too long or when they have grit in the urine which is caused by them not standing in the correct position to empty the bladder properly.
I'm guessing you are in the US as you mention CBD, it is not authorised here and is controversial. If you are in the US not sure if you can get the 4 Joints.
It's really helpful if you can put your country in your ID box, it helps with answering questions.

I am in the US!
Just to clarify the CBD is topical and has absolutely no THC but I know it can still be controversial. I personally have not noticed any adverse effects from any of my pigs that have used it from time to time.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get 4 joints unfortunately but I have ordered sherwood pet health’s joint support tablets so we’ll see if those might help.

Also see the other response I made in this thread as a response to what you said on Metacam.