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thorough and complete. A clever orthopod may reconstruct the smashed joint. Diligent homeopathy can help that joint stay working longer.
For the simpler sports injury sprains and strains, simple remedies can work wonders. I stumbled across Todd Cooneys article a while back and was inspired by his high potency approach. I had commonly dispensed the Helios Injury Remedy Arnica/Ruta/Rhus Tox 30c combo for clients to use. Then I thought I would up it to Arn/Ruta/RhusT 200c/1m/10m. Lovely combo. I often note the animal can seem a little bit painful in the first 24hours, then things improve dramatically. Sprains I might normally reckon to take 7-10 days to settle improve in 3-4 days. More importantly, I feel by settling smoothly and simply, we are looking at less inflammatory process and less potential problems down the line.
Ian Watson also has some great ideas around acute injury treatment in his book on Musculo-Skeletal Problems.
The Senior Phase
At eight years old I always tread carefully when mentioning to an owner that their dog is entering the senior years of life. Of course, the huge majority still have great mobility. Especially if the owners have been crafting a path of health well in the previous few years. And forewarned is forearmed. I feel that a few judicious joint supplements can come in well here. Every practice has its favourite.
I also like to start to add in a few herbs. I think all senior dogs can benefit from some turmeric on a regular basis. There are many other potentially useful “senior herbs”. The better we can keep the dogs body ticking over, the less it is likely to degenerate – be that joints or the vital organs. Remedies also come in here. It is amazing how many old
dogs go down with liver issues. We can predict this. So, given we can predict it, why not start early with liver support remedies given intermittently? The liver is such a great detox organ that it deserves looking after. For where do toxins also like to go and cause mischief? The joints. Reduce the toxic burden and the joints are given a better chance.
Then of course we come on to the remedies themselves. If owners can be prepared with a well thought out, bespoke first aid kit for their dog’s senior years, then they can become practiced at popping in useful remedies at early stages. The Tissue Salts can be a very good low-level input to pop in regularly. Then there are the range of many well-known “arthritis remedies”. It is beyond the scope of this article to go through all possibilities. None the less, addressing the whole picture, including the arthritis symptoms, then giving good constitutional support is useful
My key finding is that the earlier a given lameness episode is tackled, the better. So many old dogs have the brain of a two-year-old, even if their joints are aged. To be able to give some trauma support remedies early if they chase after a squirrel, then come back hobbling, is really helpful. A little Arnica can go a long way.
Beyond the senior herbs alluded to above, there is another one I commonly add in to the pot for joint
support of elder patients, which is Boswellia. It can be a very helpful part of the package.
By way of summary, like all diseases, arthritis doesn’t just happen. There is a process. While as vets we often get presented with patients in the treatment zone, where we need to do something to help the suffering, there is so much that we can potentially do before the event by way of prevention and early intervention. In first opinion practice, there are so many opportunities to judiciously put in remedies. A well thought out holistic care-plan, from the start of the dog’s life, can make such a difference down the line.
REFERENCES
Dr Chatterjee
https://drchatterjee.com
Tissue Salts
https://minervabooks.co.uk/index.php?route=prod uct/category&path=43
Todd Cooney’s article
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/top-5- remedies-dog-joint-pain-injury/
The Homeopathic Treatment of Children – Paul Herscu https://minervabooks.co.uk/index.php?route=prod uct/product&path=8&product_id=87
Ian Watson
https://www.hsconline.co.uk/products/musculo- skeletal-problems
Turmeric
https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/turmeric -dogs/
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