Mary Allen
Osteoarthritis is not only a painful disease for humans, dogs and cats can also suffer from it.
Cause
Osteoarthritis is one of the non-inflammatory joint diseases and mostly affects older animals. Osteoarthritis in dogs primarily affects larger breeds. Cartilage degeneration occurs for no apparent reason. Although articular cartilage degenerates, the degeneration is not necessarily due to age wear, as studies have shown. The causes that lead to arthrosis are not sufficiently clarified.
In addition to this form of arthrosis with unknown causes, there are also forms that are caused by congenital maldevelopments in cartilage, bone, and skeletal growth.
Osteoarthritis can also be the result of fractures and inflammatory joint diseases (arthritis).
Symptoms
In general, it is very difficult to recognize pain in animals. Animals often suffer without complaining. Nevertheless, it must be assumed that animals suffer from the same pain as people with osteoarthritis. Lameness is often a sign of pain. A reluctance to move and a refusal to climb stairs or jump can also be signs of pain. Osteoarthritis in cats is often reflected in the reduced usefulness of the scratching post because jumping and/or scratching causes pain for the cat.
Arthrosis is characterized by pain that occurs when you move but disappears when you are at rest. Light movements, e.g. during sleep, are often enough to trigger the pain. Fluctuations in temperature, humidity, or air pressure can also trigger symptoms, as reported by those affected. Stiffness after periods of rest, which usually disappears again within a short time, is typical.
Being overweight seems to intensify the symptoms (both in humans and in animals), and weight reduction makes sense in overweight animals.
Treatment
In addition to simple rules of conduct such as warmth, rest in acute phases, and otherwise moderate exercise, drug therapy can lead to a reduction in pain and improvement.
Surgical treatment methods are only recommended when conservative methods are no longer effective.