Cortisone shots for older dogs

PeppermintPatty

PeppermintPatty

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Canada
Our 13 year old schnoodle is having mobility issues. She has a sore paw and having problems going up stairs.

I’ve heard of a lot of positive comments from people with dog problems walking due to arthritis etc., having cortisone shots to help ease the pain.

I’m interested in anyone who knows anything about this. Please share your thoughts.

I’m making an appointment for her to see the vet so I can consider our options.
 

Last edited:
robin416 said:
There are other, safer, treatments available for them. Gabapentin is one that is often used for arthritis pain.
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Thank you. I suppose I should wait to find out from our vet, what our options are but I appreciate your feedback.
 

There are a variety of drugs, like cortisone and gabapentin, that can have serious side effects like organ damage with long term use.

That said, your dog is 13, and so the potential for serious side effects over time should be balanced against your dog’s age and the better quality of life she will enjoy while on the meds.

Those side effects don’t happen overnight so you should consider whether or not she’s going to live long enough to start suffering from them.
 
We took both our dogs in and had them examined and updated on their shots.
We want to take them both in to Petsmart and have them groomed so they needed a ‘kennel cough’ vaccination.

This morning I worried about the options that our vet would give and I so hoped there would be a holistic option. We already have them both on Cosequin

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which the vet approved of and I was hoping there would be a recommended supplement for arthritis and there was. She said that they only recommended cortisone shots for end of life cases, which our dog is far from. She basically gave us 3 options. 1/. Anti inflammatory injection. 2/. Anti inflammatory injection with pain medicine. 3/. 4Cyte - joint and cartilage supplementation.

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We chose number 3 - supplementation. The vet seemed happy with our choice.

She said that a big problem with pain medication is that the dog doesn’t feel pain so might start jumping and doing things to tear the cartilage more not realizing the damage it’s doing. Pain is a natural response to damage which should always be taken into consideration.

Anyway, we left feeling relieved. We are both happy with the vet visit. It went far better than expected. I didn’t think our vets would offer a holistic option and are so happy that they did.

Thanks for all who asked about her.
 
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