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Osteoarthritis cannot be cured, but the pain it causes depends a great deal on what the animal has to do in a day. These six changes reduce the strain without altering your own routine.
1. A low-sided bed, before a thick one
An excellent mattress ringed by a 15 cm rim becomes an obstacle to the very dog it was meant for: it has to climb over that rim several times a day, straining exactly the joints you wanted to spare.
The figure that matters is the height of the lowest side, under 5 cm. Foam density comes after that.
2. The bed low to the ground, not in an out-of-the-way corner
A dog with osteoarthritis that sleeps away from the life of the house gets up to check what is going on there. Every one of those is a strain on the joints.
Putting the bed in the room you actually live in, clear of the coming and going but with a view of it, removes most of those pointless trips.
3. A ramp for the car, never a lift
Lifting a 30 kg dog is bad for the dog — the carrying position pulls on the joints — and bad for the back of whoever does the lifting. A non-slip ramp costs less than a session with an osteopath.
It takes a few days to get the dog used to it: on the ground first, flat, before you tilt it.
4. Mats along the routes, not across the whole house
Slipping on a smooth floor is the leading cause of falls in older dogs, and every slip sets off a sharp contraction that hurts long afterwards.
This is not about carpeting the house: three non-slip mats along the routes it really uses — the bed, the bowl, the door — are enough. Watching it walk for two days tells you where they go.
5. Raised bowls, for some dogs only
Raising the bowls relieves a dog whose neck or shoulders hurt, and changes nothing for a dog whose hips hurt. This one is not for every dog.
The guide is to watch it eat. If it splays its front legs or crouches low, height will help. If it eats normally, height will do nothing at all.
6. Several short walks rather than one long one
An arthritic joint copes badly with long stillness AND with long effort. Three 15-minute walks do more good than a single hour-long one, and far less harm.
The sign that you went too far does not show during the walk but the next morning. That is why you adjust over the week, not over one outing.