# What can I give my dog to help with pain?



## OnyxDog

I have a dachshund who weighs about 13 lbs. I noticed that she was limping a little bit in her right foreleg, and after examining her, it seems like her shoulder muscles are sore. She doesn't have a very high threshold for pain, and she's acting miserable. What can I give her for pain that does not require a prescription? I have some baby aspirin, but is that safe to give to dogs? Thanks!


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## brandypup

Honeslty the p ain is there for a reason. The pain is keeping her from doing further damage to herself. If you get rid of the pain the chance of her doing more damage is great. If the pain is that bad that she needs somethign for it I would ask the vet about it. I know that asprin in cats is very tricky, it's a 1/4 pill every 3 days. It's also a blood thnner (which is the use we had it for) adn can cause digestive upset. 

I do not know the dose for a dog.


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## OnyxDog

Just to let everybody know, I actually just got off the phone with the vet. She said that I can give her half a baby aspirin (about 40 mg) every 12 hours to help take the edge off the pain. If the leg doesn't seem to be getting any better, we will take her in on Monday to have it looked at! We are crossing our fingers, though... we are still trying to save up to get one of her teeth pulled. In the meantime, we will try to keep her calm and relaxed so she's not trying to run around on it a lot. I forsee some stuffed chew toys in her immediate future...

Thank you brandypup for the response!


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## MollyWoppy

I agree with Brandypup, sometimes if you mask the pain they will continue to use it, potentially damaging it further. Try icing it on and off and resting.
Then if it shows improvement after a couple of days, gentle walking.
It probably isn't that bad, if she had really damaged herself she'd really be favouring it. But, yeah, if you are worried or if it doesn't seem to get better very quickly, the next step would be the vet.


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## OnyxDog

MollyWoppy said:


> I agree with Brandypup, sometimes if you mask the pain they will continue to use it, potentially damaging it further. Try icing it on and off and resting.
> Then if it shows improvement after a couple of days, gentle walking.
> It probably isn't that bad, if she had really damaged herself she'd really be favouring it. But, yeah, if you are worried or if it doesn't seem to get better very quickly, the next step would be the vet.


I'm still debating in my head whether I want to give her the aspirin or not, but at least now I know the correct dosage if I decide she needs it. She is sleeping soundly in her bed burrowed under the blankets at the moment, so I will just let her rest and not worry about it for now. If I can keep her resting, I would much rather do that than give her any meds. It's tough for me, though, because she just shuts down when she is experiencing any pain at all. It's tough for me to see her like that.


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## MollyWoppy

Oh yeah, I totally get where you are coming from. I'd almost rather break my own leg that see my dog break a toenail. You just hate to see them hurting. Do try to show her that you aren't worried or give her too much sympathy, I've learnt through experience that they can milk it for everything you've got. I'm sure she'll be fine though, poor little pup.


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## OnyxDog

MollyWoppy said:


> Do try to show her that you aren't worried or give her too much sympathy, I've learnt through experience that they can milk it for everything you've got. I'm sure she'll be fine though, poor little pup.


I'm trying to act normal about it, because I am well aware that she can milk it. She is very very good at that. My husband seems to be really babying her, though... I'll have to tell him to stop! lol


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## Mondo

My Tuffy is the opposite. His first torn cruciate ligament he was flying around on 3 legs. Oh, the vet gave me heck! He was only 6 at the time. This time around he's 12. But some good wisdom here, they limp for a reason. I did get some metacam for him, but gave a half dose at first, and then 1/3, and 2 weeks later nothing. My wife disagreed, wanting to give him a full dose as he was in pain. - as the primary caregiver I won.  There is a big difference between feeling no pain and being healed. Feeling no pain when the injury is still there is a recipe for disaster.


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## Khan

Just something to think about. Back in September Shelby hurt her shoulder. We did the whole keep her quiet, a little bit of inflammatory meds but we are almost 6 months, and she still gets a twinge if she moves wrong. We have actually been going to a PT/vet since January and that has really helped. I am doing some exercises with her, some massage type work trying to stretch out the muscles. I should have started this a lot sooner. Her muscles were so tight in her upper back and shoulders that we needed to get her to relax those muscles since they had gotten use to over compensating in the wrong way due to the pain. And yes, she has about the pain tolerance of a fly!! I give my other dogs glucosomine (Glycoflex) it is made by Vetri-Science. The vet actually recommended another of their products for her, it's called Jointagen. She suggested I use one bottle of this because it has some other ingredients that Shelby would benefit from, when I'm finished with this, she can start taking what the other dogs are on. 
Just something to think about. I hope she feels better!! Oh, and a little babying is OK


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## doggiedad

go to the Vet. i don't think giving your dog meds prescribed
by non-professionals is a good idea.


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## OnyxDog

doggiedad said:


> go to the Vet. i don't think giving your dog meds prescribed
> by non-professionals is a good idea.


I didn't end up giving her any meds anyway. She has been really good about resting and not overdoing it. As long as I can keep her resting, I would rather not give her anything at all. We will go to the vet if we don't see it improving within the next day or two.


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## Makovach

How old is she? Do Doxis have problems with their elbows? is she bowlegged?

I know my Annie gets to hurting after playing or running or hikeing or swimming. She has arthritus in her hips. I give her a baby asprin on the days she is hurting. I also give it to her when I know she will be going crazy running and jumping playing with the other dogs.


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## xellil

Two words: laser therapy. Everyone with a dog that has an injury that's not healable in a short time should look into it. or arthritis.

in my opinion, it is right up there with raw food in how it has helped Snorkels. And for acute injuries, it can sometimes fix it in 2-3 sessions with no meds at all. A heck of alot better than anti-inflammatories.


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## Makovach

xellil said:


> Two words: laser therapy. Everyone with a dog that has an injury that's not healable in a short time should look into it. or arthritis.
> 
> in my opinion, it is right up there with raw food in how it has helped Snorkels. And for acute injuries, it can sometimes fix it in 2-3 sessions with no meds at all. A heck of alot better than anti-inflammatories.


Do you know if this helps arthritis?

I can't wait to start raw. When I fed it before Annie didnt show any pain problems even though I wasn't feeding it right and she had digestive upset. I've heard alot of people say that it has helped their dogs with pain and cusioning the joints better.


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## xellil

Makovach said:


> Do you know if this helps arthritis?
> 
> I can't wait to start raw. When I fed it before Annie didnt show any pain problems even though I wasn't feeding it right and she had digestive upset. I've heard alot of people say that it has helped their dogs with pain and cusioning the joints better.


Snorkles has advanced arthritis in her spine - she's got those growths that make a loop underneath and connect the vertabrae together. I forgot what they are called, some fancy name. As well as several compressed disks.

Laser therapy has not only helped it, if you didn't see an x-ray you would think she was cured. No medications since we started it. Of course, being a good weight is also very important.

AND the raw food, I'm sure. She didn't start laser therapy for a month or so after we started on raw and the food hadn't changed her level of pain (she was on medication probably 4 days out of 7) but I have no doubt that over time it has given her body the nutrients it needs to protect her against the damage. i feed her food that has a lot of glucosamine in it and i don't supplement with anything.

Between the two (food and lasers) the before/after is night and day.


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## Khan

xellil said:


> Two words: laser therapy. Everyone with a dog that has an injury that's not healable in a short time should look into it. or arthritis.
> 
> in my opinion, it is right up there with raw food in how it has helped Snorkels. And for acute injuries, it can sometimes fix it in 2-3 sessions with no meds at all. A heck of alot better than anti-inflammatories.


I second that!! That is the first thing the PT did to Shelby! Worked very well. We have been doing home exercises, and when we went back for our 2nd appt. she was showing really good improvement, so she hasn't had to have it again. We go on the 5th for our 3rd appt. Will see how she's progressing and if she needs any more!


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## xellil

Snorkels has been weekly for several months just because she's got such bad arthritis, but this week we skipped and are trying every other week. The first time the rehab place told us she was "done" we were back within three weeks.

And like with you hopefully you just do it a few times and then it's over with. I haven't heard ANYONE who has done it say it didn't help.


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## OnyxDog

Makovach said:


> How old is she? Do Doxis have problems with their elbows? is she bowlegged?


She is 5 years old. I have never heard of any elbow problems that are common to the breed. She has pretty straight legs.

Treasure is putting a little more weight on that leg today, and she seems more lively! That gives me hope. :smile:


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## OnyxDog

Just a little update... Treasure is getting better and better. She is putting more and more weight on that leg as the days go by. I think she will be ok as long as I keep her from using it too much. I took her for a little walk to the park across the street so she could use it a little and stretch that leg out. I don't want the muscles to atrophy. I didn't end up giving her anything for the pain because she has been such a little angel about not overextending herself!


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