Amid our ongoing worries about Clover’s lungs — first pneumonia, then a possible area of collapsed lung sacs — our veterinarian also discovered significant arthritis in Clover’s lower spine. I had no idea what spine arthritis in a dog looks like in an x-ray, so during our last appointment about 10 days ago, I asked her to show me. So, now I can show you.
Here’s the image in full with the areas of arthritis circled in orange.
Essentially, arthritis in a dog’s spine looks like little bridges between the vertebrae.
The normal ones feature gaps. See the difference?
The ones with bone-looking arms reaching toward each other show the extent of Clover’s arthritis.
We don’t know if the ones that don’t look solid across the arches aren’t yet fully formed or if they did form and later broke. Ouch!
What’s so interesting about how it looks on an x-ray is that we got to see arthritis in our old dog Ginko’s knees live on a screen during his two TPLO knee surgeries way back in the day. They scoped his knee joint before doing the TPLO surgery that requires bone saws and drills. We got to watch the whole thing, which I doubt they do anymore, but the veterinary orthopedic surgeon showed us things that look like cobwebs inside Ginko’s knee and said that was the beginnings of arthritis. Crazy!
What Causes Spine Arthritis in a Dog?
Good question. It’s probably mostly wear and tear from an active dog’s life.
In Clover’s case, I think it’s both her many years training in dog agility (jumps, A-frame, and weaving).
And, more likely, the fact that every dog — and I mean our dogs, foster dogs, etc — feels the need to hump her. Our youngest dog, Mr. Stix, who weighs about 7 pounds more than Clover often hooks her pretty assertively with a front arm before humping her. He will sometimes grab her as she’s running by full tilt. Gah!
We’ve always hollered “Off!” at him, but now that we know why Clover has seemed tender in her lower back (for a while now), we really holler and get both him and Tori off Clover’s back. We also try to keep him from sitting or laying on top of her. He loves to do that too.
What are the Treatment Options for Spine Arthritis in a Dog?
Supplements. Even as puppies, our dogs have always taken both fish oil and glucosamine supplements twice daily for joint health. We have tried other dog arthritis supplements without much luck (and in fact massive setbacks for some). So, every dog probably responds differently.
Non-invasive treatments. Acupuncture and laser therapy are possible treatment options for this kind of spine arthritis. I’m pretty sure, though, that the veterinary acupuncturist we’ve used before has left the profession. (Plus, not sure I can afford more veterinary costs anytime soon, especially after cancelling our pet insurance due to insane increases in costs.)
Veterinary prescription medications. At a certain point, we may need to look at prescription anti-inflammatory or pain meds.
Physical therapy exercises. I recently took an online class via the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy called “Aged to Perfection: Keeping Your Senior Dog Fit in Mind and Body.” It included gentle exercises to build and maintain strength in older dogs, using a platform, cones, cavaletti poles and such. So, I need to make time to do those exercises with Clover regularly — ideally several times each week, if not daily.
Lifting the dog. Clover stopped jumping onto our bed, which sits pretty high, several years ago. She *can do it, if she doesn’t think about it too much, but she often doubts herself and doesn’t jump. Instead, she puts her front feet on the bed as a way to ask for a boost. So, then, I carefully scoop her hips and lift her onto the bed. We do the same getting into the car. Our veterinarian thinks that the placement and severity of Clover’s arthritis means that jumping down off of things probably hurts more or is more risky. So, as much as possible, I try to get to Clover before she jumps off things and carefully put my forearm under her chest and my other arm around her bottom to lift her down.
