# Champ and his Arthritis



## Tunez33 (Apr 4, 2013)

Hello Everyone,

I need some help in dealing with my dog champ. He has medicine from the vet for his arthitis and it is at a advanced stage. He still likes to not stay still all day but you can notice a limp in his back legs and has a weakness there. He can't use stairs anymore so we built ramps for him to use for when he needs to go outside and go to the bathroom. 

My main problem/question is bed related. Champ has never liked or used a dog bed before, he has always chose to sleep on my bed or the floor. He has been sleeping on the floor for the last 2 months since we stopped him from using stairs and jumping. I went out and bought him a nice serta orthopedic dog bed, but he wants nothing to do with it. Also i worry if he lays on that bed will he hurt himself trying to get up since it isn't as firm as a floor. 

Can anyone with insight on this please help me? with both my concerns of him using the bed and getting on and off from it, but also in how to teach him to use the bed.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Boy you have a tough problem. When they don't move around well, they find the most comfortable spot and don't like to change. You might want to look into other avenues that might make Champ feel better. I've excellent luck with acupuncture. It doesn't work for all dogs, but it's worth a shot. Also talk to your vet about Champ's pain, maybe there are different medications.

When my father in law was very island had trouble getting my, my mother in law bought a tempur pedic bed. It was fine while he was in it, but too cushy to get in and out of easily. So the softness might be a problem.


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

My Toby was the same way. He did not like dog beds, but when he was younger and before his orthopedic surgeries, he would sleep up on my bed for a while, then choose to lay on the carpet or kitchen floor. My Toby also had bad arthritis. (We had to say goodbye to him this past Saturday, he had hemangiosarcoma and was dying.)
I would suggest maybe doing what I did, when Toby still wanted to sleep on my bed. I got a big ottoman which I put in front of my bed. He used it to get up, when he could not, I would help him onto the ottoman and then on the bed. I usually woke up when he wanted off the bed and I helped him back down. Maybe this would work for your fur baby. 
Toby also was on all the supplements like Cosequin DS plus MSM, fish oil, Adequan injections, Rimadyl and towards the end also on Tramadol to supplement the pain meds.
Good luck to your fur baby.


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## PrincessDi (Jun 8, 2009)

We've used an ottoman as well and helped them up onto the ottoman and then onto our bed. If he had a Help em up harness it would be easier to assist him up and down from the bed and also in and our of the car.

We also had success with hydrotherapy in maintaining and rebuilding muscle for arthritic dogs. We had a wonderful hydrotherapist that would do range of motion excercises with them in the water during their sessions.


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