Right Hip Pain / Limping

Hey all, I have a Beagle/Heeler mix that’s 11 years old and her name is Chloe. I took her to the vet 5 days ago because she was licking and scratching a lot. They said it was allergies and prescribed Apoquel. The scratching/licking has gone done but she has been complaining about right hip pain. She’s been waking up in the middle of the night and crying of pain. Then it calms down after a couple of minutes. All the while she’s been scratching and licking and crying of pain, I have given her a multi vitamin to help with general health. I did notice however that the multi vitamin has Shellfish in it and I know she had an allergic reaction to food that contained fish so I stopped giving it to her today. So with all that said, I’m looking for a Joint and Hip supplement that will help her aging joints but that does not contain shellfish. Any advice?   thank you!

Hello! - I'm afraid that while properly formulated joint supplements can help to lubricate joints in the long term, they do not treat pain; nor do they have a strong enough effect to treat the pain of a lame joint in the short-term.  Meanwhile, the main thing you've communicated about your dog, is that she's in pain.   I would fully reccommend seeing your vet for appropriate pain releif.  This is best prescribed because many human pain killers are actually toxic to dogs and cats if not used appropriately - animals' kidneys are sensitive in a way that ours are not.  However, there are drugs formulated for animals.  More to follow  

Any supplements sold by your vet should have scientific evidence behind them and furthermore, I would expect your vet to be able to make enquiries and get a straight, honest answer regarding the minor ingredients, which is frequently not the case with non- veterinary supplements.  However, between supplements and pain releif, I would always prioritise pain relief for a dog complaining of hip pain.

Thank you for the responses. I have taken her back to the vet and they stated she has arthritis in her hip and prescribed pain medication. They also recommended a joint medication to help. She isn’t in pain but I do see her with lameness on her hip. I even noticed a gate. She at times, is slipping while she walks or runs. I’m hoping between the 2 weeks of pain meds and the 2 weeks of joint supplements, the prognosis improves.

Thank you for the update and I am pleased that your dog has pain medication.  Some dogs do have rare nerve abnormalities that lead to painless lameness, but in the vast majority of arthritis cases dogs place their feet abnormally because place the foot normally hurts;  thus, limping is how pain manifests and it is rare that a limping dog is not in pain.  I hope that the treatment is helpful to her and please do let us know how things go from here.