Better Arthritis Care: Options Beyond the Pain Medication

Author - Dr. Kelly Fishman, DVM, CVA, CCRT

Pain from arthritis leads to a decreased desire to move and be active. This decreased activity contributes to weight gain and muscle loss. Weight gain worsens arthritis and muscle loss reduces joint support and strength. Both lead to more pain and reduced activity. 

The good news is your vet has tools to stop this cycle. This guide offers a multimodal and integrative approach to help dogs live a long and healthy life free of pain. Your vet’s goal is to provide you with options aside from just pain medication to help your dog thrive with vitality, strength, and managed pain.

Lifelong Management of Arthritis

1. Exercises to maintain strength and muscle supplements
2. Maintain a lean body weight
3. Pain Management
4. Joint Supplements
5. Home and Activity Modification

A Strong Dog is a Must- Exercises to maintain strength and muscle supplements Building and maintaining muscles is important for dogs. Weak and small muscles have less support for your dog’s arthritic joints. Strong muscles also mean the ability to continue doing things your dog loves like long walks, jumps, and dog play.

Your veterinarian may suggest a referral to a canine physical rehabilitation doctor. 

Muscle Supplements

In addition to exercises that build muscle, you can support muscle with supplements. Fortetropin®, which powers MYOS’s exclusive veterinary muscle formulas, has been shown to help maintain healthy muscle and helps reduce muscle loss due to aging, injury, or surgery.

Arthritis is a lifelong condition, so continued use of muscle supplements is recommended. 

Diet Recommendations & Weight Management

Maintaining a lean body weight, or keeping your dog fit, is one of the most effective ways to reduce pain and slow down the progression of arthritis. Studies show that even modest weight loss can significantly improve lameness and pain without additional medication.

Reducing calories is the key to weight loss in dogs, increasing walks is usually not enough and may not be possible if your dog is in pain. It's hard for us to ask a limping dog to walk longer. Follow your vets’ suggestions on how to help your dog lose and maintain a lean bodyweight.

Pain Management

Your vet has many options for pain medication for your dog. The choice of pain medication will be based on your dog’s health and pain level.

Managing Pain without Medication

Most of you reading this guide are interested in therapies in addition to traditional pain medication, there are multiple tools to pain plan.

Your veterinarian may have tools shown to reduce pain and include LASER therapy, acupuncture, heat and cold therapy, and (PEMF).

Body work with myofascial and massage techniques can be done at home.

Joint Supplements

Fish Oil (Omega-3s) provides essential fatty acids for anti-inflammatory effects, joint health, and overall wellness.

There are many joint supplements designed to support joint health. Ask your veterinarian for the supplement they trust to meet your dog’s needs.

Arthritis is a lifelong condition, so continued use of joint supplements is recommended.

Activity Modification

Certain activities that dogs may love can stress joints. These activities include runs on hard surfaces like concrete, jumping up and down, running down stairs, and sudden uncontrolled bursts of running and twisting like with ball and dog play.

Instead, focus on low-impact activities like leash walks on grass or dirt terrain. This type of exercise reduces pain and lameness more effectively than being sedentary or overdoing it on weekends.

Page References / Further Reading

1. Repac, J. A., Alvarez, L. X., & Amstutz, K. L. (Eds.). (2026). Handbook of canine exercise therapy. Wiley-Blackwell.
2. 2. Hetrick, Katie, et al. "Evaluation of Fortetropin in Geriatric and Senior Dogs with Reduced Mobility." The Canadian Veterinary Journal, vol. 63, no. 10, Oct. 2022, pp. 1057- 60. PubMed, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36185794/