November 16, 2022 • 10 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listenlive at Tasmania talks dot com dot au has many
a talks bed. Corner on the line is doctor Jen Griffiths.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Gooday, Jen, good morning. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I'm well. I'm well. We're talking about arth writers just
a moment ago, and I said, I've got it in
my neck, and I think I've got a chicken that's
got ourth writer. It's gonna chicken get our writers.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Jen, Oh, I don't see why not. They lots of
them live very long lives now, so there is no
reason why they couldn't get it. As well.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
She sort of doesn't like to jump. She used to
just jump down from the top of the thing and
do a thing, but now she stands there and she's
very apprehensive now, and I think there's something going on here.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, it certainly could be. They can because we can
certainly see it in their joints and things like that
and hips, so there's certainly no reason why they won't
get it, just like our cats and dogs and things
like that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
To continue on our very weird conversation that we were
just having off air in here, I'll check this question
to you because that's probably a good question. Do snakes
get our writers.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Look, I'm not sure. I guess you'd have to pose
that one to the exotics meets.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I guess that's a strange question. Well, Richard just said
to me the out and know, well, I suppose I
can ask them, I can ask Jan. I'm guessing it's
it's mostly older animals, dogs, cats, that sort of thing
that you would probably see.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, so when we're diagnosing our writers, it is predominantly
in our older pets. And again, you know, our pets
are living a lot longer because we have such wonderful
health care. We do so much for them, and therefore
we do see some of these aging changes that do
occur now. So, yes, the older ones that are coming
in a little bit stiff, little bit sore sometimes if
(01:50):
they've had a big day at the beach or something
like that, owners might say, yeh, look they were pretty
sore the next day. And so those are just sort
of subtle signs that you should be looking out for
if they're starting struggle with that, and there's lots we
can do to help them some.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I mean, I know some dog breeds are more prone
to it than others. Do you find that some animals
are more prone to it than others.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, so I think there's lots of breeds certainly that
we do see. I mean, as they're aging, any breed
we'll see that can be affected by ours writers. Some
dogs more than others. It just sometimes depends on the
conformation of their bones, their structure, whether they're overweight or not,
those sorts of things. So there are lots of variables
(02:34):
that contribute to it and make it worse. So we
do like to just try and sort of manage their weight.
And for those patients that have had potential, you know,
surgery previously when they were younger, so if they've had
joint injuries, so we do lots and lots of surgeries
on ruptured krushets in the knee, and those pets are
(02:55):
certainly at risk of getting ours writers as they get
older because they've had a joint injury. And that sort
of goes about saying, really, if we injure our joints
and things, you're more prone to getting degenerative change in
those joints. So we want to be looking out for
those patients even more closely than normal. So, yeah, at the.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Risk of sending horrible and suggesting feeding one pet to
another pet should we be trying to get our pets
if they have our threatis to eat fish and stuff
like that. Do the same rules apply to pets as humans?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, So it's not a not a silly thing to
think about. The amiga threes and sixes that are in
those of fatty acids and things can help with So
fish oil is a really nice thing that they can
have and people have it as well. Lots of the
arthritis adjunctive therapies that are on the market now are
(03:48):
predominantly sort of the background to them is things like
marine mammal zo and animals, so like green lipped muscle,
shark cartilage and things, all sustainably sourced of course, but
it's you know, those sorts of things make a big
difference to the joint and helping the proteins and the
cartilage within the joint. And that's what we're trying to
(04:10):
look after here, is we want to keep that cartilage
bed really nice and cushioned for those patients, because as
our writers gets worse, the cartilage starts to sort of
get eaten away for like, and then you end up
eventually having bone rubbing ozone. And that's what makes it
incredibly painful.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
That, of course, is the definition of our thritis in
any creature, I suppose. So, I mean there's things you
can do, I guess to make your pets, like putting
a step up for the dog or whatever to get
on the couch. I've seen people do that before. Is
that last resort or is there other treatments that can
be done.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So there's lots of things that we can do for them,
And for me, it's about doing all of the things
rather than just relying on one therapie to help your pet.
So I have two older pets myself. So I've got
an older Golden retriever he's twelve years old, and I've
got a thirty year old cat. And so I have
made a lot of changes for my dog. You know,
(05:06):
he can no longer get into the back of the
car without me lifting him. We're helping him with ramps
and things we have to lift him in and out.
He's also on those other therapies that I put in
his food to help him for, like the Amega threes
and fixers and so on. But also we do have
access now obviously to a lot of painently for our pets.
So here's a multitude of meditations on the market that
(05:27):
we can use and that can be absolutely life changing
for them. Anti inflammatory medication really can make a huge
difference for them because when they have got our writers,
it's inflammation that often is present within those joints. So
if we can help produce that inflammation makes a big
difference for their life, and those medications might be needed
(05:49):
just now and again, or they might be needed continuously
as they get older. And we can do lots and
lots of things to ensure that it's safe for them
to have it. So we do blood tests, their kidneys
and their liver function because when you're on medication long term,
of course, it's very important to make sure their body
can withstand that and can process that medication long term
(06:09):
as well.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Is there any opportunity for you know, like steroid injections
or anything like that. Does that work?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
In the past, steroids were the drug of choice, but
we've definitely moved well away from that now, so that's
not our first and foremost choice of treatment anymore. Side
effects of steroids can be quite significant, so we actually
avoid them more so with that we have nonsteroid or
anti inflamations. Actually, now that we use stas writers, and
(06:37):
they just are a lot more effective and much easier
to sort of titrait and give doses, and we try
and wean everyone down to the lowest effective dose for
them as well. So that's also really important. You know,
this is something that we can always be looking at
and managing and we can you know, reduce the dose
(06:58):
if they're doing really well, we can try and see
if they can go down to a lower dose. And
that's just again taking care of the patient as a whole.
So therefore we're helping their kidneys, We're not putting too
much pressure on their kidneys or their liver and things
like that. So there's also there's so many forms of
medication that we use now. We're very lucky to have
have access to that for our pets.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, Okay, Richards has said to me, do sheep sheep
dogs suffer from that, which is probably a good question actually,
because people they spend a lot of money on sheep dogs.
I've heard of sheep dogs being sold for you know,
eighty dollars, hundred thousand dollars and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, they're yeah, they're a major part of their working
you know, of a team on a farm so absolutely
they might be potentially more prone to it. I guess
the more active that they are might be more prone
to injuries, I suppose as well, So that would be
something to certainly consider in those really active dogs. And
those are dogs that we do see that will rupture
(07:57):
cruciate ligaments and things like that because.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
They're changing direction and stuff all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I guess, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so absolutely they would
be equally as affected as our pet dogs that are,
you know, sort of living slightly more sedentary lifestyle, but
they'll certainly be working pretty hard, so they would be
absolutely at risk of that. But as a normal aging
process then absolutely it goes without saying most animals which
(08:21):
would be prone to it.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
As a general rule, if you've got a pet that's
got the beginnings of arthriters, should you be taking it
for walks and giving it exercise or should you be
trying to encourage it to slow down a bit? What
would be the best way to stop it from sitting
in big time?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, So look, it's a fine balance. So these patients
certainly still need controlled exercise, and that's really important. We
want them muscles working. And younger animals can be affected too,
so we have to consider for those patients that might
have hit displeasure or elbow displeasure. They can get authritis
very early on in life, so we do things like hydrotherapy.
(08:59):
Really it's yeah, and they go to the underwater treadmills
and things like that, so there's so much available for them.
But it's controlled exercise. It's a regime that is built around,
you know, with the with the nurse to do that
and to work them to a point where they're not
too exhausted and don't get too sore. But we're also
(09:20):
building their muscle as well to help look after those
those joints and to keep them really mobile, and that
goes that that's the same for older pets too. We
still want them to enjoy going for a little walk
and you know, might love to go in the water.
Swimming is a lovely form of exercise where they're not
putting too much weight on those joints, but they're getting
fabulous exercise and working those muscles. So they're all important.
(09:42):
And if it's if they maybe have overdone it one day,
you might give them a rest day the next day.
So it's all about just sort of managing them appropriately
and just sort of seeing how they're coping day to day.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Really, yeah, usus a lot too. It isn't there all right?
I think we've probably covered it. I guess there's nothing
else that we should know about arthritis in pets. We
can all we still don't know where the snakes can
get our thritis, do we? We still haven't. We haven't.
We haven't narrowed down on that as yet, So I
might have to do some I might have to do
some googling and just see where the snakes go. I
(10:14):
will do that. Actually, I'll play a song and then
I might I might just do some googling because Google
knows everything. You know that it's going to be on there.
Doctor Jen Griffiths, Pet Corner, Thank you very much and
I'll talk to you down the track.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Thank you, no worries, Thanks for having me by.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Now I'm going to go on Google. It's twenty four
to twelve. This is Tasmania Talks. Listen live at Tasmania
Talks dot com dot au
Listenlive at Tasmania talks dot com dot au has many
a talks bed. Corner on the line is doctor Jen Griffiths.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Gooday, Jen, good morning. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I'm well. I'm well. We're talking about arth writers just
a moment ago, and I said, I've got it in
my neck, and I think I've got a chicken that's
got ourth writer. It's gonna chicken get our writers.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Jen, Oh, I don't see why not. They lots of
them live very long lives now, so there is no
reason why they couldn't get it. As well.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
She sort of doesn't like to jump. She used to
just jump down from the top of the thing and
do a thing, but now she stands there and she's
very apprehensive now, and I think there's something going on here.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, it certainly could be. They can because we can
certainly see it in their joints and things like that
and hips, so there's certainly no reason why they won't
get it, just like our cats and dogs and things
like that.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
To continue on our very weird conversation that we were
just having off air in here, I'll check this question
to you because that's probably a good question. Do snakes
get our writers.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Look, I'm not sure. I guess you'd have to pose
that one to the exotics meets.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I guess that's a strange question. Well, Richard just said
to me the out and know, well, I suppose I
can ask them, I can ask Jan. I'm guessing it's
it's mostly older animals, dogs, cats, that sort of thing
that you would probably see.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, so when we're diagnosing our writers, it is predominantly
in our older pets. And again, you know, our pets
are living a lot longer because we have such wonderful
health care. We do so much for them, and therefore
we do see some of these aging changes that do
occur now. So, yes, the older ones that are coming
in a little bit stiff, little bit sore sometimes if
(01:50):
they've had a big day at the beach or something
like that, owners might say, yeh, look they were pretty
sore the next day. And so those are just sort
of subtle signs that you should be looking out for
if they're starting struggle with that, and there's lots we
can do to help them some.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I mean, I know some dog breeds are more prone
to it than others. Do you find that some animals
are more prone to it than others.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, so I think there's lots of breeds certainly that
we do see. I mean, as they're aging, any breed
we'll see that can be affected by ours writers. Some
dogs more than others. It just sometimes depends on the
conformation of their bones, their structure, whether they're overweight or not,
those sorts of things. So there are lots of variables
(02:34):
that contribute to it and make it worse. So we
do like to just try and sort of manage their weight.
And for those patients that have had potential, you know,
surgery previously when they were younger, so if they've had
joint injuries, so we do lots and lots of surgeries
on ruptured krushets in the knee, and those pets are
(02:55):
certainly at risk of getting ours writers as they get
older because they've had a joint injury. And that sort
of goes about saying, really, if we injure our joints
and things, you're more prone to getting degenerative change in
those joints. So we want to be looking out for
those patients even more closely than normal. So, yeah, at the.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Risk of sending horrible and suggesting feeding one pet to
another pet should we be trying to get our pets
if they have our threatis to eat fish and stuff
like that. Do the same rules apply to pets as humans?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, So it's not a not a silly thing to
think about. The amiga threes and sixes that are in
those of fatty acids and things can help with So
fish oil is a really nice thing that they can
have and people have it as well. Lots of the
arthritis adjunctive therapies that are on the market now are
(03:48):
predominantly sort of the background to them is things like
marine mammal zo and animals, so like green lipped muscle,
shark cartilage and things, all sustainably sourced of course, but
it's you know, those sorts of things make a big
difference to the joint and helping the proteins and the
cartilage within the joint. And that's what we're trying to
(04:10):
look after here, is we want to keep that cartilage
bed really nice and cushioned for those patients, because as
our writers gets worse, the cartilage starts to sort of
get eaten away for like, and then you end up
eventually having bone rubbing ozone. And that's what makes it
incredibly painful.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
That, of course, is the definition of our thritis in
any creature, I suppose. So, I mean there's things you
can do, I guess to make your pets, like putting
a step up for the dog or whatever to get
on the couch. I've seen people do that before. Is
that last resort or is there other treatments that can
be done.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
So there's lots of things that we can do for them,
And for me, it's about doing all of the things
rather than just relying on one therapie to help your pet.
So I have two older pets myself. So I've got
an older Golden retriever he's twelve years old, and I've
got a thirty year old cat. And so I have
made a lot of changes for my dog. You know,
(05:06):
he can no longer get into the back of the
car without me lifting him. We're helping him with ramps
and things we have to lift him in and out.
He's also on those other therapies that I put in
his food to help him for, like the Amega threes
and fixers and so on. But also we do have
access now obviously to a lot of painently for our pets.
So here's a multitude of meditations on the market that
(05:27):
we can use and that can be absolutely life changing
for them. Anti inflammatory medication really can make a huge
difference for them because when they have got our writers,
it's inflammation that often is present within those joints. So
if we can help produce that inflammation makes a big
difference for their life, and those medications might be needed
(05:49):
just now and again, or they might be needed continuously
as they get older. And we can do lots and
lots of things to ensure that it's safe for them
to have it. So we do blood tests, their kidneys
and their liver function because when you're on medication long term,
of course, it's very important to make sure their body
can withstand that and can process that medication long term
(06:09):
as well.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Is there any opportunity for you know, like steroid injections
or anything like that. Does that work?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
In the past, steroids were the drug of choice, but
we've definitely moved well away from that now, so that's
not our first and foremost choice of treatment anymore. Side
effects of steroids can be quite significant, so we actually
avoid them more so with that we have nonsteroid or
anti inflamations. Actually, now that we use stas writers, and
(06:37):
they just are a lot more effective and much easier
to sort of titrait and give doses, and we try
and wean everyone down to the lowest effective dose for
them as well. So that's also really important. You know,
this is something that we can always be looking at
and managing and we can you know, reduce the dose
(06:58):
if they're doing really well, we can try and see
if they can go down to a lower dose. And
that's just again taking care of the patient as a whole.
So therefore we're helping their kidneys, We're not putting too
much pressure on their kidneys or their liver and things
like that. So there's also there's so many forms of
medication that we use now. We're very lucky to have
have access to that for our pets.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, Okay, Richards has said to me, do sheep sheep
dogs suffer from that, which is probably a good question actually,
because people they spend a lot of money on sheep dogs.
I've heard of sheep dogs being sold for you know,
eighty dollars, hundred thousand dollars and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, they're yeah, they're a major part of their working
you know, of a team on a farm so absolutely
they might be potentially more prone to it. I guess
the more active that they are might be more prone
to injuries, I suppose as well, So that would be
something to certainly consider in those really active dogs. And
those are dogs that we do see that will rupture
(07:57):
cruciate ligaments and things like that because.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
They're changing direction and stuff all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I guess, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so absolutely they would
be equally as affected as our pet dogs that are,
you know, sort of living slightly more sedentary lifestyle, but
they'll certainly be working pretty hard, so they would be
absolutely at risk of that. But as a normal aging
process then absolutely it goes without saying most animals which
(08:21):
would be prone to it.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
As a general rule, if you've got a pet that's
got the beginnings of arthriters, should you be taking it
for walks and giving it exercise or should you be
trying to encourage it to slow down a bit? What
would be the best way to stop it from sitting
in big time?
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, So look, it's a fine balance. So these patients
certainly still need controlled exercise, and that's really important. We
want them muscles working. And younger animals can be affected too,
so we have to consider for those patients that might
have hit displeasure or elbow displeasure. They can get authritis
very early on in life, so we do things like hydrotherapy.
(08:59):
Really it's yeah, and they go to the underwater treadmills
and things like that, so there's so much available for them.
But it's controlled exercise. It's a regime that is built around,
you know, with the with the nurse to do that
and to work them to a point where they're not
too exhausted and don't get too sore. But we're also
(09:20):
building their muscle as well to help look after those
those joints and to keep them really mobile, and that
goes that that's the same for older pets too. We
still want them to enjoy going for a little walk
and you know, might love to go in the water.
Swimming is a lovely form of exercise where they're not
putting too much weight on those joints, but they're getting
fabulous exercise and working those muscles. So they're all important.
(09:42):
And if it's if they maybe have overdone it one day,
you might give them a rest day the next day.
So it's all about just sort of managing them appropriately
and just sort of seeing how they're coping day to day.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Really, yeah, usus a lot too. It isn't there all right?
I think we've probably covered it. I guess there's nothing
else that we should know about arthritis in pets. We
can all we still don't know where the snakes can
get our thritis, do we? We still haven't. We haven't.
We haven't narrowed down on that as yet, So I
might have to do some I might have to do
some googling and just see where the snakes go. I
(10:14):
will do that. Actually, I'll play a song and then
I might I might just do some googling because Google
knows everything. You know that it's going to be on there.
Doctor Jen Griffiths, Pet Corner, Thank you very much and
I'll talk to you down the track.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Thank you, no worries, Thanks for having me by.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Now I'm going to go on Google. It's twenty four
to twelve. This is Tasmania Talks. Listen live at Tasmania
Talks dot com dot au
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