Current State of Disease

Prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) in dogs is believed to be greater than 20%¹ and growing as dogs live longer and obesity is becoming more of an issue. It is likely that 2 out of every 5 dogs in your practice have clinical signs of OA².

OA is caused by many factors, including developmental issues, injury and obesity. Poor conformation often leads to OA early in life. Conformational changes impact both large (hip dysplasia) and small dogs (patellar luxations). So, both large and small dogs should be screened for OA. Dogs can show signs of pain due to OA much earlier than often recognized. Signs of OA may often be missed by pet owners as dogs hide signs of pain.

There is no cure for OA, however, early diagnosis and a multimodal management plan, including pain control, can help keep dogs active, manage weight, and support the quality of life of dogs with OA.

The content and tools on this site will provide veterinarians and veterinary nurses the latest on the Science of OA as well as resources to identify and treat dogs suffering from the pain of OA.

Screen for Canine Osteoarthritis Pain
Ross Palmer, DVM, MS, DACVS describes how he talks with dog owners to get a good chronic pain history from them:

“Oftentimes they are discussing certain behaviors that they see, certain impairments in the dog's mobility. And then sometimes, actually, in the context just of that discussion... And this is ideal, is when they'll actually ask me, “Do you think he's in pain?” That's wonderful, because that opens up the door.”