Thanks so much, Sally. Yes, sorry should have been clearer. She can do a drop off for acupuncture now, but it was closed entirely for three months during the full lockdown, so she missed her regular treatments. That's why she is now having weekly treatments for a while to get her back up to speed.

Yes, she will stay on the other meds and treatments during the ketamine treatment. Thankfully she seems to have a really strong and healthy constitution, and her body seems to handle medication really well. She has regular blood tests to keep a check on liver, kidneys etc. but all indications are that she is in excellent health, apart from her joints obviously.... And the meds don't dope her out in the least, that would be the day...

So here's a photo from our recent trip to North Wales...

Thanks for the links, Sally. Will check them out now.

xxx

Hi Everyone,

just dropping in to leave a quick update on Meg and Ketamine, as promised. Meg stated on low dose ketamine injections at the start of September to manage her arthritis, and she had these weekly for six weeks initially. She now has a top up injection every four or five weeks when she visits her rehab vet for her regular laser and acupuncture treatment. Her other medication remains the same:

As a 17 kilo/35 lb dog, she takes:

Metacam once daily

200mg Gabapentin 3 x daily

50g Amantadine once or twice daily

125g paracetamol (tylenol) twice daily.

She also takes a high quality fish oil, green lipped mussel extract, and joint supplements.

The introduction of Ketamine is the only thing that has changed for quite some time now, so I feel confident saying that it does seem to be having a very positive effect. Meg has advanced arthritis and her movement is obviously limited (she uses a buggy to get around) but in herself she is on top top form, really perky and full of it, constantly getting herself into trouble and loving every minute of it. Clearly, as with all medication, individual responses will vary and it may not be suitable for everyone, but for Meg its been amazing. We've recently had a lot of damp, cold weather, which used to aggravate Meg's arthritis, and make her reluctant to go out. Not a bit of it this year. She's raring to go.... 

Incidentally, I learned recently that Meg may be slightly older than I thought, closer to 13 than to 12. She seems like a MUCH younger dog to me in terms of her energy 😳  In March we'll be celebrating Meg's fifth ampuversary.

I hope the above is helpful for anyone in a similar situation and that if you do try the Ketamine, the results are every bit as positive.

Meg, Clare and Angel Pie xxx

PS oops, almost forgot. Before Sally tells me off. Here's my 13 year old Tripawd just a few days ago....

Hi Sally,

Meg does have issues with her elbow, as in dysplasia and severe arthritis. She also has arthritis in her toes on her front foot and in her hocks. Interesting you say about Frankie’s leg seeming to give out from the shoulder. Meg’s hasn’t done that for a while but in the past when it’s given out it has always seemed to be from the shoulder too, and her rehab vet says she has tweaked something in her shoulder, somewhere behind the blade. It has always settled down with extra meds and rest (well, sort of rest).  In the last couple of years, most of her obvious problems have been with one or other of her back legs giving out, which seems after scans etc to have been caused by inflammation in her hocks. Of course, I wouldn’t see if she was limping on the front leg, because as with Frankie there’s only the one and she doesn’t have the option of holding it off the ground. 
Re your questions, it’s so hard to know, isn’t it as I think they probably feed off each other. The Ketamine is relatively inexpensive though (for once!) I only pay about $20 per injection. Adequate isn’t licensed for use in dogs here, so I can’t compare it with that. Meg has never had chiro. I think my instinct if I had to pick one would probably be the acupuncture, which is much more focused on keeping on top of any niggles in her spine (though she does also have it in her foot etc.) I think this really helps with keeping her mobile as she is so energetic and she also has an unusually long back and relatively short legs. Even before she had any problems with her legs, I was concerned that her back might be vulnerable when she got older. I feel that the acupuncture just nips any potential problems in the bud and stops her compensating and then tweaking something else, and the whole thing like dominoes...

I definitely wouldn’t say Meg runs like a four legger any more. She doesn’t really run much nowadays, though I have been known to run after squirrels for her with her standing up in the buggy and shouting...

C