For Those with Old Aching Dogs around the House
How to safely use aspirin with them for their long term pain relief and increased mobility
I wanted to post this while I still had it in mind, as the results of a long term clinical test of the long term use of aspirin for pain relief in dogs were much better than many (most?) veterinarians and dog owners would expect. I imagine others might find the results equally useful with their own older dog or dogs.
Most of our uninterrupted series of household dogs live long enough lives to eventually start experiencing old age joint pain to the point that the pain significantly constrains their freedom of movement and, hence, their mobility. In the past, we’ve sprung for pricey prescription Previcox for them and then used it very sparingly because of cost. Very recently, however, we learned that common aspirin can, after all, be safely used over the long run to obtain canine joint pain relief similar to that provided by Previcox.
The trick is to crush the aspirin and then always give it with food. Reportedly, this simple combination of dose administration techniques very effectively minimizes the chances of the dog developing gastric or intestinal bleeding from the aspirin use. For the short 1989 veterinarian clinical research paper describing the work done to determine how aspirin can be used safely and effectively with dogs, see “Pharmokinetics of Aspirin and Its Application in Canine Veterinary Medicine”, by Morton and Knottenbelt.
