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I have a near 7 year old female Doberman who's suffering from bad arthritis, she's a rescue and has been with us for 3 years now, her condition increased a lot for the worse, tried everything from Cartrophen injections, which gave her a brief respite but the result wore off a few days after the course of injections stopped.
I'm giving her Flexi-Joints and cod liver oil to aid her as much as possible but I was seriously getting desperate, it's horrible to see a beloved pet in pain and limping. I didn't want to have her put on permanent pain medication as I was worried that she might build up a resistance and then nothing but steroids would be left and started researching like crazy. Read up on how well leeches work in arthritis for humans and thought it couldn't do her any harm, the worst thing that could happen would be wasted time and money and her losing a few drops of blood to the leeches. Sourcing medical leeches in the UK wasn't easy, even harder to find a vet who was willing to do the treatment (they all wanted to stick to drugs and possible surgery), but finally had success.
My dog had her first treatment at the end of September and the results so far are amazing, she's so much more active, can keep up with my other (younger) dog and instead of short little walks she now takes long walks, I don't have to lift her into the back of the car again, first she managed to jump in with a run up, now she jumps in without a run up, today they were chasing after a squirrel and she cleared a fence with ease. I'm seriously amazed and super happy and would recommend it.
It's very messy and bleeds for quite a while after the treatment (and it is important to let it bleed was explained), so be prepared for something that is super messy and a lot of cleaning up (possibly ruined carpets - I had a few changes of clothes, ruined towels, etc.) but the results were worth it. She's going for another treatment and the vet went from "Don't get your hopes up, I try it as you insist on it" to "We have to keep at it, the joint is less stiff and I can manipulate it without her showing discomfort".
Just don't go off and put your dog into a water with leeches, they have to be a certain type of medical leeches and applied to the right spots (anchor points of the joint they said), but yes, I am so incredibly happy and excited about it. We went through almost 3 years of trying everything we could (including herbal remedies - I put her off the Metacam as it was giving her tummy problems and she just seemed a bit odd, not quite herself almost like in a daze), I was prepared to wait for quite a while to see a result, but it was almost immediate and then you could see a daily improvement. The company who supplied them said they have not been used in veterinary medicine and they would be interested in seeing how it works, that's why I kept a diary for them.
I know I sound like an advertisement, but anybody who has a pet and was worried for years about a condition getting worse and being helpless to do anything can possibly understand how I feel now.
I can't recommend it enough and seriously hope that more vets are willing to at least give it a try (though while mine is enthusiastic about the results, they're less enthusiastic about how messy it is - especially with a big dog who likes to lean on walls, people and doors), so if you're thinking about pushing your vet to give it a try, best keep quiet about that part and possibly keep your dog in just one room, preferably one without carpets, but to be honest, I wouldn't have cared if I had to replace all the floors and repaint all the walls, it's such a joy to see her run again and enjoying her running.
We're going to repeat the treatment next week (after roughly a month) and then wait again for a few weeks, if she shows further improvement she's going to get another treatment and the same procedure, once she stops improving or has full movement again, it's recommended to stop and only start again when there are signs of lameness again.
It's not cheep (though the leeches are the cheepest part of it, the vet charges are quite heavy as a vet sits with the pet while the leeches suck and until they drop off when full, to avoid the dog picking them off and eating them - which could be fatal) but a hell lot cheaper than the other treatments that didn't really work nearly as well.
Please don't try to apply them yourself, go to a vet or if the vet is unwilling at least somebody who knows a lot about joints and will put them in the right places.
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