Certain foods may increase inflammation and aggravate arthritis in dogs. Some people have found that eliminating grains from the diet improves their dogs’ symptoms, sometimes to the point that no other treatment is needed. In addition, plants from the nightshade family, including potatoes not sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers all kinds, and eggplant are known to aggravate arthritis.
It is not easy to avoid these foods unless you feed your dog a homemade diet, where you control all the ingredients. The vast majority of dry foods contain grains, and those that do not often contain potatoes instead. There are a few brands that use only sweet potatoes or tapioca that would be worth trying for a dog with arthritis, to see if your dog improves. Canned foods usually have fewer carbohydrates than dry foods, so that might be another option to try, especially for smaller dogs where the higher cost of canned food is not such an obstacle.
Certain foods may help with arthritis: celery, ginger, alfalfa, tropical fruits like mango and papaya, are all good to add to the diet of a dog with arthritis. Remember that vegetables must be either cooked or pureed in a food processor, juicer, or blender to increase digestion in dogs, and fruits are more easily digestible when overripe.
Certain herbs reduce inflammation and are particularly helpful for arthritis in dogs. The best ones to use for arthritis are arnica montana, cayenne, comfrey, ginger, boswellia, yucca root, turmeric its extract-curcumin, hawthorn, nettle leaf, licorice, and meadowsweet.
Note that willow bark is another herb often used for arthritis. It is a relative of aspirin that may be easier on the stomach, but should still not be combined with other NSAIDs.
Devil’s claw an herbal remedy that is prescribed to reduce inflammation and pain. It is often used when pets are diagnosed with arthritis. It should not be given if your pet is diabetic.
Weight management, acupuncture and homoeopathy are also known to help with arthritis pain in dogs.
