Hi everyone. My 11-year-old Labrador has started slowing down and showing signs of arthritis in his hips. He still wants to move around but clearly gets stiff after resting for long periods.
I would love to hear what home adaptations have helped your senior or mobility-impaired dogs the most. Things like ramps, orthopedic beds, non-slip flooring mats — what made the biggest difference for your pet? Any advice from this community would be greatly appreciated.
Senior dog with hip arthritis — what home adaptations helped most?
-
kuldeepbaswal
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Fri May 02, 2025 4:22 am
Re: Senior dog with hip arthritis — what home adaptations helped most?
Hi kuldeepbaswal!
You named a bunch of important ones. I had a ramp for my dog to go in and out the back door. It was only one step, but it helped him. Here are 2 pictures.
I got carpet mats for the slippery floor. I like the cheap indoor/outdoor mats with a flat rubber edge. They didn't slip and I didn't trip over them.
He had a special bed that was a huge help, and I never see people talking about this. It was a foam flip bed (like a thick tri-fold foam futon that could also fold into a chair, made for humans) that must have been about 8" thick. This was a thicker one, covered in velour upholstery fabric (like you see on La-Z-Boy recliner), not thin polyester. I got it at the thrift shop around 2005-2006. Thicker than the ones you see on Amazon nowadays that are 3" or 4" and do not give as much height. The foam was so firm I could kneel on it to change his blanket and not sink in. If he laid on it, that meant he was 8" off the floor when he put his feet on the floor to stand up, which was easier than if he was lying down at floor level. It also made it easy for him to lie back down. I kept it covered with a blanket. I think you could achieve the same thing with a twin mattress if it isn't one of the super thick ones. I imagine my dog was about the same size as your Lab. He was a Golden Retriever. It was way easier for him than lying on the floor. Here is a picture of his bed but it does not show how high it was. I'm afraid you'll have to take my word for it, it was thick. It's kind of like the difference for an older human. They can stand up from sitting on a chair better than the floor, and they can stand up from a firm cushion better than a soft sofa they sink down into. You may wonder if the firm futon surface caused a pressure sore, compared to a fiberfill dog bed. No! It was great.
He had a belly band because he was peeing in the house, and I put straps on it to make handles I could grab, which made it double as a rear harness, so I could help him to his feet if he was struggling to get up. You can see him wearing it in a couple of pictures. There are a lot of rear harnesses to help you assist your dog to get up. I found this was easiest for us, because I didn't want to have to work around a walking harness every time I changed his pad in his belly band. If your dog doesn't have any incontinence issues, then a regular belly harness would work.
The other thing we did was, I took the back seat out of the car, to make it easier to load him in. There are a lot of ideas on getting your dog in the car, and it would depend on what kind of vehicle you have. We had a station wagon, and by taking out the back seat and parking it next to the curb, it was easy to walk him into it. I will attach a couple of photos. There is a whole article about it, but right now the Wayback Machine is not working like normal. The first one shows the removed seat and the second one shows it lined up against the curb ready to walk into. You can see how much easier it is than trying to have him stand on the driveway and place his front feet up onto the back seat of the car when he is no longer able to jump.
Hope this helps! A lot of it depends on the layout of your house, how may steps you have, stuff like that. If you have any special issues with your house or dog, if you describe them there may be a link or video that would help. Just ask! 
You named a bunch of important ones. I had a ramp for my dog to go in and out the back door. It was only one step, but it helped him. Here are 2 pictures.
- MerlinRamp.jpg (42.45 KiB) Viewed 17150 times
He had a special bed that was a huge help, and I never see people talking about this. It was a foam flip bed (like a thick tri-fold foam futon that could also fold into a chair, made for humans) that must have been about 8" thick. This was a thicker one, covered in velour upholstery fabric (like you see on La-Z-Boy recliner), not thin polyester. I got it at the thrift shop around 2005-2006. Thicker than the ones you see on Amazon nowadays that are 3" or 4" and do not give as much height. The foam was so firm I could kneel on it to change his blanket and not sink in. If he laid on it, that meant he was 8" off the floor when he put his feet on the floor to stand up, which was easier than if he was lying down at floor level. It also made it easy for him to lie back down. I kept it covered with a blanket. I think you could achieve the same thing with a twin mattress if it isn't one of the super thick ones. I imagine my dog was about the same size as your Lab. He was a Golden Retriever. It was way easier for him than lying on the floor. Here is a picture of his bed but it does not show how high it was. I'm afraid you'll have to take my word for it, it was thick. It's kind of like the difference for an older human. They can stand up from sitting on a chair better than the floor, and they can stand up from a firm cushion better than a soft sofa they sink down into. You may wonder if the firm futon surface caused a pressure sore, compared to a fiberfill dog bed. No! It was great.
He had a belly band because he was peeing in the house, and I put straps on it to make handles I could grab, which made it double as a rear harness, so I could help him to his feet if he was struggling to get up. You can see him wearing it in a couple of pictures. There are a lot of rear harnesses to help you assist your dog to get up. I found this was easiest for us, because I didn't want to have to work around a walking harness every time I changed his pad in his belly band. If your dog doesn't have any incontinence issues, then a regular belly harness would work.
The other thing we did was, I took the back seat out of the car, to make it easier to load him in. There are a lot of ideas on getting your dog in the car, and it would depend on what kind of vehicle you have. We had a station wagon, and by taking out the back seat and parking it next to the curb, it was easy to walk him into it. I will attach a couple of photos. There is a whole article about it, but right now the Wayback Machine is not working like normal. The first one shows the removed seat and the second one shows it lined up against the curb ready to walk into. You can see how much easier it is than trying to have him stand on the driveway and place his front feet up onto the back seat of the car when he is no longer able to jump.
- 400px-After.jpg (46.83 KiB) Viewed 17150 times
- 400px-Curb.jpg (64.66 KiB) Viewed 17150 times
