Do young dogs get osteoarthritis?

In veterinary school, we learned the simple truth:

Arthritis arises from abnormal forces on a normal joint, or from normal forces on an abnormal joint.

We also assume that arthritis happens in older dogs and cats and to some extent this is true. But a study published in 2024 suggests that we may be missing arthritis signs in younger dogs.

The study is entitled "Prevalence of radiographic appendicular arthritis and associated clinical signs in young dogs." The study screened 123 dogs of varying ages ranging from 8 months to 4 years for arthritis. They examined them for pain in their joints and also taking radiographs. The results are startling - 39.8% of dogs had abnormalities on radiographs, and about 16% of these dogs were experiencing moderate pain associated with the joint. Of the dogs with arthritis, the owners had noticed a change about 30% of the time.

For me, this raises a whole host of questions. If we caught these young dogs early, could we slow the progression? How many dogs are walking around that are displaying subtle signs of pain, only apparent to the trained eye? What if dogs with "low-key" or "aggressive" personalities are actually painful?

There's no easy fix here. The fact of the matter is that animals can't talk and say something hurts. Their survival instict is to hide pain so this makes early detection even harder. But awareness is the first step and this study is an excellent start.