One of my dogs has been having pretty bad issues with either arthritis or pain from some collapsed tendons in one front foot (either a birth defect or the result of an injury we don’t know about, hard to tell which). Without some kind of help, she’s very, very lame, and painful to even watch walk around.
We dealt with it for a long time with Metacam, a relatively mild drug that seemed to do the trick, but as of last year she became sensitive to it and started throwing up every time we gave it to her. So we switched to rimadyl, which works pretty good but could potentially be hard on the kidneys and liver. And she still limps on it, especially in the mornings, and if she’s been sitting for a long time. During a lot of the day, for example, she won’t walk down stairs at all - a problem in our 2-story house.
A few weeks ago, we happened to be talking to a guy at a social gathering who turned out to be a drug rep for doggy drugs. When we mentioned rimadyl, he said “You should try a joint supplement, it does wonders for some dogs.” OK, he’s a rep for the stuff, so we took it with a grain of salt, but eventually talked to our vet about it and they said it was worth a try.
Fast forward a month. She’s been on Synovial Flex for about 4 weeks now, and damned if I don’t think I see a difference. She’s MUCH less stiff in the mornings when we get up, and though I have to carry her down the stairs first thing, she runs down by herself a fair bit more now.
My gut feeling is such things are more woo than truth, but I may be wrong on this one. Anyone else have any experience with similar products?
Dolly gets glucosamine with chondroitin and MSM in a supplement and it’s been a long time since she started, but I remember noticing a difference. Considering how bad her hips were (I saw photos!) and how well she kept moving, I buy it.
They recently put my brother’s mutt on the same thing and she doesn’t seem stiff at all anymore.
My grandmother uses glucosamine, too. She swears by it.
Yes, they work. Glucosamine and chondroitin. According to my doctor, they work much better on dogs and horses than they do on people. According to my vet, MSM doesn’t do much for dogs, although it is touted. I had a dog with bad elbows from birth who managed to die of hemangiosarcoma at age 11 instead of being totally crippled as his x rays showed he ought to have been. He did limp some eventually. He was on the nutriceuticals from 6 months on.
I agree, Glucosamine had my elderly dog jumping onto my bed a couple days after she was started on it. She hadn’t been able to do that for the previous six months.
While the experience with my dog was that they were helpful, to me it sounds like your dog could already be in too bad of shape to benefit much and also needs a pain reliever like Tramadol.
i used glucosamine with my 10 year old Shar-pei and it gave him 3.5 more years of healthy life- significant difference in his ability to move freely and without joint pain.
Ask your vet first, but my 13 YO dog takes Glucosamine, Tramadol, Fish oil pills, Phycox, and OTC Prilosec (with an occasional dose of Metacam when she overdoes it). Bad right hip, good medicine.
Apologies for the slight hijack (and potentially opening a can of worms), but–
I have never been able to get a straight answer from my vet: Does all this stuff really improve the dog’s joints, or does it “just” eliminate the pain? Vet’s answer–with a 13 YO dog, it doesn’t make much difference. Probably both.
I swear by my mutts regimen. Was just curious if I should make her slow down to reduce future damage (like that’s possible).
Question for those who pill once or more times a day.
How do you do it?
My Zeus (big St. Bernard + Pyrenees ) figures quick how I am giving him a pill and spits it out when I am not looking. He can work around it & eat for a couple of minutes before he drops it behind his dish.
I am impressed with this ability but I need to the meds on his inside, not on the floor.
My mom had a Pyrenees that would spit the pill out when not looking.
I had to take care of her while my mom was away & she wanted me to do this “stuff the pill in some peanut butter & bread” regimen. The dog hated the pill & would always try to sneak off & get rid of it.
–I was raising my own puppy (Belgian Shepherd) at the time & I just opened her mouth, put it all the way back in there & let her go when she swallowed, I gave her a kibble or 2 as a treat.
I got tired of futzing around w/ the Pyr & just started cramming the pill down her throat too. She fidgeted the 1st couple of times, but quickly learned that after she swallowed the pill, she got pill-free peanut butter as a treat instead! I had no more problems giving her a pill after that.
With my Belgian, I got some human-quality (if it comes from Wal-Mart, is it really human-quality?..) Osteo Bi-Flex (with Glucosamine, has to have that as well) powder that the breeder recommended.
I sprinkle half a teaspoon or so on her breakfast 10 days on & 10 days off (unsettling for the stomach if constant). Not sure how effective it is, but the breeder swears by it.
I hope Wal-Mart still has it as I’ve almost finished this can off after 2 years. (I also give a small amount to the kitten we got a month ago.)
–The breeder breeds Belgians for workability & also recommends not being harsh on their joints & limiting their exercise until they’re a year old.
Glucosamine/chondroitin and fish oil worked pretty well for our arthritic terrier. I don’t know if it actually helped the condition or merely made him more comfortable, but I decided it didn’t matter.
Those substances got him along to an age at which the vet could say, “let’s go ahead and put him on regular doses of Rimadyl. He’s old enough that he will most likely die of something else before any liver issues arise, and the Rimadyl will make him feel a whole lot better.” Boy, did it; it really is the closest thing to a miracle drug I’ve ever had personal experience with.
The only solution I’ve found is to buy pills that taste good. For a while, my doggy was on something that was cheap but very, very bitter. I eventually told the vet to find something else, I can’t get her to take it. No matter what I did - pill pockets, ham, peanut butter - she figured it out and either spit the pill out or hid under the table when I tried to get her to take it.
The stuff she’s on now must taste good, because she gobbles it right up.
Our Danes must be on the same thing you’re on, because we fought with pills for a while too, and now they’re chewable and we just kinda say “here, eat this” and they gobble it right up no problem.
We are on our 4th dane, and have given gluc since the first and they worked wonders for us
I’ll pluralize it for you, it’s been a miracle for our 10yr old boxer too. He’s bouncing around like a puppy these days. A 100lb puppy who wants to be in your lap. Somedays I wonder what I was thinking.