DOG with joint problems

ryange

I have a twelve year old Dobermann who is starting to suffer with hip joint stiffness.I am curently using vetinary prescribed medicine and supplement tablets but the long term fix is to get special joint food which already has been specially formulated for joint problems.
Has anyone tried any of the special formula dog food which contains supplements especially to help with joint problems. They are fairly expensive but seem to have very mixed reviews across the different brands ?

CJTobin

I don't know anything about these specially formulated dogfoods (could you name a couple of brands?), but our Jack Russell, Alfie, suffers from joint problems, and we add a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement to his dogfood (Ceaser).

Also, we had some glucosamine sticks (Pedigree, I think), that also contained chondroitin, and he seemed to really like them.

He seems to be benefitting from this glucosamine/chondroitin supplement, but it'll be a while before we're sure. It might be a good idea to ask your vet, though.

Irish-Lass

Our dog is currently oh the joint food is the Hill's J/D and she seems to be doing great on it - she is also doing hydrotheraphy and is on cosequin DS daily.

I am not sure where you are based - but if you are based in Dublin or near enough to it drop me a PM as I can get it at cost price which takes about €18/19 off the price the vets are asking that might help you out.

gefpm

i have a 7 year old lab and he is crippled with hip displacment, and arthritus. this is pretty common in dogs. we got tablets from the vet also but they were no good. i looed it up on the internet and found these tablets http://www.arthrix.com/arthrix_plus.htm so i ordered them and am now on my second box. they are fantastic. highly recommended.

Irish-Lass

Looking at the ingredients in same they look to be something along the same line as Cosequin DS - we were getting the Cosequin DS from our vets but they were costing nearly €100.00 for 120 tablets - I ordered them in March from the states and I got 250 tablets for €61.58 which is more then double the tablets and still works out over €30.00 cheaper then what I was paying here.

Linguo

Cod liver oil can help as well on top of medication and has really helped my my dog and my OH's. I hope you find something that helps your dog and makes life easier for him!

kassie

Ryange i would defo recommend this stuff

http://fionnhealth.com/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=45

I used it with my great dane pup (danes need all the bone support they can get) but alot of ppl i know with older danes/dogs use it to help the ease of joint movement and this stuff comes highly recommened by all my doggie friends. It is a little on the expensive side, i recommend to add to the dogs food twice a day but you can add as much or as little as you like

Irish-Lass

in relation to glucosamine - we had our dog on this for awhile - but we were warned by the vet not to overload the system with too much glucosamine as it can cause trouble for the kidneys - when our dog was switched to cosequin ds we were told to stop using the equine glucosamine totally.

spurious

My 17 year old little soldier of indeterminate parentage has arthritis. He has been put on this stuff. It made a really big difference.

Call me Socket

Irish-Lass wrote: »

Our dog is currently oh the joint food is the Hill's J/D and she seems to be doing great on it

I used Hills JD as well for my German Shepherd 2 yrs ago and the difference in her was incredible! I'd highly recommend it. It wasn't til the arthritis developed further that we put her on Metacam- which again made a huge difference to her.

Irish-Lass

spurious wrote: »

My 17 year old little soldier of indeterminate parentage has arthritis. He has been put on this stuff. It made a really big difference.

yes Metacam is a great medication - unfortunately the down side to that medication is that it affects the kidney - our dog was 7 months when she was put on it - as she was such a young dog we looked into alternative treatments that would help her and also get her off the metacam as we didn't want her kidneys to be compromised - so we got her accupunture, started her on hydrotheraphy, switched her food and put her on cosequin ds - result is she is off metacam completely and has been since december, and she is doing great.

It comes down to each dog being different and finding something that suits your dog, what works for one dog may not work for another:D