I have two labs that are litter mates. They're twelve in October. One is fine mostly. The other is getting stiff in the back legs. What's the best thing to help with this? Vet? Or just buy something? Not cod liver oil. Didn't suit my dog! I've never seen a dog so ill.
Hi Shirley, there are a lot of different dietary supplements available for joint health, the one you hear about most often is glucosamine and chondroitin A recent review was published in the Open Veterinary Journal and concludes that "Based on the available literature, the potential benefits of glucosamine and chondroitin use in osteoarthritic canines can neither be confirmed nor denied." Reviews are a great source of information because they look at a whole range of studies carried out into a single topic and figure out how the evidence weighs up. Sadly, there currently seems to be little evidence at all to support the idea that swallowing glucosamine and/or chondroitin, or any of the other supplements that have are sometimes suggested for helping arthritic dogs, does any good at all. We do know is that NSAIDS relieve some of the symptoms of arthritis (pain and inflammation) in many dogs, and give some old dogs a new lease of life. The downside is that they have side effects. How these two factors balance out for individual dogs will depend on the severity of their joint disease and a range of other factors. It's definitely worth talking to your vet about though, they'll be able to help you decide which treatment, if any, would be appropriate for your dog at this point.
A visit to your vet for a check up and chat would be a good idea and help you go forward with your dog. Although science so far hasn't conclusively proven a benefit in using glucosamine/chondroitin as a supplement it hasn't conclusively proven it's a waste of time and money either. I have a dog with elbow dysplasia which was operated on at 8 months of age, she is now 4. We have an ongoing battle with arthritis and have had since day 1 of her diagnosis. She has received a supplement of glucosamine and chondroitin since she was a year old. We also resort to NSAIDs at times but currently we're just using glucosamine and chondroitin supplement daily, and fortnightly sessions on a water treadmill at our hydrotherapy centre. This is the only regime she has been on since early May and is moving freely and no signs of stiffness or discomfort. So for me although the scientific evidence says there is no real benefit I for one can't rule out that it may be helping - it certainly isn't doing any harm.
Thank you for your replies. I think I will have a trip to the vet. I know she is otherwise fine, she has just had blood tests as she had a general anaesthetic to remove a big wart. She bounced back from that by dinner time that day! I was surprised.
Hello We used glucosamine supplements for our Sadie before she passed. She was in Tramadol for several years which worked really well initially and then when they didn’t work as well she used to get given 6 monthly steroid/non steroidal anti-inflamatory injections which really helped. She was put on metacam but this didn’t agree with her. We also tried hydrotherapy which would have been very beneficial but by this time she had lost faith in her back legs and her sight was diminishing. Speak to your vet, as with humans, each dog responds differently to different medication x
Tilly is on Deramaxx. She gets around OK, but she can't run, only trots at best, but she can still do stairs, and love to swim.
