Dog arthritis

[TisILeclerc]

My sister's dog (a 12yo staffie x) has arthritis in one front leg which is bothering her. Dsis gives her ibuprofen when it is painful but I wondered if glucosamine would do her any good. Having done some investigating today you can buy a special pet glucosamine and chondroitin tablet from Holland and Barrett but I wondered if they are the same as human tablets? Ie, is this the most cost efficient way to purchase what she needs?

If they are specific to pets, then I know dsis will happily buy them without quibbling, but if they can be purchased cheaper then it makes sense to do so.

Any ideas?

Can't help you on the tablets, sorry.
We have a 13yr old staffie who's had arthritis for a year in her front legs. She would limp quite a lot.
We changed her food to hills mobility after speaking to our vet and it's fab. Within 3-4 weeks of her eating it she stopped limping altogether.
She only gets a flare up now if she goes on a extra long walk or over does it running.
Would definitely recommend the food.

Your sister is poisoning her dog and should stop immediately. Any simple Google search will tell you that Ibuprofen is highly toxic for dogs, even in small doses. See this. It is top of the list of common poisons on the VPIB website - see here.

If her dog has arthritis there are lots of safe NSAIDS they can take such as Previcox which will greatly assist in reducing pain and inflammation. However, these should be prescribed by a vet. There are a range of other treatments available such as injections, hydrotherapy etc. but your sister's vet will advise,depending on her dog's condition.

The dog's weight should be kept at a healthy, lean level, the dog should be kept warm and many find it helpful to have something like a memory foam mattress bed.

There are a range of dietary supplements available - ours take Arthri-Aid but this is part of a programme of managed care, in discussion with our vet.

Our pooch is taking glucosamide for arthritis and it's made a big difference in a few weeks. We have been told to get it with condriotin as supposedly even better. We've also been recommended Arthi-Aid which you can buy online and supposed to be brilliant but haven't got around to it. I would definitely get the dog version not human and shop around on line, there are lots of "pet supermarkets" so prices are quite competitive.
Hope he's feeling better soon

Oh the brufen was prescribed by the vet!

I'll check out the arthi-aid though. Thank you.

I would really be concerned about the vet ibuprofen is very toxic to dogs as scuttle has said. In fact I would be wanting to check the state of the dogs kidneys before doing anything else.
With glucosamines the human ones are not suitable for dogs as we require different compounds for it o be bio available. Dogs need Glycosamine hydrochloride and humans need Glycosamine sulphate.

Hmm, ok. Well, she's not long moved from London to where we are now so I'll get her to check everything with her new vet. And I'm glad I asked about the glucosamine. I'll tell her to check around re the pet versions to see where the best deal is. Hopefully it will help treat the issue rather than mask the symptoms.

Thank you for the info btw. I had no idea, but then my dog is in remarkably rude health and has always been so. And things like that are always out of reach because of the dcs. I'll check out that link though as although I'm aware of many of the usual suspects like raisins and chocolate, I'm clearly not as knowledgeable as I should be

Our dog (9) has arthritis in one leg. We give her glucosamine, fish oil and green lipped mussel, hard to tell if they help without stopping them, but we feel better for trying (all human versions BTW). She also has intermittent doses of Metacam (prescription NSAID) during the winter and will probably need more as she ages, but she's mobile enough and happy all summer.

Has there been proven studies to show these supplements actually help dogs or is it just based on theoretical studies?

Metacam from the vet helps our 14yr old lab. He's partial to the pedigree joint sticks with green lipped mussel - so much that when we go on the beach he now scoffs mussel shells as if they're an all you can eat buffet. First time I thought OMG this is going to be an expensive trip to the vet as they shred his insides however there has never been any adverse effect.