Ageing dog with mobility issues

[Panicmode1]

I'd like to mine the collective wisdom of MN for my goldie - she's 11.5 and is struggling a bit with her movement. I know that YuMove is the leading brand usually recommended, but I then read something yesterday about it only treating one cause of the issues and it's better to have a broader range of vitamins and supplements? It's such a minefield and I don't want to make costly mistakes as she's 33kgs so it's always more than one tablet needed.

I know I could buy green mussel stuff and turmeric and glucosamine separately, but ideally I'd like an 'all in one' tablet because it's just easier....!

Can anyone recommend a holistic supplement for their older dogs? Or recommend something which they have tried which has worked for them? (She's not very tolerant of anything containing chicken/turkey and many things seem to use that as their default flavour.)

We used a supplement called Nutraquin on an elderly, arthritic terrier. It had some benefits and probably put the need for metacam at bay for a while, but to be honest as he got older Metacam did him the most good. He couldn’t have Yumove because of allergies which included chicken and turkey, but was fine with Nutraquin. It came in a capsule which you could open and sprinkle over food if needed. Made by a company called Nutravet.

Thank you, that sounds good..she does have issues with her spine so maybe it will have to be Metacam, but I'd like to try something 'natural' first.

IMO you need to give both pain relief and joint supplements. If she's struggling to move, she must be in pain. That needs addressing first, as supplements can take a few weeks to have any benefit.

My cocker spaniel has arthritis. She has Metacam and KineticFlex Ultra, Hip and Joint Formula.

My springer has electroacupuncture for her spine issues. That really helps her - alongside a cocktail of daily pain killers.

Riaflex

We used nutraquinn and metacam or loxicom as it was called when we had the old boy.

have you heard of librela. I wish it had been around then

Also used paracetamol

I had great success with my last dog with Yumove Plus, turmeric and just paracetamol twice a day. She couldn’t have metacam as she suffered with colitis and it just made her have constant diarrhoea, but tolerated a dose of paracetamol morning and night for pain relief. The Yumove really improved her mobility and I noticed she could get up much easier after sleeping and was more active on walks/wasn’t hobbling when we got home. Turmeric is supposed to be an excellent natural anti inflammatory so I made golden paste and added a bit into her dinner. Not sure if that actually helped, but it didn’t do any harm!

I've got a 12 3/4 year old cocker spaniel with arthritis. He's on Galliprant from the Vet which has been nothing short of miraculous, along with 1/2 a paracetamol morning and night. Yumove didn't work at all for him but Zoomy (used to be called Caniflow) has also made another massive difference - it's hyaluronic acid and simply added to food daily. He struggles getting on and off the sofa, and into the car but you'd never guess otherwise, in fact he often has to be restrained on the lead to keep him from running too much.

I agree with this, pain relief and supplements. It's not really fair to leave her in pain and if you can keep her moving (with adequate pain relief) that's got to be better for her in the long run. (My dog's on yumove, collagen, librela, gabapentin and pardale as he's very arthritic now, although also still very happy and keen to go on, albeit shorter, walks).

I held off on increasing mine’s pain relief because I didn’t want him to have too many different medications. He’s now 14.5 years old and on paracetamol, tralieve, Gabapentin, rheumocam and amantadine. In the last year, he’s gone from barely sleeping at night which I now realise was poor pain management to sleeping well and walking approx 2 miles a day - split across several walks. Petplan paid for him to be referred to a vet hospital’s pain clinic which quite honestly transformed his pain management and helped me understand how important accurate spacing out of his medication doses was to keeping him stable all day and night.

Thank you all so much for your helpful contributions - it's so hard to know what to do because she's had SO many medical issues in her life, I really don't want to put her through any more medical crap etc, but I obviously don't want her in pain.

I have bought a big tub of joint and mobility supplements for older dogs and have started dosing her with that - I can't see that it will do any harm (glucosamine, green mussel stuff, chodriotin etc) and will take her to the vet to discuss other options. (I have heard good things about Librela)

You really don't want to be jumping to put your dog on Librella before trying other, less strong drugs, such as Metacam/Lixicom and paracetamol. But you do need to speak to your vet and start using management for the poor dog.

Be very wary of librela. Many dogs have suffered terrible side effects and/or died. New side effects are still coming to light.

A grain free diet helps my dog. Her joints get much worse on grains.

Pulse steroids. A lowish dose for a few days worked well.

I think you should read this thread before deciding to go with Librela.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/5478025-librela-yes-or-no

Have you tried organic seaweed? Its good for skin, coat health and bone support.

My 15 year old very stiff lab cross is on Librela, metacam and just started Pardale (paracetamol/codeine). I had him on YuMove as a younger dog but didn’t feel it did anything much. What I have tried recently is a collagen supplement, I thought I’d give it a go and actually I think it has helped him. It’s Collargen by Pawable and I would recommend it.

Have you considered hydrotherapy? Our 13 year old golden retriever was struggling to stand up. Hydrotherapy did wonders for him, even though he didn’t like going in the pool. His back legs were much stronger after only a few weeks, and he no longer struggled to stand up. The cost was also covered by his insurance.

Riaflex is my choice after several hours of reading. The main difference seems to be whether the green lipped mussels are cold sourced or not.
Cold sourced have much higher level of active ingredients and are used by Yumove and Riaflex you would need to check others.
cheaper brands tend to be heat sourced. Nothing wrong with them at all but I’m looking for maximum help.

On a personal level I don’t like Yumove as a company, endless overselling emails and don’t start me on star signs for dogs.
riaflex you order you pay and if you need help there is a knowledgable human on the end of a phone line. it is a powder though not a tablet.

my boy is on Librela it works well for him. It’s not popular on here but recommended by specialist.
good luck.