Glucosamine

[.unknown.]

I have recently learned that my 7yr old Rotti mix may have arthritis in her hips and the Vet advised us to give her 1000mgs of Glucosamine/day.

So, I am wondering if anyone has experience with administering it and if so...how?

Can I open the capsules and sprinkle on her food? Has your dog had any negative reaction to glucosamine?

Did it actually work?

Right now, Luna's exhibiting slight muscle loss in her hips - 5lbs overall weight loss since her last visit. She has difficulty getting up and down stairs and takes a long time to get out of her chair. SooOooo We are giving her glucosamine for one month and monitoring her movement, if it gets worse we'll take her in for another check up.

[sugarcatmom]

I have a 15 yr old cat that takes a glucosamine/chondroitin combo called Cosequin. I just open the capsule and mix it in with his food. In his case it definitely made a difference. He had a pretty pronounced limp and I started giving him 2 caps a day for 6 weeks, then 1 cap/day for maintainance. It did take about 6 weeks before I noticed a difference, but he is now limp-free.

Hope it works for your pup!

[geisha]

My senior samoyed age 13 has been on Glucosamine for 2 years. She is currently on Glucosamine 250 mg and Condroitin 100 mg. She has a sensitive tummy
I was a sceptic until I went to a conference on chronic pain in humans. The faculty of dentistry gave a talk on Glucosamine and TMJ and I was very impressed.

[hazelrunpack]

We use Cosequin DS for four of our current dogs. We've also used it with dogs we've had in the past. Some dogs respond better than others, but we've seen remarkable improvement in joint movement overall. We open up the capsules and sprinkle it over the food, too. If Luna is hesitant to eat it, add a little plain yogurt (maybe a TBSP, and make sure it has no artificial sweeteners in it), stir it into the kibble, and sprinkle over that. Ours usually eat it without having to tempt them with the yogurt, though.

[.unknown.]

Luna is in love with Yogurt.
However, since her bout with pancreatitus she has difficulties digesting anything that isn't her dog food. Although, i've been too scared to give her anything like yogurt... Maybe it will be ok since it's good for their digestion anyway?

[dmc123]

Our vet advised us recently to give Rudy glucosamine, 500mg along with his liver treatment. I was concerned about trying to get 2 pills in him daily. Fortunately, roomie found orange flavored chewable glucosamine - Rudy loves them. So after the pill gets pushed in - he gets a nice chewy treat.

Good luck,
Diane

[luckypenny]

I've never had to give glucosamine to my dogs but, I've been taking it with chondroitin & msm and it's made a world of difference for me .

dmc123, if you have a small mortar and pestle, you can just crush up the pills (if you can't find capsules) and mix it in Rudy's food.

[dmc123]

luckypenny, funny you said that. I just ordered a tablet crusher from petsmart. But I know my Rudy, when I used to crush pills for him and put in with food, he knew it, and wouldn't eat it.

I bought the crusher for all these other dogs and cats I have, might come in handy.

Diane

[Longblades]

We gave our 56 lb Lab a 900mg Glu/Chon twice a day with Vet's OK. We noted satisfactory improvement in her arthritis and were happy with the results. We used the same tablets we take ourselves, (much cheaper than Vet version) again with the Vet's OK. BEing a Lab, she would eat anything so we just dropped the tablet on top of her food and, GULP, down it went. On the odd time it didn't a peanut butter or cheese whiz wrap helped.

Lately I have been reading that the Chondroitin component is now thought to be of little effect in mature people or dogs. Previously we had understood it actually helped in repair of slight damage to cartilage by stimulating small amounts of re-growth. But now some studies say no, it doesn't.

Also reading that the liquid is absorbed by the body more readily than pills or tablets or powder. Not as convenient though and could maybe counteract by upping the dosage, but not without consulting the VEt.

Edited to add, yes some dogs cannot tolerate it. My sister's BC got bloody stools from it and she was advised to not give it to him.

Editing again: Muscle LOSS? Not loss of muscle tone from reduced exercise? And I wonder about the weight loss. If a dog is arthritic and begins to move around and exercise less wouldn't there be weight GAIN? Rather than loss?

[Sylvie]

I have all four of my furkids on the pill. However if you are giving them the capsules, you should break them open, as the coating sometimes will not disintegrate and therefore they do not get all the benefits.

I myself take the same pill. So we all share, I have seen a marked difference in my guys except the golden, whose arthritis is slowly getting worse.

Good luck

[erykah1310]

When I first got Puppy there was no doubt in anyones mind he had hip problems as well as arthritis.
The vet recommended that he take glucosamine as well, however, we had the best results with him while giving him glucosamine/condriotin/msm tablets.

I would sprinkle the contents of the pill on his food at first, but after a while he looked forward to his pills by hand?!?!
It takes a few weeks to notice a difference but there definately is a difference.

Also, after doing a whole lot of research on the internet and talking with the holistic vet as Puppy was so severe, I started giving him apple cider vinegar as well with his water.
To be honest, i saw the greatest results with that.

I highly recommend starting the glucoseamine right away, for the most part it does show improvement.

[Frenchy]

Sam and Bailey are on it , and all the older dogs I foster get some too. I just put the pill in their food and they eat it this way. Putting it in a piece of banana , or putting some peanut butter on it works well too.

[JamesO]

We had a mixed breed dog who had trouble with his joints for years. For the last five or more years of his life, we had him on glucosamine/chondroitin which we sprinkled in his food. He lived to the ripe old age of 18, and we believe that the glucosamine/chondroitin helped him to lead a better and more active life. He would have been much worce without it. Although the vets sell this product, we always bought the house brands from Walmart or drug stores because it was much cheaper (same product).

[Purpledomino]

Yep...the Walmart brand is what I give my big dogs. I just throw a couple capsules or tablets in their food and they wolf it down. A long time ago my vet prescribed it from her office....and the price difference was through the roof! If you want the fancy bottle with the puppy on it, get it from the vet....

[corgpinmom]

Ther is another way to give your dog Glucosamine - there is a supplement called Missing Link - YOu mix it in your dogs food - Missing Link with glucosamine - can get in 1 lb bags and 5 lb bags - I give it to my older dogs. Helps with many joint problems.

[rainbow]

Originally Posted by .unknown.

Luna is in love with Yogurt.
However, since her bout with pancreatitus she has difficulties digesting anything that isn't her dog food. Although, i've been too scared to give her anything like yogurt... Maybe it will be ok since it's good for their digestion anyway?

If you buy the plain organic fat-free yogurt it should be okay.

I give my 90 lb. lab glucosamine/chondroitin 900mg. three times a day.

I would also ask your vet about getting cartrophen shots for Luna.

[Longblades]

Cartrophen Vet is a miracle drug. We noticed almost immediate improvement after our girl's first shot. If it was available for people yet I'd be first in line.

That said, I took our girl off it. It will sound contradictory but the key to managing our girl's arthritis, which was in her right front shoulder, was to increase her exercise. She and I both were doing the weekend warrior thing and she just couldn't do it anymore, as aging baby boomers are finding they can't either. Instead of 3 and 4 hour hikes or 12 km cross country skiis on the weekend only I inserted one longer than usual midweek outing. It was hard to schedule a longer or further outing in the middle of my work week but I did and it helped her immensely.