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Does glucosamine/chondroitin work in animals?

hoghaven_duluthmn

17 years ago

Hi. The vet recently prescribed glucosamine/chondroitin for my German Wirehair hunting dog for arthritis in her hips and leg joints. I see there is also a GC supplement available for horses. Has anyone tried this with their animals and what conclusions did you draw?

Andi

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Comments (9)

erinluchsinger
17 years ago
I used to give my Bernese Mtn. Dog glucosamine. But, it takes a LOT and some time to work. I think she was getting 1000 mg a day, which isn't cheap. Also takes 6 or more weeks to kick in. But, I do feel it helped her. She had severe arthritis in her hips, so she was also on an anti-inflamatory (also not cheap) which seemed to help w/ her discomfort.
johanna_h
17 years ago
My dog seemed to be slowing down when he was about 6 (he's a large dog). Slow off the couch, not running as much, and so on. I used a powdered horse supplement on his food for a year or so. Doing the math to figure out how much to sprinkle on his food was the hard part! It does take a while to get established in their systems, but I felt it made a difference. After that year or so I stopped adding it when I ran out. He didn't backslide -- my theory is that since he'd felt better, he exercised more and regained muscle tone. Now I have a second dog to keep him acive!

Johanna
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For the last year, I have been taking a glucosamine and chondroitin mix and have not noticed much change, but then, my joints were in pretty good shape when I began. My wife claims is best used as a preventative, rather than to cure after the joint is damaged. In other words, don't wait until you have painful joints; begin at the first sign of joint discomfort of before. I get mine at Sams Club. The quantity is a bit large, but it is less expensive than at a convential drug store. The only caveat is a warning: do not take if you are allergic to shell fish. Recently, I read that a company is close to releasing a version without shell fish content and that should be safer for the allergic. The bottle label also discloses that this product has not been through study trials with the FDA. The FDA's position is that it may work, and again, it may not. They have no comment. Apparently, there has been no danger in taking the drug provided that you do not have an allergic reaction to it.
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Animals show pain by not doing things they used to do, like not being able to get up from lying down without help, not jumping, not playing, not running around like usual. They very rarely whine or cry except with acute pain, like being hit by a car. Even then, they aren't crying by the time we see them in the ER. Pain meds are great for older animals. Often people don't realize that their pet is in pain, and that pain is the reason that they don't do the things they used to do. It is more difficult to assess when the animal also has vision or hearing troubles, because that also makes the animal not want to move around as much as before. Pain meds are not without risk. Pets who will be on NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) need to have a complete chemistry panel and CBC prior to starting the medication to be sure the liver and kidneys in particular are able to metabolize the drugs. Then they must be monitored on a regular basis. The owners must watch for signs of problems, such as decreased appetite, vomiting, increased lethargy. But most animals do great on NSAIDs. Without knowing the cause of the dogs pain, NSAIDs are a good first choice. For a GSD sometimes their pain can be neurologic, like with degenerative myelopathy or cadua equina syndrome. In these cases, NSAIDs alone may not be enough. My own rottie K'Ehleyr has a terrible back, and recently had trouble getting up from lying down and some other neurologic problems. I thought for sure she'd need back surgery or be paralyzed. But after 2 MRIs, they couldn't find a specific cause for her trouble, and we just switched out one of her pain meds for another. She was on rimadyl (an NSAID) and tramadol (a synthetic opioid) for over a year with good results. But since we thought that she was having neurologic trouble, we switched her tramadol for gabopentin, which originally was used as an anti-seizure drug but it turns out to be good for controlling neurologic pain. She's doing MUCH better now. She has also been on glucosamine HCL 1500mg, chondroitin sulfate 1200mg, duralactin, fish oil, and vitamin E since I got her 2 years ago. She was a wreck when I got her, but between all that and significant weight loss (she was also fat, which didn't help) she is doing really well. In short, there are a lot of options for pain control in dogs. Sometimes it takes a little time working out which options are best. I would definitely try some sort of pain management on a dog who was having the symptoms you described. Could make a big difference in the quality of life for the dog. I know GSDs who have lived to 16, so 13 is old, but not unheard of.
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patrick_nh
17 years ago
Erin's comments are right on. I've seen it prescribed more and more by veterinarians. It doesn't work for every animal, but those with the best succes are the ones who's owners are good at sticking with it for the long term, especially for those first several months until they start to see some results.
Dibbit
17 years ago
There are also other, herbal products that might help, instead of or in conjunction with the glucosamine/chondroitin, which may allow you to use less of the expensive stuff. I don't remember all the names off hand, but if you look for products with Boswellia, Devil's Claw, Turmeric, these will also give anti-inflammatory effects. There's a product for horsess called Bute-less (or, it USED to be called that, may have changed) for those horse owners who were worried about the long-term effects of bute on the gastric system - I can attest to that one working for my brother's horse - and I think it can also be used for dogs, adjusting the dosage. There's another called DGP, which originated in Australia, but can be found here - the anecdotal evidence says it works. They all will probably take at least 3 weeks to work, maybe 4-6 weeks for the full effect to be seen. They might be less money than the glucosamine/chondroitin. Try googling Hilton Herbs products - I think they also make products for dogs as well as horses.
acorn
17 years ago
My horse is 29 and for the past two years I have been giving him a cookie (called Majesty's flex wafers) with MSM, Chondroitin, yucca, Glucosamine and vitamin C. He runs in pasture and has been sound for riding. On a cold day we would both limp out in the morning after a month of cookies, he was danceing and running. I watched him and said to myself,
"I need to eat those cookies" lol
Miss_Kitty
17 years ago
I have two 19 year old horses, one with bad hocks who we can barely get shoes on. I tried some really expensive supplements for him. What they get now is MSM a cheap powder we get at the feed store for $14 a pound. Considering that horse supplements can go for $75 for 2 lbs, that's hugely cheap.

I read years ago that vitamin C would help dogs with hip problems, but that was back in the 80's, haven't seen anything else about it.

Good luck!
Kitty
hoghaven_duluthmn
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the input! I was feeling kinda bad about dropping the $$$ for that bottle of pills. I think I will order some of the GC horse formula and break it down to her weight. I do like to be open to the alternative meds. Have personally seen horses respond to massage therapy and have seen documentaries on dogs responding to acupuncture. Animals don't have the hypochondria and placebo effect working against them. Hmmm. . .I think my knees have been a little achey lately. . .
ladybug1
17 years ago
I'll tell you what I have used for all my animals as well as myself. I am completely sold on Hyaluronic Acid. My old gelding actually creaked when walked. After about a week on that stuff the creaking stopped. You can buy a 3 month supply for about $90. They also sell it in a dosage for dogs and a dosage for people. I have used it for my achy fingers. I tried glucosamine and chondriton for myself and was unimpressed to say the least.

Try it. I think the website is www.hyalun.com
balsam
17 years ago
Informative post! I just bought a supplement for my German Shepherd a couple of weeks ago - she's 9 and really minding the cold and snow this winter. Wants to be outside, but she can barely move after half an hour out. So....I talked to a local vet and got something called Nutriaid HA. She gets 10 mg a day with food. The container was $43 CDN, but is enough for 80 days dosage, so not a bad price. Vet said it will/may take some time to have effect (4 to 6 weeks). Here is the ingredient list:
Hyaluronic acid
Glucosamine
Chondroitin
Ascorbic Acid
Manganese Sulphate

All the good stuff mentioned above. I AM interested in that BUTELESS or DGP, though. I'm going to see what I can find out tomorrow at the feed store. Thanks for all the tips everyone!

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