My dog Molly is a German Shepherd/Collie cross and I hope she doesn`t mind me saying this, but she weighs 25kg (55lbs or 3st 13lbs) so she isn`t a hige dog, but big enough to have some weight on her joints.
I noticed a few winters ago that she was struggling to get up the stairs or jump onto the settee. After she had been laid down for a while she would be very stiff getting up, the problem was also much worse if earlier in the day we had been out for a marathon-esque jaunt in the fields and woods. I looked into a ‘joint aid’ type supplement for her but was a little surprised by the cost.
I found three popular dog joint aid products on the market, the average monthly cost for a dog of Molly’s size was £16. That’s a lot to pay out each month, atop other costs of sharing your life with a dog. Molly’s happiness and health are of paramount importance so I was about to resign myself to this additional expense. I thought I would conduct a little research to see what ingredients the joint pills actually contain, see what I was getting for my money.
There were some common ingredients that are readily available for human equivalent conditions. The ingredients cropping up most often and in quantity order are
The ingredients are the same as recommended for humans, just in smaller quantities for dogs. I worked out that if I were to buy these myself and split them into dog sized portions it would cost less than £1.50 per month! Compare that to £16 per month for pre-made joint aid tablets and I am happy to put some elbow grease in to create the dog sized portions.
Glucosamine is used to support the structure and function of joints, chondroitin is an important structural component of cartilage between the joints, calcuim is for bone health, green lipped mussel help maintain joints and is an anti-inflammatory used to aid arthritis and hyaluronic acid again helps maintain healthy joints.
Molly has some arthritis so I wanted to give her all the help I can so I give her all of them but I know of people who just give glucosamine or a combination. I found a single tablet that provides glucosamine, chondroitin and calcium in one, half the tablet provided the exact same amounts as in the commercially available joint aid, she has half a tablet at each meal.
Brilliantly, within just a few days Molly seemed to improve dramatically. She very rarely looks as though moving is difficult, she readily runs upstairs and jumps onto the settee even in mid winter chilliness. I was so impressed that when my knees began to ache in the evenings after I increased my triathlon training I took some of her tablets myself, my ache cleared and my times reduced.
I’m not a vet nor do I have any medical background. I researched thoroughly and asked my local vet before I gave Molly the joint aid for dogs, but if you get the go ahead I strongly recommend buying the human counterparts and chopping up the tablets into dog sized quantities. You can also buy glucosamine for dogs at at many places.
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