Now that we officially adopted Storm, and need to trim him down and get him exercised, I want to make sure I support his joints and hips properly especially with the extra weight he's carrying around.

I've tried Myristin (what Ginger is on) and he doesn't like it - it's a tablet. He'll eat around it. I've tried Nupro, which 'makes a delicious gravy' according to their label, and he doesn't eat all his food. I've tried covering the Myristin tablet in cheese, but that'll be one big piece of cheese and sandwiching the tablet between cheese doesn't work as he'll figure a way to only eat the cheese and spit the tablet out.

If there's another good joint supplement that dogs will go crazy over, please let me know.

Have you tried crushing the pills and putting it in his food? That's the only way Mya will eat hers!

I'm going to try that today for Storm's lunch. This morning, he didn't eat all his food which had Nupro, and I hate wasting the supplements, especially the Myristin because the bottle cost me $80! The initial loading dose for Storm at his current weight is 5 tablets/day! I hope crushing the tablets works! Ginger just eats them plain!

Kody eats his supplements plain too. No issues at all, but Mya...geez! I tried the cheese thing, the hot dog thing, the forcing her to eat it thing....none worked..LOL! I crush them so well that you can't even tell it's in there. Plus i had a few green beans and that helps I'm sure.

Wow 5 tablets! That's a lot!

MelissaI wrote:

Kody eats his supplements plain too. No issues at all, but Mya...geez! I tried the cheese thing, the hot dog thing, the forcing her to eat it thing....none worked..LOL! I crush them so well that you can't even tell it's in there. Plus i had a few green beans and that helps I'm sure.

Wow 5 tablets! That's a lot!

He's super size! LOL!
That's just the initial load, but it's still 3 months worth of that dose, then maintenance is 2.5 tablets.

He sometimes likes the Nupro, but he didn't eat all his breakfast, so I'm just wondering if that's just him settling in because he ate all his lunch, licking his bowl clean....which meant he was either hungry, or he prefers THK Force instead of Zeal...

Before I go crushing 2 tablets for dinner, I'm going to try Force with his kibble again with Nupro to see if he licks his bowl clean again. If he does, I'll stick with Force, and slowly transition him to Force.

I have glucosamine supplement which is like a tube where you squeeze it in a glass full of water then drink it. It's a joint supplement and an energy provider as well but I don't think it can also be used for dogs.

My brother in law has to give his cocker spaniel glucosamine and was advised by his vet to use the same supplement that adults use. He gets large bottles at Walmart for cheap and cuts the pills in half. I have a hard time getting miko to take pills so I gob them in peanut butter and stick them on the back of her tongue. This forces her to swallow the pill.

Easy way to avoid the pill rejection is to buy capsules. I give Adobo & Biko the same stuff Beth & I use but open the cap and sprinkle it over the kibble and mix it with my hand, never had a problem that way.

Here4thePics wrote:

Easy way to avoid the pill rejection is to buy capsules. I give Adobo & Biko the same stuff Beth & I use but open the cap and sprinkle it over the kibble and mix it with my hand, never had a problem that way.

That's exactly what I do for my dogs' supplements! Just pull open the capsule and mix the powder in with their food.

Siku turns three next month, and on his 3rd birthday is when our holistic vet wanted to start his glucosamine.

Which is considered better, the supplement route such as nupro silver or the pill directly for a dog that young?

We have Keno on glucosamine chew supplements. Our vet said since his HD is so severe the supplements were better because they have other things in there to help other areas, where the pill would just be the glucosamine and nothing else. If you are adding it as just a preventative I would think the pill would be fine, but if you are combating an issue like hip dysplasia the supplement will have added benefits to help other problem areas.

I highly recommend this company:

http://www.thewholisticpet.com/products/canine-product-line/health-care-supplements.html/

Our dogs are on a raw diet, and I buy these powders to mix into their food. They actually will eat the powder by itself without all of the meat and fish oils, etc. They love it! I bikejor long distances with my dogs, so I make sure they get their daily supplements.

Hope that might help give you another option. I tried the powder pill and gel tablets in the beginning, and didn't enjoy wrestling or tricking my dogs to eat it. Now I don't have to worry about it ever again.

These are all great tips I have been considering getting my guys on something other than the omega3 they are on as a preventive. Also because I plan on being super active with them and I want to protect there joints too.

This topic has rested long enough, it's time to wake it up again ...

Sasha has developed a limp and the vet seems to think that it's arthritis creeping up on her overweight condition.

I've started using TRP-Synovial-FLEX from my vet to get her started on a glucosamine cocktail (glucosamine / chrondroiton / MSM) but at US$2.00 a day there have to be better options.

I've looked around the web and the old standby Drs Foster & Smith have Joint Care Level 2 for US$29.59 (150 tablets) which would be a two month supply (glucosamine - 500mg; chrondroiton - 400mg; msm 500mg)

I had Sasha spayed shortly after I got her and we cannot keep the weight off her; she swears I'm starving her to death.  Since she's been good about staying close to me (about 200 feet or so) I've been letting her run of an evening and this does nothing except help convince her stomach that her throats been cut.

Any suggestions from anyone regarding a "joint cocktail" that is both effective and cost appropriate?

Silly dog's setting there telling me that it's past time for supper ... but she won't tell me what she did with her food bowl!!!

Just feed chicken feet. You can also get duck and turkey on some pet food websites but an asian market will often sell really cheap chicken feet. It contains many of the things joints need in a natural form and dogs love to chew on them. Instead of forcing down a pill you get to give a treat.

I could feed chicken feet but the chicken would still be attached and someone might object! I'm lucky in that Sasha doesn't have a big problem with pills, as far as she's concerned they're a treat - I would have a problem with chicken feet since I have two dogs and Sasha's food possessive and Avalanche would want some of that too. I live out in the middle of nowhere and some people have tried to get steaks from the steak houses up in the midwest and they tend to not be solid when they get here. In between UPS and some very high temps it's not a good combination.

When we were somewhere allowed to breed chickens (we can have them here but not roosters) we used to feed chickens whole with feet on. Chicken feet are nearly all connective tissue and cartilage. It does not go bad like muscle meat or organ. I'm not sure how many days of heat it would take to cause a problem. I've never had them show signs of going bad and sometimes I forget things on the stove thawing until I smell them a few days later. After forgetting the turkey necks for the 3rd time I decided the package should not even be opened. I've never had chicken feet problems. Other sources of chicken feet can come from any local farmers that butcher their own or places that sell bulk amounts of poultry. Much like getting a whole animal butchered for yourself and being able to ask for the bones lots of places you can ask for the feet or heads of poultry.

We give one a couple times a week to all the dogs. Age doesn't matter and it's cheaper to feed 4 dogs chicken feet than 1 dog glucosamine tablets with more joint supplement than just glucosamine in them. Mine are all trained to take their treat to their blanket since I have 4 with 2 being akitas. No one steals from anyone else. We have very strict food rules so we don't have to do the separation others do while feeding treats and meals of raw. Otherwise those that feed raw or just raw treats usually send them to a crate or different rooms. The young husky is a little slow to eat hers still. She often takes 5-10mins. The others will crunch a chicken foot in a minute or 2 so there is hardly time for an argument to erupt over it.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/ya/ref=yo_ii_bia_view?ie=UTF8&a=B0041OOQ1K&ac=bia&ir=0&iv=&mid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&oid=002-8450009-9093062&t=Nutramax%2084%20Count%20Dasuquin%20with%20MSM%20Soft%20Chews%20for%20Large%20Dogs

This is what i use for S&J

It has worked great for them, been using it for a few yrs now. I use the larger sz for the added dose

<< laughing >> other than it kept trying to go to your account it looks good. What is Amazon Smile?

If I'm reading this right then that should be one chew per dog per day?

aljones wrote:

I've started using TRP-Synovial-FLEX from my vet to get her started on a glucosamine cocktail (glucosamine / chrondroiton / MSM) but at US$2.00 a day there have to be better options.

I've looked around the web and the old standby Drs Foster & Smith have Joint Care Level 2 for US$29.59 (150 tablets) which would be a two month supply (glucosamine - 500mg; chrondroiton - 400mg; msm 500mg)!

For years now I have used the standard grocery store variety: Sams Club, Walmart (Members Mark) or Kroger human brand pills of Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM Complex. Back in the late 90s / early 2000 my husband asked our vet about Gluco and she said it is great for dogs if you can find a brand that works. She was not sure that a lot of the "dog brand" supplements were better for dogs or actually working. They definately had more appealing flavors added to them though. We stated hubs took human ones for years and swore by them so ...So we started giving them to our dog with her guidance. She stated that the first month should be of a higher build up dose then to taper to less for a lower daily dosage once it built up in the system after the first month. We started with a am and pm dose then weaned to a single pill.

(These brands are the generic of osteo biflex with MSM.)

Over all these years I have found that you can get this "product" in a very flexible manner = large $30-40 bottles of this stuff in single, double, or triple strength depending whether you want 1000mg in one to 3 pills. I also found out that you can almost always get them buy one get one free at our grocery. So some times they take one pill some time two pills a day it depends on what dosage was on sale.

Nowadays there are so many more dog supplement or pills on the markets for the dogs but we never switched because we (hubs and I) both take the pills and it is just easiest for the dogs to be on the same. Downfall: some people think that the binders in the human tablets are not good (whether for human or dog) so then the supplements would be better.

I've researching joint supplements again lately as Storm now has early signs of arthritis in his hips. Comparing what was prescribed by the vet to what I had him on, and reading through other information on arthritis and inflammation, I've come to realize that a slightly higher dose of glucosamine, condroitin, MSM and anti-inflammatory ingredients is what I'm going to go with.

Dasuquin is good, but it only has glucosamine and MSM. Nupro Joint (silver container) is good and pretty inexpensive but that too only has glucosamine and MSM (I used to use Nupro). Cosequin has glucosamine, condroitin and MSM, but check prices on Dr. Fosters website - or shop around for prices.

What I have found that has a lot of good stuff which I will be going back to is Connectin because it's the only joint supplement (that I have found) that also has natural anti-inflammatory ingredients.

Connectin (1 scoop):
glycosaminoglycans (or mucopilysacchrides) = 1200mg <== another form of glucosamine
glucosamin = 625 mg
condroitin/hyaluronic acid = 1200 mg <== rebuilding of tissue
yucca root = 1200 mg <== anti inflammatory
alfalfa = 500 mg <== vitamin to help absorb
turmeric and ginger = each 50 mg <== natural anti inflammatory

http://www.amazon.com/Clover-Connectin-Joint-Supplement-Powder/dp/B001EA8ZY8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431613613&sr=8-1&keywords=connectin

I bought the big tub and it lasted about 6 weeks for both Ginger and Storm (1 scoop for Storm and 3/4 scoop for Ginger).

Hope this helps!

aljones wrote:

Any suggestions from anyone regarding a "joint cocktail" that is both effective and cost appropriate?

I make my own "Joint cocktail" for Dakota using generic supplements from a couple different stores. It's more time consuming than the ready-made/pre-mixed stuff but it saves us money in not having buy the expensive stuff marketed for such purposes. You can find my supplement regimen in the "Dakota's having trouble standing - Arthritis" thread (on page 3). Feel free to PM me if you care to know where and what products I order.

Al, amazon smile is amazon but everything i buy on smile a small portion of my order goes a rescue and with ordering all the dogs meds monthly it will add up over the yr.

yes they each get one chew a day

We use Wholistic Canine Complete Joint Mobility with Green Lipped Mussel. Some of their products have shark cartilage, so we avoid those, as we don't want to support the killing of sharks. We also don't support the killing of wolves, but that's a different "top predator" subject. Ha!

http://www.thewholisticpet.com/

http://www.thewholisticpet.com/canine-product-line/health-care-supplements/wholistic-canine-complete-joint-mobilitytm-with-green-lipped-mussel.html

The Joint Mobility has great reviews and was even recommended by our local raw food store (Meat For Cats and Dogs) back in Portland, Oregon. I've done a lot of research into this company's products and everyone says positive things about their dogs overcoming or minimizing whatever medical problems they had. Our dogs don't have arthritis or hip/elbow dysplasia, but supposedly these products are great at helping fight those, so we use the powder as a preventative since the dogs are so active with bikejoring.

This supplement is a powder that we mix into the dogs' "supplement meal" and they gobble it up. We throw 2 large scoops in their bowl along with raw eggs, Springtime Bug Off Garlic, organic virgin coconut oil, Sojos Fruits/Veggies, chunks of meat (rotating through fish, pork and beef) and its blood, leftover chicken blood, salmon oil, ground egg shells, and chicken liver chunks. I stir it all up into a room temperature stew. There's enough blood and meat flavor, plus everything else, that it helps them "desire" to eat it all together so they get everything they need.

Not sure what amounts you're looking for, but search that site and see if they have anything with the right ratios of glucosamine. Good luck!

Just realized there was a page 1, and that this is an old thread where I already posted about Wholistic Canine Complete. Whoops!