Arthritis

[Newfs Forever]

Dex (8 1/2 yo) seems to have some arthritis in his right shoulder or elbow.

From an holistic standpoint, what do you folks use for this?

He's already getting roughly 2000mg glucosamine daily. He is on Bioprin (for pain) which is natural also.

Any other holistic suggestions?

TIA,

 

[Pam G]

Hogan, who is 7 1/2 also has slight arthritis in one of his elbows. We saw a great improvement with DS cosequin. He gets 4 a day. We also got a prescription of Metacam..which is the same as meloxicam..for when he is sore from alot of exercise. We just use as needed and so far have only had to give it to him when we were up in vermont hiking....but it does help. It is supposedly safer than rimidyl.

[ 07-09-2005, 06:55 PM: Message edited by: Pam G ]

 

[Leslie]

I'm so sorry about the arthritis. That's gotta hurt!

I would keep with Chondroitin and add Cetyl Myristylate (CM). It's a natural product that helps thicken and re-establish the synovial fluid in the joints. I would also add hesperiden and rutin (two bioflavinoids) to help open up the blood vessels in the joints. And don't forget good old-fashioned MSM too.

But if you do just one thing, make it the CM. Try it for a month and see. It's really pretty amazing.

Good Luck!

 

[Newfs Forever]

Thanks folks,

Leslie - where do you get your products?

TIA,

 

[Newfs Forever]

Pam,

I won't consider rimadyl unless it was the absolute LAST resort. And even then, I would certainly have to deliberate. But, I am old enough now that I do say, "Never, say NEVER".

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

Rimadyl does work wonders for some dogs, as it did for my old lab. It does seem to cause more problems for labs for some reason. You have to try it on a short term basis and see if the benefits outweigh the negatives. Blood tests help determine if there are any negative effects on your dog.
Cosequan DS is a good alternative too.

[ 07-10-2005, 06:44 AM: Message edited by: NewfYork ]

 

[ornella]

I've also seen amazing results with cetyl-M (that Leslei suggested). Dogs who were on rimadyl for a while could stop with it after cetyl-M was introduced. It does wonders!
You can fint it at: Cetyl-M

 

[Leslie]

We have some great health food stores here and they have CM and the other products as well. If yours doesn't carry it, they can probably order it for you.

Springtime Inc. sells a joint supplement called Joint Health which has glucosamine, chondroitin, rutin, hesperiden, vitamin C and MSM in it already. They're at Springtime

I'll keep my fingers crossed that you have good results!

 

[Newfs Forever]

I have used the Springtime Joint Health. However, Dex never really tested well for it.

 

[littlerosieuk]

Hi

We are having very good results with Green Lipped Mussel 500 mg twice per day.

Bella has arthritis of the knee and hardy limps at all on this. Best results on anything we have tried including Rimadly which I think is something to take only for a week or two.

Janet

 

[Michelle]

I have had amazing results with a product called Flex Agility Max. It has Vitamin C, hops, ginger, green tea, but most importantly Bromelain. Bromelain is an extract from pineapple. I started Wrigley on it when he was having growing pains, now he just has it as needed. He also gets Glucosamine and Chondroitin and MSM. Flex Agility can be purchased at a health food store, and I checked all of the ingredients with my vet.

 

[R Taft]

This is one area where i sadly had a lot of experience with Abbey. We used a herbal mixture that had her moving freely incredibly quickly.
In Australia it is called Canine Senior from Meadow Sweet, but I have since found several herbalists that work with horses and dogs who make it or very similar.The important thing are all the beniftial herbs. Contains,Devil's claw Nettle, Clivers, Kelp,Aniseed,Chamomile
Abbey also had a can of sardines every other day, which she loved. I think animals know what they need. She actually used to lie in our Chamomile patch. Seatone capsules, which is a greenlipped mussle extract and the Glucosamine and it's co-products as mentioned above.
Now the Herbal mix was amazing. When Abbey had her first extreme pain attack at about age 3.5 she would hardly eat. The Herbalist told me to sprinkle the green powder TBSpoon on her food. She ate all of it and the next day she barked for her food. She knew it was right for her. And greatly improved over about six weeks. She also had Bowen treatments(deep muscle therapy) and lots of swimming.And for over four years she did amazingly well. She went from a hardly able to move to a quick moving bulldozer. I hope you can find some help. And please let us know if you find anything else that may help in the future.
If I had listened to our vet we would have treated her for Hip Dysplasia, but I work in a Radiology Dept and the Doc's said it was juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and needed to be treated as such and not have surgery on her hips. Hence she also had the heart attack (at least we are pretty sure). Hope this helps you some, I wish you good luck in your venture, please keep an open mind, cheers Ronnie

 

[Newfs Forever]

Thanks guys for all your input. I will discuss all of this with my herbalist and holistic vet.

NN Rocks! (Thanks, Annie!)

 

[Codes]

Hi Sue,
I swear by Arth 9 which I purchased from Marina. I use this in conjunction with Collagen Complex. Great stuff!! I even used these products on myself when Logan slammed into me and tore my hamstring. You already have a great start with the Bioprin and the items I mentioned will complete that

 

[Newfs Forever]

Hi Mary K.,

Interesting you should mention the Arth 9. I have used that and continue to do so, alternating with Glucosatrin. The only reason Dex isn't on it right now is because the last time he was muscle tested, the Glucosatrin was better than the Arth 9.

But conversely, the time before, the Arth 9 tested better.

Maybe I will just start him up again on the Arth 9.

Nice talkin' atcha!
Take care

 

[IrishMist428]

Just curious Sue, what do you mean by the muscle test?

 

[Newfs Forever]

Hi Patti,

It's kinesiology, essentially. That's what my holistic vet calls it.

 

[IrishMist428]

Thanks Sue. I will have to do a search as I have never heard of this. I was wondering what it was since Akira's leg seems to be a tissue or muscle injury.

 

[BoundlessNewfs]

Kinesiology is explained in Wendy Volhard's book "Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog" (second edition).

We give our dogs Springtime's Joint health chewable tablets, Ester-C (a natural anti-inflammatory), and if the pain is reeeally bothering them, a buffered aspirin helps a lot (but we give these very sparingly...only needed twice this year, so far).