We have an Australian Shepherd mix that is at least 11 years old, it was a stray. He has been having problems with his hips or back legs starting back last summer. Some days when we would go walking, he would walk about 100 yards and sit for a while.
My wife started giving him Glucosamine DS and within a few days the improvement was drastic. I admit I was skeptical but now I am a believer. He would run and play with the other 3 Australian Shepherd dogs, all under 4 years old.
A few weeks ago he started getting worse again. I asked my wife about it last week and she said they were out of the medicine she had been getting and bought a different brand. We took an old bottle with us to Tractor Supply and found the correct medicine, they had just updated the label but the ingredients were the same. Once again, within just a few days Pokey is back to his happy jolly self.
This is what she is using. I'm posting in hopes of helping someone else and to see if they get the same positive results.
I'm even considering taking it myself 😉
James
My brother has 2 small dogs that are within 2 years of being the same age. The older dog got very sick and started laying around and not eating. She started losing lots of hair. He took her to the vet and they ran a bunch of tests and said there was nothing they could do. She continued to slide quickly downhill. It was obvious that she was not going to live much longer.
My brother took her to a different vet and they said that she had probably gotten some sort of sickness and never recovered afterwards.
They gave her some steroids. Literally the next day she was a brand new dog. Running down the driveway to meet him after work. It was an un-believable recovery. He tapered the steroids off slowly.
The illness aged her probably 5 years compared to the other younger dog. She is still around though.
We tried Glucosamine DS on one of our older dogs and found it useless.
The product I use, Synflex, is liquid and they make a formula for pet use also liquid.
By reports many an aged dog has found new life while taking the Synflex.
It also works for me.
But can you pee with one leg in the air?:-P
Glucosamine and Dogs and Humans
When my Great Danes got to about 7 or 8 Glucosamine Sulfate kept them around until 11 years or so. They were almost invalid without a daily dose of 4 - 7 tablets of 1,000mg each. A few years back my family doc while going over my supplements saw that I wasn't taking it and he strongly advised that I should take at least one but no more than 2 per day. He said it would prevent my joints from deteriorating with age. He said a person should start when thy are about 40 and he wished he had known about it 30 years ago. He also made the point that only the Glucosamine Sulfate works, the other forms (which seem more popular) don't.
Edit:
I see your using Glucosamine HCL. I would speculate that it's some of the other ingredients that are helping. I would also suggest that using plain Glucosamine Sulfate may be even more effective than what you're seeing with the Glucosamine DS.
HTH.
Glucosamine and Dogs and Humans
I have tried Glucosamine myself in the past and was disappointed. That's the reason I was skeptical when my wife bought it for Pokey. I assumed it may have been something that dogs could digest better than humans when it was evident that it worked.
I didn't know about the glucosamine sulfate, thanks for the tip.
James
Glucosamine and Dogs and Humans
Or one could deduct from your anecdote with the dogs that all supplements are not created equal?
I suggest trying it again, but get from a more well-known document provider.
