Arthritis

Labrador aged nine, been diagnosed with slight arthritis, vet dosnt seen to want the dog on anything but owners think she needs some, so in this situation what are your arthritis dogs on?

Jointsure (similar to Yumove but with more of the active ingredients, and a lot cheaper) and a Bioflow magnet on his collar. I don't know how effective they are, I use them for prevention rather than cure.

I've been hearing good things about a product called Ageility, I don't know what it contains.

Years ago we had a Collie cross that started developing Arthritis, now we were both sceptical about alternative remedies but someone suggested a magnetic collar. Thinking well it wont do any harm we got one, eventually she started moving better and appeared to be in less pain, getting up quicker etc. So we kept it on her. Now obviously it could have been a coincidence but it might have helped.

Sardines,mackerel... Fish with high levels of omega 3.

Used Bioflow magnetic collars for years with a variety of fosters and adopted dogs and also lent the collar to others. Many dogs do seem to benefit but there are odd ones for which it has no effect.

It seems to be the same for people who wear the bracelets - either no effect, or transformational. I thought at least it can't do any harm, and every little helps and all that

All of the evidence from humans show that supplements like glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM can be useful, but aren't any use at all until there are signs of joint disease, so now is probably the time to introduce a good supplement like Yumove or one of the equivalents. Again, research in humans is that liquid supplements get absorbed better than powders or tablets, and that glucosamine by itself achieves very little- it really needs chondroitin and MSM with it to get the best benefit, so look for more than just the glucosamine ingredients in a supplement.

The only group for which glucosamine supplements aren't worth trying is the raw fed meaty bones eaters, because an awful lot of what they are eating when they're chewing meaty bones is connective tissue, nature's own glucosamine supplement!

Cod liver oil, used in moderation, is very low risk for most (as long as fish is tolerated) and pretty low cost too. If it helps at all then it's worth keeping them on it. Most dogs will perfectly happily eat food with a splash of oil added, so there's usually no difficulty in getting them to swallow a capsule.

Finally, keep working on the musculature and stretching whenever possible, so if they have times of pain which reduce exercise capacity, this is one of the times when hydrotherapy is proven to be of benefit, if there's anywhere local to the dog that can be booked (and the owners can afford it, of course).

My two older lurchers (11 and nearly 14 ) have 500mg green lipped mussel capsule from Holland and barrett daily one each ....they can still walk 5 miles a day