Glucosamine supplements?

[kmw]

Willy is starting to stiffen up a tiny tiny bit.  We're really only noticing it when he first gets up after laying down for awhile.  But, it's there.  He's an almost 7 year old Golden Retriever, who weighs 70 lbs.  He prolly could lose 2 or 3 pounds, but since he's down from 78 lbs (oops), we're feeling pretty good about the 70 lbs!

I've ordered glucosamine chews for him, that contain (per tab - one tab daily for his weight): 
Glucosamine HCl     750 mg
Methylsulfonylmethane    400 mg
Chondroitin Sulfate    400 mg
Vitamin C (as Calcium Ascorbate)    100 mg
Manganese (as Manganese Proteinate)    5 mg

Inactive Ingredients:
allspice, brewers yeast, chicken liver flavor, nutmeg, silicon dioxide, stearic acid.

They're called Hip & Joint Extra Strength by Pet Naturals of Vermont. 

Anybody else using glucosamine/chondroitin in their dogs?  I take it for my knees and can really feel a difference!

[trubandloki]

I started giving my dog Cosequin a bit back (would have to go find the thread to figure it out) and it has made tons of difference.  It was a shocker to see the things that I had not realized she wasn't doing anymore (stretching both back legs at once, standing on her back feet, etc).

[kmw]

That's what prompted it.  My coworker gives her dog Cosequin DS.  So, I looked to see what active ingredients it had, and then looked to see if I could find a comparable supplement (that was less pricy, mostly).  I'll see if it helps!

[Marybelle]

I know that when I worked at the vet, we put quite a few older dogs on Glucosamine supplements, and it really does seem to help.  Hopefully it'll help Willy, too!

[forkyfork]

If you are giving your dog filtered purified water try giving it unfiltered spring water and see if that dosnt help as well. Seven years  seems a bit early for that but it may depend on the breed and weight I havent had a dog get stiff that early but I have seen it happen on filtered purified water.

[trubandloki]

My dog was 7yo when she went on the cosequin.  She wasn't over weight then (or not very over weight).

I've never given my dogs filtered purified water.  Just boring 'ol well water right into their bowls.

[kmw]

Filtered purified water for DOGS??  If we drink well water, so do they   In fact, all critters in the house get it - rats, fish and plants!

[forkyfork]

You guys are lucky, were on well water too but the iron and sulphur content makes it so we have to soften it to remove the rust and cut back the sulphur.  So none of the pets get any because softening removes the minerals and adds salt and makes it taste    It even will kill the plants because of the salt, but the fish do fine in it.

The ph and alkalinity is so strange that we have to have the pool water tanked in or it is a big fight to keep it balanced.  We are on a big area of wetlands I dont know if that has anything to do with the water but the well is almost 100' deep. 

I really miss having normal water.  But Id keep our well water over Clevelands Lake Erie water of Akrons nasty swamp water nothing can fix that 

[kmw]

My mom and dad live in iron mining country so they have (can you guess?) a lot of iron in their water.  But, it's mostly oxidized by the time it enters their house, so they just use an in-line filter to filter it out.  Their water tastes a little metallic to me, so the drinking water they run through a Brita filter.  Our well water is hard, but has nothing aesthetically offensive in it, and tastes good so we just run it straight through the faucets.  It's too bad your well water tastes icky - if it didn't you could at least plumb in a water faucet at a sink that ran unsoftened water.  My grandparents-in-law do this so grandma can drink unsoftened water, since she has to watch sodium due to her heart problems.

So, if we drink our well water, so does the rest of the household!

[Tequillasmom]

When George (my 10 year old yellow lab) was 2 she was diagnosed with 3rd degree hip dysplacia and OCD in her hawks. My vet is a homeopathic vet and recomended we get some weight off her and put her on glucosamine. So we did and here she is 10 years old and only had surgery on her hawks. Her hips havent flared up again since we put her on it! HUGE difference! really recomend it

[forkyfork]

It's too bad your well water tastes icky - if it didn't you could at least plumb in a water faucet at a sink that ran unsoftened water.  My grandparents-in-law do this so grandma can drink unsoftened water, since she has to watch sodium due to her heart problems.

So, if we drink our well water, so does the rest of the household!

We got this splendid idea to do this, we ran a line from before the softner, tasted it it was soo bad, it smelled like sulphur so strong that it was like raw sewage. We even had it tested figuring maybe it was contaminated. If you could get past the smell it tasted so heavy of iron that it tasted like blood  So I got a whole house carbon filter figuring if it was good for a whole house it would work on one little faucet hooked it up temporarily tried it it helped a lot. 

Sooo we spent over $100 running 1/4in lines and little faucets to the kitchen and bathroom sinks it worked great for about 3 days then it was horrid again we went through 6 filters before we were convinced it was hopeless. So calculating the cost of replacing the filter every 3 days we gave up and get water delivered  now  

My work which is a few miles away is also on well water but not a wetland, the water is great, Im so jealous. But then they dont have the woods like we do