Citizen Canine Dog Forum

[Mishka]

hi-

thanks for reading, way long but want to give as much info as possible and get some thoughts/opinions...

My dog Nick's coming up on 10 (Pit bull cross, about 74 pds, in good shape/weight, eats California Natural Lamb and Rice). Arthritis diagnosed around age 6. Metacam worked great for quite some time, as needed after intitial "boost" dose to every other day to every day .... about 6 months ago, maybe longer I had to add *delete (1-2 tabs a day, usually 2) in addition to the Metacam (at this point is every day, 40 on the dropper) as pain/symptoms had gotten alot worse. He has Cartrophen (not sure on spelling) shots fairly regularly after initial boost doses. He is limping a lot more/stiff, still goes for walks and wants to but slower and needs to lie down every now and then, harder to get up, off things, down steps, occasional yelps after overdoing it and then getting up/down etc. still happy, love bug ...

I did try Flexadin (glocosamine/Chondroitin) quite awhile back but within a day or 2 he had an awful gastrointestinal episode; vet hospital, the works... this was his third one, he is not a garbage dog at all but has had 3 ... I do know he had part of his intestine removed as a pup (before I adopted him at 1.5/2) after an unfortunate tampon eating episode so perhaps he is sensitive...

I recently tried him on steroids for a week not long enough probably but was doing nil and I couldn't tolerate the side effects, constant and I do mean constant up 3X a night peeing and dopey, so I switched back to the *delete and metacam. Working ok but looking for other ideas, to the future etc.

Anyway I am curious about 2 things, one if anyone has had experience with cortisone shots with their dog- he has one bad leg that the vet thought this might be helpful for and if anyone has heard of/had experiences with Synflex (I know this is glocosamine etc.) but wondering/hoping his prior reaction was unrelated (anyone else experience this?) I like that this is liquid as easy to give and more pure, results sound good... also where sold?

Also experiences, Victoria references for chiro, accupuncture and costs.

BIG thanks,

Michelle and Nick

* apparently t-r-a-m-a-d-o-l is a bad word as it shows as delete so will try this

[Mishka]

no thoughts?

how about Victoria references for gd chiro, accupuncture etc.

[Suzanne Webb]

Hi

For acupuncture I would recommend Allyson Bellyea or Claudia Campbell at Kindred Spirits.
Chiropractor: Dr. Jane Kettner is great. There are other practitioners in Victoria - these are ones I've had personal [positive] experiences with.
Its been a while so I'm not up to date on what the current costs are. I would expect in the neighbourhood of $35 - $50 per treatment.

When supplementing with glucosamine look for glucosamine HCL vs glucosamine sulfate. Apparently dogs metabolize the HCL version better.
Thrifty Foods has a liquid version in their health products department [can't remember the brand name].

We've also had great success with a supplement we carry.
It's called System Saver - you can check our website for more information. One of our client's refers to it as her dog's 'crack' because he feels so much better since taking it....he's acting like a bit of a butthead!!

Good luck!
Suzanne W.
Canine Chaos
http://www.canine-chaos.com

[Mishka]

Thanks so much Suzanne, very helpful!! he's been having a rough time, it's tough, I think I'd be happy if he started acting like a butthead

[Mishka]

just had a quick glance at the website and re: system saver - just wondered - is it pills or liquid and can it be taken in addition to metacam and tr-amadol?? ( wonder what word the system thinks that is )

would wean down/off if could if good response, but until then?
thanks again!

[Suzanne Webb]

Hi

System Saver comes is a powder in a capsule. We usually recommend a loaded dose for the first week or two [usually double what a maintenance does would be]. Your best information will come from your dog. We've had some pretty remarkable improvements reported to us.
You can likely start to wean off of Metacam &/or Tra-madol once you've had him on System Saver for a week or two [Malene my business partner has a dog with a cruciate issue that has been on both Metacam & System Saver so you could touch base with her for more info - malene@canine-chaos.com]. We've had no problems reported for dogs taking both Metacam and System Saver. I also wouldn't expect an interaction with Tra-madol.

Suzanne W.

[Mishka]

great, thanks again!

[natalie0505]

we max out our dose on metacam and still find our dog cries a lot in winter, even with max doses of tr-amad-ol, which seems to make her all dopey. ( careful where you fill it if you don't get it thru the vet, a regular phcist filled the human kind for us by accident,and we had to go to emerg for stomach pumping..). Hokamix made a difference and recently someone told me to try alfalfa, although I haven't yet. I had the same reaction ( gastro) with the flavoured liquid glucosamine, but the regular liquid from bosley's seemed to be ok.
Moducare is really good for building them up too, but probably won't have any effect on pain levels. My vet told me a while ago there's some new stuff on the market in the states, just hasn't made it's way here yet, for arthritis in dogs so maybe that's something new we can look forward to? good luck...

[Beau's Mom]

If you are located in Victoria I always recommend people go to see Donna
at Your Pet Pals. She does homeopathy and is really tuned in to animals.

I got this off another forum I visit.
I have not tried it as don't have to (yet).
I have put up the bare bones info. This site and product are in the USA, but
I'm sure there must be something similar up here.
The dogs they are talking about are OEM's, so huge in size.

"what to do for an arthritic old dog.
A homeoptahic vet suggested to give Rhus Tox.

After doing quite a bit of searching on the net to learn more about this herb, I found Hyland ( a company we trust for other good homepathic products)makes such a product, but with several other interesting components. A little more research and I find out that this combo along with a few other simple things like glucosamine/chondroitin that we already give the dogs, is very close to a formula Marina Zacharias puts together for $80. Only the Hyland is way less money @ only $4.39 per 100 tabs.

My sweet old Julie is now suffering from horrible irreversible Lyme disease related arthritis. My vet flexed her carpal and elbow joints in front of me and I could hear the crackling of degenerative joint disease that has set in.

Of course we had to give this herbal mixture a try.
She weighs 175 LBS and is taking 3 tabs 3 times per day. I cannot believe what a difference it has made in her already. Just a few weeks ago she would have a hard time getting up and down just to drink water.

If anyone is interested in this product for the old veterans the best price I could find with reasonable shipping was through."

http://www.vitacost.com/HylandsArthritisPainFormula-100Tablets
_________________
Chris
Mom to Beau & Luke

[Jenn Wags]

The combination of Synflex & System Saver has gotten two of my dogs off medicam completely. 1 was completely lame in her front leg from severe arthritis in her shoulders & the other has hip dysplacia/arthritis. Both are back to running and playing like there is nothing wrong with them at all and now get no medications

They are also fed high end raw and get lots of fish oils - all help with general health and healing which I know makes a difference.
_________________
Jenn

[jv17]

well you need to take lots of vitamin b and do leg stretchings..