Supplements for a Senior?

[Meeps83]

Our 9 year old Alaskan Malamute, Mia, has been increasingly stiff and less active than normal. Our vet says she is just aging and other than a few missing teeth, is 100% healthy. She said that Mia probably just has arthritis. She recommended supplementing with glucosamine/chondroitin and told us not to buy it from them as the human form was equivalent. So I started researching.......

Powder? Pills? Liquids? MSM or no? What kind/brand do you feed and how much is recommended?



Additionally, we've been having trouble with Maverick getting ear infections. He also started biting his feet last winter (which I thought was maybe the snow/ice) and it has never gone away. He also occasionally gets rashes by his male parts and more recently, he has started getting warts. We are in the process of switching him to a grain free food hoping that the ear infections and foot-biting stops. Hopefully the rashes will subside. Is there anything I can give him supplement-wise for the rashes and warts? We are switching him to Earthborn Holistic Grain Free. Recommendations?

Thanks!

[Maxx&Emma]

My Emma, 10 y/o, has hip and spinal arthritis. She gets Hylasport, 1000 mgs vitamin C and Grizzly salmon oil daily and vitamin E 3 times weekly. Along with the supplements we did cold laser treatments for 2 weeks, 3 x's weekly and twice monthly now. She is doing great and the supplements have helped tremendously. We do have Tramadol on hand for pain, if she needs it. I am not a fan of NSAID's and will not use them.

I switched to g/f foods 2 years ago after Maxx had 2 ear infections in about 4 months. He hasn't had another since then thankfully. I use Earthborn, (Great Plains), in the rotation of 6 different g/f brands. My 2 do really well on it and seem to love it. Hopefully changing food will do the trick!

[knuthf]

Please: The Norwegian remedy is "Cod liver oil" - "tran". This was administered to everyone, and gave the vikings their strength. It taste terrible, like all efficient medicine. Well, the buddy to my lab, slurps a spoon or two - my "Huggy Bear" has been spared that, but it has been one tablet to him, another to me - his is draped in goat-cheese so it goes down the hatch without chewing.
The Cod liver oil is a high-concentrate fatty acid or Omega-3 that even the vikings extracted from the liver found in fish. It address a number of things, most important is that it makes the body produce fluids for your joints. One tablet a day should suffice, you risk that they become to fit, and gets back to walking fast and jump hurdles and become older than Methusalem.

They produce the tablets from seal oil, and I guess that fish will be good, the fatter the better: Mackerel and tuna and salmon.
Goat cheese is the brown, sweet, not really cheese you can get in better stores. It is sticky and drapes everything.

[knuthf]

1 tablet of Cod Liver Oil - or "Omega-3" every morning. Wait until the end of first week with exercise with hurdles, and he will get back chasing every cat in the neighbourhood quicker than you believed possible!

[smartrock]

When my younger dog was a puppy she was having elbow issues and the ortho vet suggested starting her on supplements then. I use a veterinary formulation of Glucosamine/chondroitin that I order through Amazon but a previous vet also said that the human formula is equivalent and cheaper. The ortho vet said that I should make sure what I give her includes MSM. I also give fish oil and Vitamin C at the recommendation of the general vet. Since I was giving them to Lark, I also started giving them to Chase, who is nearly 9 years old now with no signs of stiffness or pain. Maybe he'd be fine without them, I guess I'll never know. But since you asked, I mainly wanted to say our ortho vet gave a strong yes to MSM in addition to the others.

[Meeps83]

My Emma, 10 y/o, has hip and spinal arthritis. She gets Hylasport, 1000 mgs vitamin C and Grizzly salmon oil daily and vitamin E 3 times weekly. Along with the supplements we did cold laser treatments for 2 weeks, 3 x's weekly and twice monthly now. She is doing great and the supplements have helped tremendously. We do have Tramadol on hand for pain, if she needs it. I am not a fan of NSAID's and will not use them.

I switched to g/f foods 2 years ago after Maxx had 2 ear infections in about 4 months. He hasn't had another since then thankfully. I use Earthborn, (Great Plains), in the rotation of 6 different g/f brands. My 2 do really well on it and seem to love it. Hopefully changing food will do the trick!

Do you use the regular Hylasport or the Hylasport canine? And it does have vitamin C in it. Is that not enough? So far they like the it and Mia is more excited to eat!

[Sue-Ram]

Do you use the regular Hylasport or the Hylasport canine? And it does have vitamin C in it. Is that not enough? So far they like the it and Mia is more excited to eat!

I use Hylasport canine (i think the regular Hylasport is for horses) and have also started giving Ram Microlactin after reading this thread Duralactin experiences

The Microlactin has really been helping with the recovery of his knee surgery. He didn't want to go out for his last pee before we started using it.

[windycanyon]

I would highly recommend MSM at 2000mg or more per day as well as fish oil etc. I personally started taking it ~15 yrs ago along w/ a young lab w/hip dysplasia. The lab was flipping and spinning for her food dish w/in a week and I (w/ terrible seasonal allergies to pollen) went from having to take prescription drugs at the time to nothing the following spring! MSM helps w/ a lot of inflammatory issues and also immune mediated ones.

My Health page may be of help as well: Health

[Meeps83]

I would highly recommend MSM at 2000mg or more per day as well as fish oil etc. I personally started taking it ~15 yrs ago along w/ a young lab w/hip dysplasia. The lab was flipping and spinning for her food dish w/in a week and I (w/ terrible seasonal allergies to pollen) went from having to take prescription drugs at the time to nothing the following spring! MSM helps w/ a lot of inflammatory issues and also immune mediated ones.

My Health page may be of help as well: Health

Thanks! I actually read the link because it was on another thread. I thought it was helpful and informative!

[shellbell]

Hi highly recommend Longevity by Springtime, Inc. Might also want to look into their Advanced Hip and Joint Chewables, which have boswellia extract to help reduce pain and inflammation.

Springtime Longevity for Dogs | Joint Supplement with Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM, Bee Pollen and Spirulina