A Question for Dog Owners

[Karma]

My dog is 11 and starting to sometimes seem a bit stiff, mainly his right hip, which was an unexplained injury years ago when my Dad was looking after him.

At the weekend he turned whilst running and seems to have strained it. I popped into the vets and they charged me £16 for 32ml of Metacam

Now i know I can get it online but need a prescription and the local vets charge £10 to issue one

There are american sites that sell canine buffered asprin without prescription but I can't find any UK info on this.

Basically what I was wondering is what can I buy to have on hand for when my dog seems to be in a bit of pain? (I know not to use human meds )

Also, is there any supplements that anyone here has found particularly helpful? There seems to be loads of joint care supplements for dogs, but would rather have a recommendation than waste loads of money trying different ones!

Due to his stomach issues he doesn't get anything to eat that is more than 10% fat so cod liver oil would seem to be out!

Any suggestions?

[matty198111]

Our lab has had some trouble in the past with joints the vet kept giving us stuff which cost a fortune and he still had the problems.

We now give him a cod liver oil tablet a day and 2 tins of sardines a week 1 in oil one in tomato sauce

Been doing this for 5 months and hes not had any problem since, he even runs better now

Mat

[Perpetua]

Glucosamine could be worth a try Karma, we used to sell loads of it to dog owners, mainly because it's was considerably cheaper, than buying through the Vets.

Is he allowed Salmon? As that would be a good source of oils.

Can't help with an alternative to Metacalm I'm afraid, the prices some of these Vets charge is an outrage, no wonder people don't always seek treatment for their animals, or pass them on to a Shelter if they develop health issues.

[fananntut]

I give our Chloe the joint aid sticks from Sainsbury's - cheaper than the Pedigree ones, and seem to have more of the active ingredients in. It's just a shame that her problems seem to be muscular .

I'll be watching this thread with interest, as Chloe is rather accident prone, and I'm also fed up of funding my vet's lavish lifestyle .

[Karma]

Thanks Mat, pleased you found something that works

Not sure if my dog's sensitive tum would be ok with cod liver oil and sardines though

[johnboy]

As Mat says sardines and cod liver oil but it will take a while to kick in.
These vets do seem to charge a lot!!!!!

[Karma]

Glucosomine may be worth a try, I didn't find it helped for me or Mr Karma though! I could check out the fat content of salmon and perhaps try a little at a time to see how it goes. Thanks Perps

Fanan, do you think these joint aid sticks work? I always thought that they were perhaps a bit of a gimmik

I was buying him dog food for older dogs that was supposed to have 'joint stuff' in it but I had to change back to 'sensitive' food cause of his tum!

Blummin animals and blummin vets!

[Sandra (aka Chillax)]

glucosamne is the most used one.
All oily fish.
Kelp MAY help
Keeping him in, even though we don't like to, but same as us the weather doesn't help.
Mine have garlic as well, does wonders, and a bit of warm porridge I treat them like us.

[fananntut]

Karma, the vet suggested them as Chloe's eight, so I'm hoping so. They've got Glucosamine in them, but you may need to check the level of oil in them as they do contain Omega 3 oils. Chloe loves them, she'll wake me up in the morning so that she can have one.

[Karma]

My dog has porridge too, seems to help his stomach and he really likes it

[Karma]

I'll check them out next I'm in Sainsburys Fanan! It's quite handy that most dog foods do tell you the amount of fat and oils

[Peter]

How about one a day "Evening Primrose Oil Capsules"

for the joints,

and if it's playing up I found rubbing on some "Arnicare" can work

well,

both available from the supermarket shelf,

hope this helps..

[Karma]

I never thought about rubbing anything on it. Wasn't sure how anything would penetrate his greasy terrier coat!

[matty198111]

Sept 24, 2012 16:29:57 GMT Karma said:

Thanks Mat, pleased you found something that works

Not sure if my dog's sensitive tum would be ok with cod liver oil and sardines though

Well thats the thing, our lab had a very sensitive tum but the cod liver oil never affected him and tomato for dogs helps sort out the dogs digestive system and now he can eat pretty much anything.

My mates lab had the same effect with the tomato sardines, he can eat anything now

[matty198111]

We started to notice the effects after about a month
He is like a new dog now