Using the correct Meds - Page 1

Found you site by accident, it looks pretty informative so thought I'd check it out.

One of our family dogs, Bo is almost 15 years old. We have only had him just over a year.
He is a terrier mix, about 40 pounds and a real pal.
He has arturitus fairly BAD. The vet put him on 100mg Rimadyl daily, half morning and half at night. It did seem to help some, but we wanted more. We stopped the Rimadyl and started Springtime Joint Health and also Fresh Factors. We are still not seeing much improvement. We give him about 5 of each daily.

Can we add the Rimadyl along with the Springtime items. Or who has the magic fix for this ole boy? Let us know your thoughts.

Thank you.

MrH

MrH, at 15 years of age, your dog has probably pretty much reached the limit of his lifespan (depending on the breeds in his mix: small breeds live longer than large.)

There may well be no 'magic fix' for his joint problems at this age. Most dogs develop some degree of arthritis in their old age, and like us older humans, we just have to learn to live with it. (I'm developing arthritis in one hip as a result of a long-ago horseback riding injury, and it is, quite literally, a pain in the butt!)

That being said, have you tried glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate? They can be used with pretty much any other medications, with no harmful side effects.

Be careful with the rimadyl: I understand it's very hard on the stomach. I've never heard of the other remedies you mentioned:  Are they prescription drugs or an over-the-counter remedies? What's in them?

My vet said to use 3X the dosage of glucosamine chondroitin sulfate for 1 month and then go to recommended dosage.  The stuff takes a while to build up, and once it does a maintenance dose is all that's required.......He also told me to give my old dog 3 or 4 vitamin E caps a day.

After a few months, my old dog will go up and down the stairs again. She is much more active around the house and will even trot and run a bit when on our walks. Before she would lay at the bottom of the stairs and her walks would be about 50 yards before she sat and waited for us to return.

I do not give her rimadyl becasue she cannot keep it down.

I used Ark Naturals Super Strength Joint Rescue for Glucosamine and Chondroitin and other anti-inflammatories

www.vitacost.com/Ark-Naturals-Joint-Rescue



Olympian Labs Sam-e (must be from Italian pharmaceutical grade)-active ingredient in Denosyl but much cheaper
www.vitacost.com/Olympian-Labs-SAMe-Gold-400-mg-30-Tablets

And I had a prescription for Deramaxx (less side effects than rimadyl) your vet can tell you what dosage
www.discountpetdrugs.com/debyno.html

My old dogs lived very well wih this combination.

Good luck,
Michele

I've also had very good luck with Adequan injections..... very little to no side effects especially tearing up the gut the way NSAIDS can

It has been used in horses for many many years and now there is a canine formula 

Good luck, he is a very old dog 

MrH here is a good link for you - http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/arthritis-joint-problems/

It will give you suggestions for useful supplements, as well as caveats for the NSAIDs  (Adequan eg can be very expensive, and doesn't work for all types of arthritis.)