Joint Mice

[Guest Maddison]

Anyone have any experience with this? Our vet wanted to put Maddie on Rimadyl. I gave it to her for 2 days. I got online today and researched it and NO WAY am I giving her any more of that! Too many dogs have died from it. Our vet didn't even do any bloodwork beforehand. I'm looking for something more natural that won't kill her. I would like my little girl around as long as possible. The pain is not too severe, she only limps periodically. With the 2 days on the drug, she did stop limping.

[retiredracers]

Joint Mice??? I'm not sure what this is.

 

There is a product called DGP (Dog Gone Pain) that is a natural pain med. If you are interested in learning more or trying it, let me know and I will give you the info.

 

 

[Burpdog]

I prefer Fresh Factors and Joint Health or Fresh Factors and MSM

 

Dog Gone Pain has shark cartiledge which is not good.

[Rickiesmom]

Although also not without risk, my understanding is that Metacam is safer if you want to use a pharmaceutical product.

 

Others with more experience will be able to provide information on supplements.

 

My Rickie was on Metacam for awhile after joint fusion surgery and still, very occasionally, for a few days if he overdoes something and limps.

 

As a preventative I give him Cosequin which has recently been superseded by Flexadin - both are made by Nutramax Labs and my understanding is that there is a fair bit of clinical research behind the products. Not cheap though.

Edited June 8, 2007 by Rickiesmom

[retiredracers]

I prefer Fresh Factors and Joint Health or Fresh Factors and MSM

 

Dog Gone Pain has shark cartiledge which is not good.

 

I hadn't heard anything about shark cartilage not being good... can you tell me more? Thanks!

[Guest trevdog]

I'd try MSM or Fresh Factors. What is wrong with her, does she have arthritis or some injury? Rimadyl long term is definitely not a good idea if at all possible.

[Batmom]

If pup has some type of inflammation going on, you really want to get rid of it as soon as possible. Inflammation is a bad thing to have. The longer it's there, the greater the chances that it will affect neighboring physical structures, damage things beyond repair, etc.

 

Unfortunately, glucosamine etc. don't have a rapid and may not have any effect on inflammation, and don't treat pain. Those supplements may, over a long period of time, help bolster cartilage formation, which helps to protect the joint. Won't do it in the short term.

 

I don't have a problem with no prelim bloodwork for short-term use of NSAIDs in a healthy dog (or one with a well-known medical history). For one thing, the bloodwork does nothing to predict the incidence of rapid-onset, severe side effects, which are the ones you worry about in the short term. For another, the intervals at which you re-do bloodwork are usually longer than a short-term usage of the drug lasts. As with any other drug, you do want to be aware of potential side effects and what to do if you see/suspect any.

 

BTW, aspirin is an NSAID. It's generally regarded as less safe and more likely to be harmful to dogs than Rimadyl.

[Burpdog]

Here's a thread that we talked about shark cartiledge and other supplements in:

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showto...hark+cartiledge

[Guest KennelMom]

We've given rimadyl to...oh...pretty much all of our dogs at one point or another. If you do enough research, I'm sure you'll find dogs have died from a lot of "common" drugs out there. If the dog is on it long term (as some of our seniors have been), we will do blood work. But a short term stint or a "whenever they need it" dose, we don't do the bloodwork. Batmom covered it pretty well in her explanation.

 

eta: I've never heard of "joint mice." There are a lot of recommendations for joint supplements out there. We use Healthy Joints K-9 from Thomas Vet (the liquid, not the powder).