As a vet, what do I tell dog owners about starting a joint supplement?

As a vet, what do I tell dog owners about starting a joint supplement? 

Chilli is the axis of our family life; sometimes we plan trips around her, other times, we can’t get away without her!  But what is for sure is that we want her to be happy comfortable and pain-free.

Just like humans, dogs can experience joint pain and stiffness as they get older. Sometimes it’s simple wear and tear of the cartilage and connective tissues or old injuries reappearing.

Whilst certain breeds seem to be more likely to slow up with age, it’s not just the heavier breeds that are susceptible although overweight individuals are. So, keeping your dog at a normal weight or even mildly underweight will help them stay supple and pain free for longer.

Equally, If your dog becomes suddenly lame or worsens significantly over a short period of time then you should seek the advice of your vet who will can help with pain relief and give them a check up.

You’ll probably start to notice the following signs when joint pain and stiffness are starting to creep in:

• Difficulty getting up in the morning or climbing stairs
• Limping or favouring certain limbs
• Reluctance to engage in physical activities they once enjoyed
• Noticeable changes in gait or posture
• Increased irritability or signs of pain when touched in certain areas
• Licking of joints or areas that are painful – particularly feet

What can you do when you notice signs of joint pain?

It’s common and normal that, as your pet ages, they start to slow up but there are some simple general strategies that you can employ to help them

• Make sure they stay at a healthy weight – being overweight puts more strain through those painful joints and tissues. Consider senior diets that are formulated with fewer calories to allow for lower levels of exercise.

• Consider hydrotherapy or swimming as an alternative to walking. Granted, not all dogs like swimming but water takes bodyweight off the joints and allows the muscles to work without the exacerbating joint pain. Building muscle and connective tissue helps support the poorly joints.

• Avoid over-exercise, chasing a ball can be some dogs’ reason for living but sprinting and tight turns put extra strain on joints. Ideally, gentle walks are preferable to ball chasing.

• Consider a joint supplement to help their natural systems normalise joint health

Medicines and joint supplements

There is no right or wrong time to consider pain killers or joint supplements, but at some point it will become clear to you that your pet needs help.

The exact formula of that ‘help’ tends to be different for every pet. 

The typical progression is that the stiffness and pain can be managed without prescription drugs from your vet for some time before the conditions worsens to the point where there is no other option than drugs to keep them comfortable; even then the joint degeneration is still progressing.  At your annual check up, you should have this conversation with your vet to ensure you have the best advice.

The good news is that there’s a wide range of prescription medicines available that your vet may prescribe to help with your dog’s joint pain.  Some are traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) available as tablets or liquids that you give once or twice a day like you might take paracetamol or ibuprofen.  There’s also a new month long injectable medication that may be appropriate for your dog that your vet can advise on.

However, if your dog needs to start long term medication it’s not likely they will ever come off it.  That’s not to say it’s bad for them to be on it (assuming they have no side-effects), but it might be bad for your wallet and you just may not like the idea of having to give them medicines for the rest of their life quite yet.

There are a panoply of joint supplements offering relief and support for dogs struggling with stiffness, discomfort, or injuries which one should you choose.

First of all it’s important to say that joint supplements are not licensed in the same way as medicines.  They cannot ‘claim’ any benefit and so, as an owner trying to choose a product, it’s a challenge to settle on the right one. 

It’s true also that they seem to contain many, many ingredients, so how do you tell what’s what? Vets don’t tend to engage with joint supplements and so their advice is often limited to whatever the procurement team put on their shelves. 

My view is that there is only one ingredient that you can find in joint supplements that is also a licensed prescription molecule and that’s hyaluronic acid.  The challenge is that there are many sources of HA and to be useful hyaluronic acid needs to be present in long chains. Too many hyaluronic acid ingredients are recovered from chicken production which yields very short chained molecules.

The best hyaluronic acid joint supplement contains HA molecules between 700k and 1million subunits long. This is produced through a lab-based biofermentation process and formulated as a liquid for rapid absorption.  These products are usually hyaluronic acid only and don’t contain any other ingredients and are suitable for vegans. I’m not suggesting that your dog is vegan, but that’s how you spot HA that’s made in this way!

Learn more about the difference between long chain and short chain hyaluronic acid here. 

Start a joint supplement when you spot any of the signs I mentioned earlier, there’s no right or wrong time.  Try to set yourself reference behaviours so that you can be honest and objective with yourself about ether the supplement is working and don’t be afraid to change to something else or talk to your vet if your dog isn’t responding to your care as you would have hoped! 

Read more about the typical timeline for seeing results with a joint supplement here. 

Good luck keeping your dog happy and comfortable

 

Author:  Humphrey Grimmett - My wife and I run EquiFlow which sells CaniFlow and EquiFlow.  We're both vets and have been around small animals and horses all our lives. We met at the Royal Veterinary College in London and qualified together in 2001.  Our first practices were in Leighton Buzzard and Wendover and we have wealth of experience across small animal and equine practice.  Use the contact us form to ask us any questions!