Hi all,

We are looking for some advice on the above product.

Our ten year old lab, Ben was taken into the vets on Sunday late evening, he was holding his front leg high at the shoulder, and would not put his paw down at all to walk, when he was lying down he had his rear legs tucked tightly into his tummy and would not relax them.

We go him into the vets, who at the time thought his shoulder was a red herring and thought it was more to do with his tum!!!!

He was x-rayed which showed his colon had food it in and that his prostate was slightly enlarged, so the vet thought that this was causing his problems, he was given antibiotics and two types of painkilling injections and kept in the vets....

They decided yesterday that they would x-ray his elbow, which is what I thought he had hurt anyway!!!!  Turns out he has extremely bad arthritis in his elbow which they think has went infected, he had his liver and kidneys tested and they were all fine as well as his heart.

They have advised that he is now being treated with the above medication which he will have to be on for the rest of his life, which is not a problem as long as we get our boy home...

I have done some research on the net and found pro's and con's to this medication, I would like to find out if anyone uses it and how there dog has been on it.

All advice welcomed.

Thank you

My 14 year old samoyed has been on it for about 2/3 years now for cronic arthritis. Its the only thing that keeps him moving really. Only real side effects is that he is constantly hungry! Certainly havent had any nasty side effects, he is regularly monitored and his blood results always come back fine. He is on a 30kg dose once a day.
I am happy that it is having a positive effect on his life and as long as he is happy he will stay on it.
good luck with your boy.

There are alternativ remedies you could try, devils claw can help with pain relief and it is also an anti inflammatory, it takes about a couple of weeks to get into the system though.  Glucosomine/chonditrin will help with his joints, again this is something that takes a while to get into the system about 6 weeks I think.  You could also add flax seed oil (omega 3) or cod liver oil to his food and green lipped mussel too.

My pup (Mastiff) was on Metacam for a few months due to lameness with elbow displasia. I started using a glucosamine suppliment and it had such a great effect he doesn't need Metacam anymore, he's nearly 2 yrs old now and hasn't had Metacam for over 1 year :) I use Synflex, it's a liquid suppliment that is for humans, but the 'Original' version is fine for pets.

Whilst on Metacam pup had no bad effects from it.

ETA I noticed a difference in my pup on Synflex after only 2 weeks using it :)

Thank you all for the advice..

We have been upto the vets tonight to see Ben and the difference in him, is amazing.

His leg is still swollen but now he is trying to use it, he isnt crying when he does either, we had him out for a pee and he doesnt have the look of pain that he had on Sunday, looks like his old self :-)

Were are hoping that our boy will be home tomorrow, so Ive got everything crossed....

Thanks once more for all the help

Lesley and Ben

Dakko was on Metacalm for many years (at least 6) and it helped immensely with his arthritis, however he eventually developed stomach ulcers caused by the painkillers and had to be PTS at 13 because of this. We kept the dose to the minimum and to be honest if I had been aware of other supplements when he was first started on metacalm I would have used them to keep the dose even lower. Hope you have your boy home soon.

My dog was on Metacam for arthritis in his knee which helped initially, but as it got worse stopped working, and he went onto Previcox which worked much better for him. He also went on glucosamine, chondroitin and devil's claw, and something called cani:feli artril, which was the one thing that really made a huge difference, but could only get hold of it by the vets ordering it in direct from the company. It had shark cartilage and all sorts of strange stuff in it, but it worked a treat!

> It had shark cartilage and all sorts of strange stuff in it

Shark cartilage is a source of Chondroitin :) It aids the 'effectiveness' of glucosamine as well as giving anti-inflamatorie effects.
On the Slynflex link there is a list of it's active ingredients and a brief into how each one works, it's quite fascinating how all these natural ingredients are so usefull. :)  For anyone looking at his link, willow bark should not be used by people taking NSAIDs or suffing from some conditions, so I would ckeck with the vet before using any product on your dogs containing white willow bark (that's why Synflex Original is the only one suitable for pets).

Hi again everybody.

Thank you all for your comments, we would prefer a more natural product rather than a strong drug, I am going to speak to my vet today and see if we can use something else.

I have looked on the net at other products, but there is so many that may be suitable, which is getting a bit confused, ive taken a list if all your suggestions on here and I will see what our vet thinks tonight...

I am more than prepared to try anything, if its going to make my Ben painfree and get him home, when we visited him last night the difference in him was great and he is trying to use his leg, which compared to Sunday, he wouldnt at all.... Last night when we got ready to leave he was up ready to come with us!!!  That has to be a good sign I would have thought????

He is our first dog that is our own, who we have had since the age of ten months and he has been a gem, we couldnt have asked for better, and he has never been in the vets apart from going for an ear infection, let alone for 3 whole nights!!!!
Our poor Springer is at a loss to, but hopefully everything crossed hes home tonight..

Sorry for going on a bit there :-)

Thanks again everybody for all the advice..

Lesley & Ben

Sorry forgot to ask, what do people think about memory foam dog beds???

We were looking last night to get one, would this help his elbow and other joints???

The now he's in a hard plastic bed with vet bedding which he has had since we got him, would it be worth investing in the memory foam, which would mould to his posture to support his body better????

Again all comments welcomed

> I am more than prepared to try anything, if its going to make my Ben painfree and get him home, when we visited him last night the difference in him was great and he is trying to use his leg, which compared to Sunday, he wouldnt at all

It's great that he is doing well :)

When my pup first whent lame with elbow displasia, he could hardly walk from room to room in the houe (we don't have a big house!). Metacam helped a lot, but I wanted to get him off that if pos. so tried him on the Synflex, 2 weeks after using Synflex I stopped the Metacam to see if there was any difference and he was walking just as well as what he was when he was on Metacam. So I stopped using Metecam then, he used it a couple of times over the months after when he had over done it on his walks. The way he is I don't forsee him needing Metacam for many years, he has gone from a pup that struggled to walk 4 yards, to a dog that bounds around the garden like an idiot and he doesn't need Metacam to do it :) Just to add, we have avoided the need to have the elbow displasia opperted on because Buster is walking so well :)

That's a good idea talking to the vet about it, but be warned that the Glucosamine suppliments the vets sell are much dearer than you can get on the net/health shops. If you can find a suppliment that's good enough to stop using Metacam, it means you have Metacam to fall back on in the future if age should make him worse, rather than using Metacam now and having to go onto a stonger drug in the future.
Good luck.

> willow bark should not be used by people taking NSAIDs

That's because it contains salicylic acid, which aspirin is derived from. :-)

Afraid I can't comment on the memory foam - I have ended up giving Dorain a single bed mattress!! Spoilt.....? :-P I think there are various orthopaedic soft type things you can get, and more padding will probably be better for him if he's prepared to use it - but you might be able to get a mattress on Freecycle which would be cheaper, if you have space to put one!

yes yes yes.. to memory foam lol..  although dont spend a fortune on a specially made dog bed.. buy a cheapish double bed 'topper' and cut to size..

I did this after Ollie had his ops on his leg for MCT, and found he was having difficulty getting comfortable on vet bed.. also the friction kept the wound aggravated.. memory foam topper has worked a treat :-)

Have you thought about Catrophen injections?

A lot of dogs have extreamly good results with them.

It would be something to defently ask your vets about.

--

The standard suppliments like gloucostamine seem to work for some and not others(but usally they can't do any harm so might as well give it a try).

(P.S if you look up Catrophen please make sure people are not confusing it with Carprophen)