Have just just been devastated by the news that not only has Izzy been diagnosed with OCD of the elbow but the vet now thinks she may have hip displaysia as well (she has been bunny hopping and swaying) she has been given some pain killers and we are giving her something to help build cartalidge (cant remember the long name) and Omega 3 fish oils. Are there any herbal pain killers or suplements anyone can reccommend that may help. It is so upsetting because we have followed all the rules no long walks, jumping upstairs ect and picked a breeder that health tested to try and ensure this didnt happen and still it has happened.

Nikki

Hi Nikki,
My Mastiff has had OCD since 5mths old. She is treated with metacam, periodically, for the pain.
I also give her 'Glucosamine' you can get it at Holland & Barrett herbalist.
How badly is Izzy affected? In the past Ragga has had periods where she has been quite bad but with controlled exercise etc. she isn't bad so often.

D4wn

Hi D4wn

She was diagnosed at 6 months when she had a patch of about 4 weeks when she limped on and off and another patch of limping for about two weeks on and off (she is now 9 months) so far the vet hasnt prescribed pain killers for the OCD. We did get some Glucosomine from the vet (or their equivalent) and we have just bought some from Holland and Barrett (couldnt belive how cheap they were compared to the vets), we have now got some pain killers for her hips though. Luckily we have an appointment at the specialists next week about her OCD so we can also ask about the hip displaysia.

Nikki

Could someone tell me how long they are between limping as my dog has a contant limp for about 6 weeks shes on metacam. Also had an x-ray nothing showed up. I am told that they limp for a while and then are okay for sometime, then limp again. does it start all of a sudden or brought on by exercise and worsens after sleep.

OCD will show up on an x ray.
Lara x

OCD and hip dysplasia are closely related orthopaedic diseases and it is not uncommon for a dog affected by one to also have the other.

snomaes

Just found out that my lovely German Shepherd bitch has very bad hip dysplasia and arthritis at 19 months. I had her speyed and asked to have her hips checked at the same time, although I wasn't suspicious of anything being wrong with her. I give her Glucosamine and Omega 3 oils which can be bought quite cheaply from www.zip-vit.co.uk
I am lucky as I live near the factory shop.  It was devastating news to me as my girl has already undergone major heart surgery at 10 months and will need heart scans for the rest of her life.  Like you I was very careful with her exercise etc. and to this day she has never gone upstairs as I live in a bungalow, and her parents and grandparents had good hip scores. I am now a bit suspicious of her elbow joints as you can hear a cracking noise when she stands up from a sitting position.
Sue

How much Glucosamine would you give a springer spaniel who has arthritis & can you give with metacam

Jean

I give my dog 500mg of Glucosamine x2 a day. It's in capsule form and I just empty it out and sprinkle it on her food.  It seemed to work wonders with my 13 yrs old Cavalier dog. You can buy it with Chrondroitin (not sure of the spelling) in as well, which is supposed to be very good. I think you would be better off asking the vet about using it with Metacam, as my dog isn't on it yet.
Sue

hi izzy...i can empathize.........ocd of the elbow is a form of elbow dysplasia.which consists of three conditions[fcp,ocd or uap] it is a seperate disease from hip dysplasia.it is possible to due surgurey in some cases.keep her on the glucosimine............it is important to have as many generations of clean elbows as possible.as they are saying elbow dysplasia is even more heritable than hip dysplasia.a recent study with labradors shows high heritability..two affected[surgically diagnosed] dogs were bred and then the male was bred back to his daughters out of thrity one resulting progeny 83 percent were affected with fcp,ocd or both............i would definetly let the breeder know about this

Sorry if I am a bit late to this thread but I have a 15 mth lab with OCD of the elbow.  He was diagnosed with it (by x-ray) 3 months ago and he has been on glucosamine (actual name from vet is Cosequin).  Cosequin is costing me £85 per 120 capsules but thankfully I can claim it back on insurance.  I was very sceptical at first but after 3 days on a higher dosage stopped limping and hasn't been lame since.  Worth every penny I reckon!!

My Mastiff gets Metacam when she is limping, she has OCD in her shoulders and Arthritis/OCD in her elbows, my vet agreed when I said she was already on Glucosamine.
Over the last 3yrs she has had 'episodes' on average every 3-6 months. Sometimes because she has over exercised but the last time, Xmas day, she just got up in the morning totally unable to walk. Other than when she was 5mths old that has been the worst time, she was only poorly for 7days once she got the Metacam.
The vet did advise me to keep her on the slender side.
I give her 500mgs x 3 per day, she is a big dog, the vet agreed with this amount.
He also suggested something to do with Shark Bone (I think), I'm seeing him on Saturday so I will ask again and post with the brand name.
She also has her Cod Liver Oil and Garlic as well.
All my dogs take the capsules as they are, they just sit in a row and think they are getting treats.
They take Drontal Wormers the same way. The vet will ask "Can you get these down him/her?".
I had to show him the little rescue taking his antibiotics before he believed me.
Glucosamine is only about £9.99 for 120 at Holland & Barrett, cheaper when they are on sale.

D4wn

Iwould just like to say You should give CHONDROITIN AND GLUCOSAMINE together some times you will find it with MSM aswell and that fine, for pain control why not use herbs in liquid form NOBUTE is wonderful we
have used it for years for any form of pain which means you can take them off the stuff from vets.

I was speaking to my Chiropractor last week about supplements and they have withdrawn selling the combined tablets that have both Glucosimine and Chlondrin. Research has found that Chlondrin which is found naturally in the cartlidge cannot be absorbed by taking it orally. The suppliers have withdrawn the supplements they used to buy and so now they only sell the Glucosimine tablets now. It has excatly the same benefits and acheives the same results from what he said! :) Has anybody heard about this at all ? I am going to see him next week and will find out some more about it.

Chondroitin and Glucosamine can be taken separately however they do have a synergistic effect, that is, taken together the benefits appear to be greater than one alone.  The problem with a lot of supplements is that it depends on their quality and form; some supplements (of any type) like food, cannot be assimilated correctly unless they are in a particular format.

It is possible to spend a lot of money on various supplements which, although they DO contain the ingredient discussed are not actually of any practical use as they are not bio-available.

My collie flynn has bad hips & goes swimming once a week,this has stenghtened his muscles safely & is now moving really sound & straight.
he wears a bioflow collar,at first he wore it all the time, but now hes sound i just use it over night.
hes on the BARF diet,which is meant to be good for both conditions. has ester-c  a non acidic vit c. glucsomine, if he ever comes back stiff he has some devils claw tablets for a few days,the human tabs work out cheaper than the animals version, but he is very rarely stiff now.

Thanks for the replies everyone, she is on the Chrondontin & Glucosomine already but I will up the dosage as I have only been giving her one 500g tablet daily. In newfs breeders test for H.D and a heart condition but reading various books they are prone to bad elbows aswell, I know they test for it in the states so I wonder why its not tested for over here.

I was surprised when the vet told me she was overweight, she is 9 months old and weighs in at 6"10lb is this overweight? I was quite worried about her as she hadnt been eating much but now she's on a diet.

Nikki

Took my GSD Sasha back to the vets today to have her stitch removed from being speyed. They recommended giving her green lipped mussel extract for her HD and arthritis.
It is Glucosamine & Chondroitin and other pure extracts, it can be bought from www.zip-vit.co.uk for £12-95 for 300 tabs. You can e-mail them for a brochure, they have some wonderful herbal remedies for all the family at a low cost.
Sue

Thanks Sue I will e-mail them now for a catalogue.

Nikki