I don't know if anyone can help me but i have a 9 year old Bullmastiff dog and he has now got Arthritus in his lower leg (Ankle ?) he has been pescribed anti inflamatory drugs and Mobilise, but i wondered if anyone had any ideas on other treatments ? he has never been the most agile of dogs but i am now seeing him struggle to move around and i am getting worried that i am not doing enough for him, after 9 years as a loyal and loving friend i do not want to let him down, i am open to any suggestions you may have my e-mail addy is leedavid23@hotmail.com thank you for taking the time to read this.
                                                        Lee Walters (very worried)

Have you considered a bo flow collar ?

There is much, human, research to support the use of fish oils in relieving arthritis.  Certainly my Dandie Dinmont seemed to benefit from the use of Green Lipped Mussel extracts in the early stages but laterly they did not have a profound enough effect and we used Cartrophen will provided a great deal of relief.
Over twenty years ago I was involved in an NHS study of magnotherapy and I'm afraid the results demonstrated no effect whatsoever, to this day I am not aware of it ever being used by the NHS so I would conclude expensive magnocollars are probably a waste of money.  Having examined a bracelet of this type flogged to my pensioner father for over 30 quid, if you want to give it a go I would save a bob or two by pulling a magnet off one of the fancy ones on your fridge and sew it into a bit of velcroed fabric and voila!, you could even start selling them on your local market to help pay for your veterinary treatment :p :D

Apple Cider vinegar and Cortaflex have both provided relief to my horse and can be fed to dogs.

We have been giving our 55lb Lab a 900mg tablet of glucosamine with chondroitin twice a day, with meals, for about 4 years now.   We just buy regular people tablets and take the same ones ourselves.  Our Vet approves.  There is a veterinary version available but it costs way more.  This is more of a preventative though.  If the arthritis is advanced I don't know if it will do much good.

When Jet first came up lame arthritis was suspected but could not be detected on xray.  Nevertheless we put her on a series of Cartrophen Vet injections.  This was a miracle drug and results were noticed immediately, effectively confirming the diagnosis of arthritis.  I begged the Vet to inject my poor old shoulder and it is supposed to be released for human use.  After the first four injections booster shots are required and the interval differs from dog to dog; maybe one/month to one/year.

P.S.  I'm in Canada so don't know if this drug is available to you.  You could do an internet search for more info. on it.

Yes Cartrophen is available over here.  I give Penny, Glucosamine and condroitin.  Initially she was on Metacalm, which did help for the first 2.5bottles and then seemed to have no effect.  Cartrophen injections are given on a weekly basis for 4 weeks and then stopped for a few months.  It does take time for the Cartrophen to 'kick in'.  But after the 3rd injection there was a very noticable difference in Penny. She was diagnosed with sever HD and extremely arthritic by the time she was only 14 months. I also used a bio-flow collar before I started the Cartrophen and there was an improvment. But since Penny is so severe she needed the extra help from drugs.  With the warmer weather and all other things combined, Penny is now running around as a 4.5 year old Lab should and enjoying every minute.  So maybe not one single thing is working but as a combined therapy all are giving her a quality of life that she is enjoying at the moment.  Her only problem is occassional incontenence, but even that is not a major problem since it is just very occassional.
Kay

I never hear anyone refer to MSM for arthritis. Has anyone tried it with good/negative results?

Actually, Jet is not even on the Cartrophen any more.  I have found that most of her problem is that she just can't be a "weekend warrior" anymore.  She can't do short 3 or 4 kilometre, 45 minute walks (off leash) on level ground on the work days and then do 10 or 12 km up hill and down dale hikes that take 2 or 3 hours on the weekend.  My solution has been to increase the amount of exercise she gets at least one day mid-week and this has worked wonderfully.  She might still be a bit gimpy the evening of a particularly rigorous hike but is always fine the next morning.  So far anyway, as she is 12.  I give her half an aspirin or Metacam once in a long while for those times.  Strangely, she is better in the winter when we are cross-country skiing than she is in summer.