Hi .Sorry if this topic has been covered before.One of my Danes has just been diagnosed with a rare form of arthritis in his spine.He is on metacam but he is still getting very painful episodes mainly after he has been lying still for a while.They are so painful he is starting to bite whoever is near him which is obviously not good.I will be taking him back to vet again tomorrow but does anyone know of any other medication natural or not that I could try and give him to add to the metacam to stop him feeling so much pain ?

Thankyou

When our bitch had pains due to arthiritus on her hip, she was already on glucosmine since 18 months and was put on tempory doses of Metacam (3 weeks) We were also recommended Ester-C for the artiritus, something that is most effective when used wih the likes of glucosmine etc.  Now my bitch was different to your dane as she has a shallow hip socket hense the arthritus however maybe you could talk to your vet about it or possibly someone else.  We were recommended it by our girls sires owners and it's been researched by GSD people.  It appears to have helped her and she is now back in the ring again!  But PLEASE check with your vet, or other experianced qualified person first as the issues are different. :)

I use a glucosamine suppliment called Synflex , it is a 'human grade' suppliment but is suitable for pets (they do 'synflex 1500' & 'synflex original', only the 'original' is suitable for pets), and if you have a look through all the blurb it will give you the dosage for dogs, which is done on body weight, 1 bottle will last Buster 1 month (as he's on an adult human dose),it has helped my dogs elbow displasia so much he no longer needs to use Metacam. It really is worth a try.
This product was highly recomended to me by fellow Mastiff owners and I'm so glad I tried it :)

Going back to your vet and get his medication reviewed is the best course of action and ask about additional supplements etc that he feels will be ok to give him as if he changes the medication or increases the dose you want to make sure anything you give will be ok along side the prescription meds.

Thankyou , I will def try synflex. Will google it. I have been back today and vet has given me Tramidol for him aswell as metacam .He says it is only a short term thing just to see if we can get his back to settle.We are also sending all his x-rays down to spinal specialist and maybe have to have an MRI scan done ...... Thanks for your advice everyone