glucosamine for dogs?

Question

My pup was born with a bone disease called Vagus Deformity (sp?). He has double bone growth in his front legs and his joints are really stiff. He gets a lot of exercise and this seemed to work well over the summer but now it's getting colder and I notice him limping quite a bit. A vet told me to put him on glucosamine tablets. I bought human form because I was told they are more concentrate then canine form. I started giving him 1/2 of a 500 mg tablet twice a day (so essentially he is getting all 500 mg, just at intervals). Is this too much? We had a boxer die at an early age from kidney failure (genetic and 7mos old). We take so many added measures to keep Bower healthy, we don't want to go through the pain again. But I just don't want to over drug him or make him sicker. He has only been on the glucos for a week and already he isn't limping as much and putting more pressure on it. Good signs but I just wonder if anyone else gives their dog this? What are the effects?

"Valgus deformity (assuming that's what you're referring to- his front legs are bent outwards? Or varus- bent inwards?) can often be corrected surgically. It's the sort of thing that is done in a referrals centre, not by a local vet, but has it been mentioned to you?"
WOW! Thank you for the definitions. We adopted him when he was 3 months old and where told he had valgus, his front legs are more outward than inward. But to me it just looks like his joint is super swollen. When we adopted him his was going to an orthopedic vet that said with his exercise he had barely any noticable effects. We continued to exercise him frequently but he is only 8 months so we figure between him growing still and the cold weather it is bothering him. The orth vet also told me that he may need surgery but not until he is an adult if it gives more problems. For now she told him to take 500 mgs (250 twice a day). He weighs over 60 pounds.

Thank you for speaking about my boxer Bronx. He was such a sweet soul. He was bred at either a puppy mill or backyard breeder (I don't think we will ever know) but was given to us as a gift. We fell so much in love with him but before he turned 7 months his health started deteroriating fast. He stopped eating and using the bathroom and within a week couldn't walk. We had so much testing done and even IV fluids didn't help. They resolved he had an extremely rare kidney disease that would have needed a shunt to fix. However when it hits pups at his age, the shunts are too big. The vet said he had only seen 2 cases prior to ours in his 30 years. Unfortunately we put him to sleep but he was so sick and there wasn't any amount of money that could have fixed him. It still stays with me everyday, the what ifs and whys.

Answer 1

If you're following your vets advice on dosage, I don't think you need to worry about over-dosing him. Two of my greyhounds are on glucosamine - one of them only as a preventative because he's got the start of arthritis in his shoulder and he gets 500 mg a day and has for years. My other one gets it to prevent her from limping. She's 70 lbs. and the vet said she could have 1500 mg a day safely.


Neither of my dogs have had any kind of side effects - only benefits, and my older dog has a geriatric blood panel done regularly so if there was any kind of kidney or liver damage or anything else starting, it would show up there. You're doing a good thing for Bower giving him glucosamine - you don't need to worry about it! Hope he'll be ok.

Answer 2

It depends a little bit on the formulation of the tablets how much you need to give, as well as on his body weight. 300-500mg is a reasonable amount for a dog of about 15kg, maybe 500-750mg for a 35kg dog. There are also liquid forms which are supposedly better absorbed by the body. Best to tell your vet what brand you are using and double check the doses just to be sure.

If he's already got signs of degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis), it may be worth your while to ask your vet about cartrophen injections. These help to improve lubrication and nutrition of joint cartilage and so help to prevent progression of osteoarthritis. It's given as 4 injections over 4 weeks, and the effects last from about 3 months to 1 or more years. Side effects are pretty rare.

Valgus deformity (assuming that's what you're referring to- his front legs are bent outwards? Or varus- bent inwards?) can often be corrected surgically. It's the sort of thing that is done in a referrals centre, not by a local vet, but has it been mentioned to you?

Hope I've been of some help, and good luck with your pup. Sorry to hear about your Boxer...they're lovely dogs, but seem to be prone to just about every disease in the book.

Answer 3

well, we had to give our dog it when she got older. she had degenerative nerve disease which made her lose feeling from the hips down, eventually causing her not to be able to stand or walk which led to her having to be put down. if we had known about the disease earlier, we could have helped keep the progression down with the use of those pills, but we thought she just had arthritis at first, being that she was 13 when she first started showing the symptoms. they also have it in a form of a liquid that you can add to chicken or beef broth, and then you would know exactly how much you should be giving.
as for the pills, we got them thru the vet, a giant bottle's worth. you should really call your vet and find out what dosage your dog should be having, we had a 45lbs dog, and she only got 300Mgs a day. and since human drugs are made for humans, they might have some additives that aren't good for the pup. it might be fine, but until you talk to the doc, i wouldn't give it the pills. you dont want to do more damage unknowingly.