Osteoarthritis, what most people refer to as simply arthritis, is a slow debilitating disease of both dogs and cats.  Early symptoms of arthritis in animals often are ignored or brushed over lightly. The most common sign is an animal that is slow to raise or raises with difficulty.  Others seem to spend an excessive amount of time stretching after getting to their feet, especially stretching of the back legs.  Most of these animals after getting to their feet for a few minutes will act totally normal.  In fact, some of them run and play so hard it is impossible to believe their joints could be hurting at times. This paradox of being slow to raise up yet able to run hard and play has caused many people to ignore these early symptoms until they are advanced in nature.  Please do not ignore these early signs of pain in your pet.  

Many products are available to treat osteoarthritis including prescription drugs, nutraceuticals, acupuncture, and massage therapy. As arthritis develops an inflammatory reaction occurs in the joint. This inflammatory reaction creates an unhealthy joint environment.  A viscous cycle occurs as this unhealthy environment causes further joint deterioration.  Unless this trend is reverse over time this joint is totally destroyed.      Glucosamine, found in nutraceuticals, such  as GLC 1000 or Cosequin, play a vital role in maintaining a healthy joint. These products provide the nutrients the joints need to help create a healthy environment. While these agents will help any joint have a more healthy environment, the best results are seen in animals treated in the early stages of disease. Animals with advanced osteoarthritis may require other forms of treatment in conjunction to achieve good results. Glucosamine does not give overnight results. Depending on the degree of disease and the animal it may take anywhere from two to eight weeks for results to be noticed. The advantages of glucosamine are: safety,availabity and nonprescription.The chief disadvantage is that it requires a few weeks of use to tell if it will solve the problem in your pet.

Osteoarthiritis is a painful disease that should be treated the minute you see signs even when signs of pain are vague.

Owen Fisk