I have a ~15 year old rescued spaniel-setter mix, who is blind and has diabetes. The last few years - probably coinciding with her blindness which slowed her down very literally - she has had a decline in her physical activity which has led to her being achier and creakier. And of course she is simply aging.
She had been on a glucosamine hip supplement, and an aches and pains herbal supplement (Both Vet's Best - very affordable and pretty effective when given as a dose with each meal), but she has been getting "bad days" that we had to supplement with NSAIDS and as we were finding the incidents where she needed that extra OTC boost increased so I wanted to try something new that was more supplemental like her other add-ons, rather than baby aspirin bandaids.
I tried Dog Gone Pain, twice. It had such good reviews so I was very hopeful, but although we used it for a couple months to give it a full chance to "work" it never seemed to be effective for her. And again, expensive with no results - at least for our dog - means we cannot afford to buy it regardless of how well it had worked for other folks.
Having had lots of success personally - for humans - with essential oils (oil of oregano is fantastic for minor infections and wounds) and herbs/spices - I thought we could give a turmeric supplement a try. I shopped around and grabbed this one as it seemed a good price, and the chews weren't full of sugar my dog has diabetes but no dog needs sugar in their treats. Once you have to avoid sugar in treats - you realize how sugar is in EVERYTHING. And since dogs will eat... poop, yuck! it makes you wonder why we need to put sugar in their treats and how more dogs don't get diabetes like ours did.
Anyhow, we have been using this supplement for our 45 lb low-activity senior spaniel setter mix, one with each meal (so twice a day) for just over a month now. The company sends an email early on, asking for a review and while I understand they are a company and need to promote their business I think they should wait a month and then ask people to review the product. After a month our dog showed a sudden and significant uptick in activity. She suddenly really wanted to go outside more, and for longer, and while sometimes she overdoes it an is actually achier from all the activity we are finding that over time she is getting generally peppier, less achy overall and the activity is obviously good for her. I don't expect this product will work like an opiate for her pain, but that isn't what we wanted. We wanted her to feel better without harsh drugs, and after a month of steady use we have seen that in this product and I will keep ordering this to keep our senior pup more comfy.
Let's do the Pros and Cons lists:
Pros:
-Effective: (at least for our dog) and something you can use to safely supplement your dog's health and comfort, unlike flat out pain pills.
-Palatable: (at least for our dog) and she will gobble them up like candy. That said, it should be easy to hide in a meal if your dog doesn't like the pill. We drop this along with the aforementioned hip and joint supplement and herbal pain supplement (she doesn't care for) all into her food bowl which includes about a cup of kibble and a heaping tablespoon of wet food for enticement. She happily eats every meal on time - especially important for diabetics.
-No sugar!: Especially important for diabetics but dogs don't need sugar in their treats. This is a good thing.
-Fairly priced: Some supplements are extremely expensive, and desperate pet parents will pay those fees if possible, but it's hard and certainly some cannot. i.e. DGP supplements are ~$30 for a month's dose this is ~$20 for two month's doses. That is a huge savings that may make this product more feasible because - hey - we still need to feed them good food and may need other supplements, plus all the other costs of care, etc.
Cons:
-Takes awhile to start showing the positive effects. Like you don't expect eating one apple is going to change your life right after consumption, you cannot expect this to take effect right away. You also need to be the kind of person who can pay attention to your animal's behavior so that you do finally note the changes which will occur over time. You also may need to know when to say, hey, my dog is old and ailing and may need MORE help than this can give and go to the vet. Be sure to bring your supplements and ask if you can keep taking them. When my dog was sick the vet okay'd our supplements along with her antibiotics and (strong) pain meds.
So, bottom line - highly recommended you give this a try if you have an old achy dog. I recommend you make sure you are giving a nice solid dose - give it on a daily basis so it builds up in the system and can work it's anti-inflammatory magic - and give it some time. Probably about a month, but maybe more. Pay attention to your dog's baseline behaviors which are making you consider this product in the first place and then watch to see changes. Again, our first changes were at about a month in, and it was first noticing that she suddenly really wanted to go out and wander around the yard every day, multiple times a day, and for longer and longer periods of time.
We are grateful for any product which makes our beloved pup more comfy in her golden years, and this one has significantly improved her quality of life and to top it off it's pretty affordable, even at giving 2 pills a day, as this will last us 2 months being that it has 120 pills a jar for $20-30. So, recommended and Thank you to Amazing Nutritionals!
UPDATE 03/03/2017: It's been at least another month and we are so happy with how much this supplement has done for our senior dog. She is still old, slow, blind, diabetic... but now she has such notable pep in her step everyday. She wants to go outside all the time to walk and sniff. She explores the yard for 30 minutes at a time, sometimes several times a day and sometimes still has more vigor and energy than she has had in years. She has very few grunty times - when we could just tell she was in pain - and most days she has a lot of up and at'em, walking around with her tail high and wagging instead of loafing. So the turmeric reduces inflammation, which reduces pain, and when in less pain your pet will move around more, which makes them healthier, happy, more active and that activity likely helps reduce more inflammation and pain, too. Win-win-win! We have this on Subscribe and Save now. Two a day, one with each meal, though it smells like bacon and she would eat it like a treat anyway - it's just easier for us to add it with her meal so we don't ever forget it! We are SO pleased with this and what it has done for our old girl! Hope it helps your pet, too!
Serving Size: 2 Chewable Tablets, Servings Per Container: 60. Each Serving Provides 300 mg of Turmeric Curcumin. Ingredients: Turmeric Root Extract (std. to 95% Curcumin) (Curcuma longa L.), 300 mg. Other Ingredients: Microcrystalline cellulose, Dicalcium phosphate, Liver (Dessicated beef, undefatted), Stearic acid, Bacon Flavor, Croscarmellose sodium, Magnesium stearate, and Silicon dioxide. Recommended Dosage: 2 tablets daily. Store in a cool, dry area out of direct sunlight, lid sealed.
