Natural Glucosamine and Dog Arthritis: How It Helps and Where To Find It

For dog arthritis, some glucosamine is better than others. Feeding your dog naturally occurring glucosamine will help the body to repair and rebuild its own cartilage and revitalize the synovial fluid.

Dog arthritis can occur as hip dysplasia, cruciate ligament tears, or joint pain from osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative joint disease. Over your dog's life, their body produces its own glucosamine, which maintains the cartilage and attracts synovial fluid around their joints.

As a normal part of the aging process, a dog's naturally produced glucosamine will deteriorate, causing the fluid that lubricates the joints to thin and preventing collagens from rebuilding the cartilage that supports the joints. The natural answer to this process is to provide your dog with a supply of naturally occurring glucosamine, rather than a manufactured one.

How Natural Glucosamine Helps

The main building blocks in a natural glucosamine are glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) paired with chondroitin. GAGs are long sugar chains that help repair cellular development in cartilage and connective tissue. Chondroitin helps calm inflammation and rejuvenates lubrication in the joints.

Researchers have found that when a natural supplement pairs both glycosaminoglycans and chondroitin with other anti-inflammatory and energizing herbs, the absorption rate increases. This gives your dog more get up and go than if he or she were given only glucosamine.

By using a natural supplement that replaces the missing GAGs and chondroitin, your dog's joints will begin to repair and maintain themselves more efficiently and more quickly.

Where to find GAGs

Naturally occurring glucosamine can be found in the cartilage and bones of other animals. Feeding your dog raw meats that contain bone marrow or connective tissue is a great way to get more naturally occurring glucosamine in their diet.

In supplements, the most commonly used animals are the backbone cartilage of a shark and bovine trachea. There are many manufacturers that are aware of the need to protect sharks and use shark cartilage only from sharks caught for food. Shark cartilage contains a less amount of GAGs, yet because it also contains vital amino acids and proteoglycans it is more effective than bovine cartilage. This is true of other marine collagen extracts. The bovine cartilage overloads the supplement with GAGs but it doesn't provide the necessary mineral content for optimum absorption.

Natural supplements that contain shark cartilage or marine collagen extract paired with anti-inflammatory herbs will give your dog the best shot of getting on their feet again and maintaining their joints.

The most important thing to remember when feeding supplements to your dog is that dog arthritis is a long-term problem that must be managed. Supplements will need to be given to your dog regularly to keep the ingredients in their bloodstream. Once a supplement is stopped, the synovial fluid will begin to thin again and the collagen will stop repairing itself. Natural glucosamine supplements are a great alternative to NSAIDs and other harsh drugs. They can be given regularly for the life of your dog without side effects.