When you buy glucosamine to treat osteoarthritis in canines, pet owners have a choice for which version of the supplement to purchase. It comes in both pills and tablets and also a liquid form. In most cases the only version that will be available locally in pet stores and large retail outlets are the pill and tablet versions. The reason for this is that the expiration dates on the liquid form of glucosamine are not long enough for the big retailers. However, the expiration dates range from 12 to 18 months on each bottle of liquid glucosamine, so that is more than enough time for owners to use the supplement for treating their pet's arthritis.
One of the main advantages of using liquid glucosamine versus the capsule form is that it is much easier to give the animals. Each bottle of liquid form comes with a built-in reservoir at the top and all that is required is to squeeze the bottle and fill the reservoir to the required dosage level. There are markings which are easy to read and the level is based upon the size of the animal. Either the manufacturer's website or the back of the bottle will specify how much glucosamine is required for a given sized dog. Large dogs require one quarter ounce daily of the supplement which supplies 1500 mg in that one single-dose.
Some dog owners choose to divide the supplement up into two doses each day. There doesn't seem to be much benefit for doing this unless you already feed your animal twice a day. When you buy glucosamine in the capsule version, you can simply poor the daily dosage of the liquid product over your dog's food at meal time. We have had no reported instances of canines refusing food simply because the supplement was poured over it. In fact, one of our dogs likes the product so much that he will go to the other food bowls of our other dogs and lick the glucosamine off the top of their food. The new versions of the liquid supplement comes in beef flavor which dogs tend to really like.
If you have a cat who is taking glucosamine it may be more difficult to get them to take the product because felines are usually quite a bit more picky about the food they eat. It may be necessary to pour something else over the food besides the glucosamine in order for them to take the product. The large pet retailers they have things that are called pet sauces which come in a variety of flavors that could be used for this purpose of tricking the cat into eating the food with the glucosamine on it.
Always remember that glucosamine for dogs take several weeks to several months to work in relieving the pain of dog arthritis. It does not hide the pain or cover it up as do prescription medications. It takes this long for the body to use the active ingredients in the supplement to rebuild and regenerate all of the damaged cartilage tissue within the joints resulting from the arthritic disease. So make sure you do not judge the effectiveness of the product in the first few weeks as there is usually no indication of any benefit at that time.
When buying the product online always check with the manufacturer about the current expiration dates they are shipping. You want the expiration date to be at least 12 to 18 months from the time of purchase. Although large dogs we use a bottle of glucosamine in approximately 4 weeks, small dogs can require several months of dosages before using a single bottle. Remember there is no benefit to doubling up on the glucosamine versus getting the correct in recommended daily amounts.
