My Pit Bull has hip pain. What supplements can I give him for relief?

If supplements alone haven't helped, it may be time to add in a pain medication or other joint medications to help relieve Halo's discomfort. Unfortunately, these do require a trip to the vet in order to be prescribed, but it's a good idea to schedule a vet visit anyway to monitor Halo's joint health and any progression of disease. Your vet may recommend regular bloodwork and X-rays to watch the hips for any additional deterioration so that medications and joint supplements can be adjusted as needed. Changing supplement types in addition to this, such as adding in fish oil and vitamin E, Green-Lipped mussel, or another glucosamine/chondroitin combo may also help, however, consulting with your vet first to make sure there is no interaction with other medications is best.

If it is quite mild pain she is experiencing you could try giving her a supplement of chondroitin and glucosamine. You can get this from good pet shops and it helps to lubricate the joints. If that does not help you may have to go to the vet to get her something stronger such as an antinflammatory. Also make sure she has a well supported bed to take pressure of her when sleeping.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Sugar. She appears to have significant changes to both of her hips indicating severe arthritis. She also appears to have some mild arthritic changes in her left knee. Hip dysplasia is a congenital disorder where the hip joints do not develop properly leading to arthritis later in life. So this is the potential cause of the changes in her hips. I hope she is able to start pain medication to help with her mobility.

Happy holidays to you, too! Joint supplements can be helpful to support the joint and minimize further damage, but they won't make current joint issues go away. I would discuss other medications with your vet. In a young dog with hip pain, I would do x-rays to look for hip dysplasia or other bony changes. Your vet may also have a recommendation for a different supplement for long-term use.

Hi there. Thank you for using PetCoach. I'm sorry to hear that Cocoa is having this issue. She sure is adorable! Unfortunately, we cannot recommend that you give any over the counter medications to Cocoa. We are not allowed to do that by law since we haven't examined her in-person. Dogs are actually very sensitive to over the counter medications and if she has any conditions underlying (like kidney disease for example) those medications can make it worse. I suggest you get her to your vet for an exam. It is not common for small breed dogs to have hip problems so it would be best to get her examined to figure out what is causing the problem. Then you can discuss the options for treatment with your vet. In the meantime all I can recommend is that you use a natural joint supplement like the Missing Link Plus but you are not likely to see an immediate effect. http://www.allivet.com/p-1647-missing-link-vet-canine-plus.aspx Hope this helps. Best wishes!

Hello, I’m sorry to hear about Diesel. Dogs can experience arthritis as they age due to instability in their joints. One of the most common places for them to have arthritis is in their hip joints. Just as in people, arthritis leads to aches and pains with movement. Supplements can be helpful with arthritis, because they contain compounds to improve joint health. However, they will not heal the arthritis and get rid of the pain completely. If the supplements don’t seem to have a large effect on Diesel, I would recommend having him evaluated by your veterinarian. They can examined his joints and look for discomfort. They may prescribe a course of anti-inflammatory medications to help with the discomfort. Hope this helps, good luck!

I am sorry Prince is having hip pain. I would recommend taking him to a vet to make sure he is not having any other issues. The vet will most likely want to do bloodwork before starting him on long term pain medications. I typically start patients off on a NSAID (non steroidal anti inflammatory) and add additional medications if the NSAID is not enough on its own. However Prince should only take medication for dogs and should have blood work before starting NSAIDs. NSAIDs can be harmful to a dogs kidneys and liver if they are not working properly. Over the counter you can start him on a joint supplement. I recommend glucosamine and chondroitin. There are non medical options too like a cold light laser and acupuncture. I would ask your vet about if these are options in your vet office or near by.