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Cosequin is in all places nowadays. It’s the complement of selection for canines and cats with joint issues, and it appears like each mature puppy and kitty you run into is taking it. But what’s it? How does it paintings? And does it actually get effects? Here’s what’s identified—and unknown—about the complement, plus our personal pets’ tackle the well-known tablet.
What Is Cosequin?
No puppy guardian loves to admit that their canines are ageing, and I’m no exception. Unfortunately, that truth is getting more difficult for me to disclaim. My canines Miss Bennet and Logan are 12 and 10 years previous now, respectively.
As seniors, my canines are as loud and goofy and sassy as they ever have been—age has introduced no knowledge and little calm to our house—and but they’re an increasing number of discovering themselves at the mercy in their getting old our bodies. Some days, the discomfort of osteoarthritis and different age-related problems visibly dampens that spunk.
Early closing yr, my native veterinarian really helpful that we attempt Cosequin, a joint complement that goals to stay pets like mine transferring, restoring the high quality of existence that fades when mobility is proscribed.
So I did some digging into the product and spoke with Dr. Rebecca Greenstein, a Veterinary Medical Advisor for Rover, to be informed extra.
Cosequin is a branded suite of dietary dietary supplements—also known as “nutraceuticals”—produced through Nutramax Laboratories, a producer of supplemental fitness merchandise for each people and pets. Cosequin is meant to handle arthritis and stiffness of the joints and ligaments in canines and cats.
As with people, a canine’s or cat’s musculoskeletal device provides their frame construction and motion. In the program, bones and muscle tissue are tied in conjunction with tendons and ligaments.
Miss Bennet and Logan fashion musculoskeletal methods.
Joints are the issues in the frame the place two bones meet. Cartilage covers the ends of the bones at those junctures to cushion and offer protection to them as they transfer in opposition to each and every different.
But as our canines and cats age, this cartilage regularly breaks down, making it tougher to transport and inflicting painful friction between the bones at the joints. This degradation, which is known as osteoarthritis, can expand because of damage, an infection, and autoimmune issues in addition to age.
But arthritis isn’t simply an “old dog disease,” consistent with Dr. Greenstein. She informed me that as many as 20% of canines 12 months or older have osteoarthritis, and younger cats aren’t immune both.
The number one elements in Cosequin are Glucosamine Hydrochloride and Sodium Chondroitin Sulfate. Some merchandise offered inside of the Cosequin emblem additionally comprise MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) or different additions like Omega-3s.
Dr. Greenstein defined that, in a simplified sense, glucosamine is helping construct wholesome cartilage in the joints, whilst chondroitin protects in opposition to irritation and injury. MSM, she mentioned, does just a little little bit of each.
Is Cosequin Safe?
Cosequin claims to be the number-one joint-health complement emblem really helpful through veterinarians and utilized by puppy oldsters. According to Dr. Greenstein, Cosequin’s recognition is in large part because of Nutramax Laboratories’ excellent recognition for high quality and analysis.
The query of protection round dietary supplements—together with Cosequin for canines and cats—is an advanced one. There’s scientific protection and anecdotal protection, and so they’re no longer essentially the identical.
Because dietary supplements and nutraceuticals don’t seem to be regulated in the identical tactics as prescription drugs, the high quality and effectiveness of those merchandise can range broadly. For veterinarians, peer opinions are what Dr. Greenstein known as the gold same old for figuring out a nutraceutical’s protection and efficacy. Practical, in style enjoy too can play a tentative function, and Cosequin has benefitted from each.
Oscar takes Cosequin so he can pass on extra hikes.
“Based on our collective veterinary experience with Cosequin, it seems to be very well-tolerated,” she mentioned. “The rate of serious adverse reactions seems to be pretty low based on what we know about it.”
Alternatives to Cosequin for Dogs and Cats: Are All Joint Supplements Created Equal?
When it involves joint dietary supplements generally, Dr. Greenstein’s caution was once transparent: no longer all dietary supplements are the identical. Though Cosequin has earned a cast recognition, no longer all dietary supplements had been so broadly examined. This caution doesn’t come from loyalty to Cosequin or every other specific product, she clarifies, however from the common loss of analysis and law associated with puppy dietary supplements.
“It’s not just a question of glucosamine supplements in general,” she mentioned. “It’s a larger question of quality control, and is what’s in the bottle accurate? And if it is, are all products created equal? And it turns out they’re not.”
Because of this, she says that the explicit merchandise you select for your pets do topic. Pet oldsters shouldn’t seize the first joint complement they see, although the producer markets it for pets. While the ones merchandise may well be secure and efficient, there’s no approach to make sure.
Just as essential, you don’t wish to give your pets joint dietary supplements made for people.
“Not all glucosamine supplements are appropriate. They don’t all work the same,” Dr. Greenstein informed me. “Human products don’t necessarily translate to dogs and cats.”
Who Benefits From Cosequin?
Mature canines and cats experiencing joint stiffness are each prone to have the benefit of Cosequin—even though it’s essential to test along with your vet first.
The information may wonder many cat oldsters, since canines are extra regularly identified to be afflicted by joint problems. Dr. Greenstein, alternatively, suspects that osteoarthritis impacts extra cats than we all know.
Matilda, being suffering from osteoarthritic problems.
“We’re not as good at picking out the signs because cats are more stoic,” she informed me. She pointed to stiffness when getting up or problem leaping up as alerts that cats is also experiencing some joint discomfort.
I requested Dr. Greenstein if more youthful pets would have the benefit of beginning Cosequin early, in particular given the top incidence of osteoarthritis. She informed me that it’s imaginable; preventative dosing may lend a hand more youthful canines in keeping their joint fitness over the years, however the analysis isn’t definitive sufficient to understand for certain.
“We are still in an early stage of understanding who would benefit and why and which products are the ones that would work,” she informed me.
Most of the present analysis, she mentioned, was once carried out on canines with identified joint problems like osteoarthritis. For now, suggestions of Cosequin for canines and cats are most commonly made when there’s a identified factor.
How Cosequin for Dogs Has Helped My Senior Pups
Miss Bennet, a scruffy mixture of Terrier and Schnauzer and who-knows-what-else, is twelve. Most days she slightly appears to be slowing down, however she woke me up one morning closing yr in evident misery. A travel to the emergency vet and a collection of x-rays published arthritis in her again leg.
Logan is a black Labrador Retriever. At ten, his getting old is way more evident. Over the closing a number of years, white hairs have grown in round his eyes and snout, a function that may counsel a certain quantity of knowledge in the event you didn’t know him. In fact, he’s a goofball, however he has arthritis and again problems as well.
At 60 kilos, Logan will get a complete pill of Cosequin each day, whilst Miss Bennet will get part. We put the capsules of their bowls with their breakfast, and it’s normally the very first thing they devour. (It’s a good suggestion to have your puppy take Cosequin with meals, since some say it may be just a little tough on an empty abdomen.)
Miss Bennet and Logan, having a look dapper and cell, if we do say so ourselves.
Within weeks, we noticed a distinction; each canines have been transferring extra freely and extra regularly—in reality, we discovered ourselves having to observe Logan, as his growth confirmed maximum in his reckless enthusiasm for existence.
My canines aren’t the simplest ones who appear to have benefited from the product both; a number of weeks after my husband really helpful Cosequin to a colleague, his coworker reported that his canine had greeted him at the door after paintings for the first time in a very long time.
Oscar the Rover check puppy takes Cosequin at his vet’s route and will get round remarkably speedily on his tiny previous legs (and into a wide variety of mischief).
So does Matilda, a mature kitty who continues to check Rover merchandise with enthusiasm (or, neatly, what counts as enthusiasm for a cat). She was once prescribed Cosequin through her vet to lend a hand with joint problems led to through arthritis.
Cosequin isn’t, alternatively, a treatment. While it kind of feels to have made a giant distinction in Logan’s and Miss Bennet’s convenience and mobility, it hasn’t became again the clock or made their joint issues vanish. In the closing a number of months, we spotted that Logan’s job and balance have been starting to regress once more; now we’re proceeding his day by day routine of dietary supplements and dealing on different therapies as neatly, together with common journeys to a specialised canine fitness center.
But for us, the distinction has been exceptional, and we’ve really helpful the product to circle of relatives, buddies, and co-workers alike.
Logan and Miss Bennet play on the seaside.
How To Buy Cosequin
Cosequin is available in a number of paperwork, together with capsules and chews and distinctive formulation for canines, cats, or even horses. We’ve integrated a few of the maximum not unusual choices beneath, however puppy oldsters would possibly in finding different merchandise higher suited for their puppy’s wishes.
As a complement, all Cosequin merchandise are to be had with out a prescription. However, puppy oldsters will have to all the time speak about those choices with their veterinarian ahead of beginning any supplemental therapies with their canine or cat. If you’re purchasing on a third-party web page like Amazon, it’s additionally essential to double-check that the product’s vendor and producer is Nutramax—that approach you’ll steer clear of any counterfeit merchandise.
