As dogs get older and age it is especially important to pay attention to their joints. While I want to deny Bella is aging and I still call her my puppy, her back legs have gotten weaker and she’s showing signs of arthritis. I keep her at a healthy weight because I want her to live as long as possible and removing the extra weight takes undue strain off her joints. We do some additional exercises to target her hind legs and engage her muscles. But health begins inside with what you put in the body that is converted into energy, and we are still learning about nutrition and supplementation for a healthy diet.

The three supplements which are commonly used to help dog joints are:

• Glucosamine
• Chrondrotin
• MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane)

These supplements decrease inflammation and ease pain and discomfort for your dog.

Nutramax offers a soft joint supplement called Cosequin DS which has all three of those inflammation reducers.

Ingredients:

• Glucosamine Hydrochloride minimum (600 mg)
• Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) minimum (400 mg)
• Sodium Chondroitin Sulfate (300 mg)
• Glycerin
• Starch
• Natural Flavor
• Vegetable oil
• Silicon Dioxide
• Mixed tocopherols (preservative)
• Rosemary Extract
• Green Tea Extract

Find these Nutramax Cosequin Maximum chewable supplements on Amazon or on Chewy.com.

What I liked about this supplement is that it is soft and easy to break up so it can be used in training. Also it’s easy for the dog to eat-especially if they are particular about a supplement’s form. Right now Bella is on the SoulFood, GreenMin, and Livton from Dr. Dobias. The Livton comes as a hard pill and the other two are powder which I mix into her food with some water. Sometimes she’ll eat everything in her bowl but any pills and capsules. For capsules with powder, I open them and sprinkle them on the food with a flavor additive and some water to make it more tasty.

Bella gets two of the round tabs daily for the initial month and then she gets one daily after that. With the soft joint chew Bella was more than happy to do some tricks for it.

And she happily ate it up. It’s always great when pups are happy to eat the supplements you know that help them. It’s the same when you have to take medicine or supplements-the tasty ones are easier to take and the large supplements that are difficult to swallow and bitter you’d much rather avoid!

With how active Terra and Kronos are, we’ll be looking into supplements for them too since it’s probably better to start a young dog on joint supplements once their growth plates have formed and set. They are crazy movers and we want to protect their joints sooner than later.

Do you give your dog joint supplements? Do they prefer the soft chews, powder, or pills? What have you found that works?