Using Glucosamine for arthritis in a rabbit. Update: Relapse:(

Anyone used Glucosamine successfully or otherwise for their arthritic rabbits? I have read a few articles and found that Dana Krempels recommends its use, alongside a few other owners. Thumps and Lilbun have both suggested this too when we suspected arthritis.

Nino has confirmed arthritis in both his hips and knees and we are keen to prevent further deterioration for as long as possible and interested in the therapeutic use of Glucosamine/Chondroitin in rabbits alongside NSAID's. I would be grateful for any feedback on its use, and dosages, if anyone has any info, personal experiences or knows of any good articles. Thanks :wave:

I know a few people who use it, but dont know how effective it is. How about Cartrophen?

If you use it, I'd suggest you try to get hold of a vegetarian one, since the usual glucosamine is, I think, shellfish derived. I think I've seen vegetarian ones about though.

SarahP said:

If you use it, I'd suggest you try to get hold of a vegetarian one, since the usual glucosamine is, I think, shellfish derived. I think I've seen vegetarian ones about though.

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Yes thanks, I had heard that, Thumps suggested it and Lilbun suggested the veggie version. But thank you anyways :wave:

Mudgy said:

I know a few people who use it, but dont know how effective it is. How about Cartrophen?

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I've just looked up Cartrophen on the Noah compendium - it talks about it's use for dogs... will ask my vet about it as no idea if can be used in rabbits or is preferred to meloxicam. But thank you

prettylupin said:

I've just looked up Cartrophen on the Noah compendium - it talks about it's use for dogs... will ask my vet about it as no idea if can be used in rabbits or is preferred to meloxicam. But thank you

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Bunlover has used cartrophen for her arthritic rabbits.

Our vet has advised us against using glucosamine on our older bunnies :? They said that there has been no research carried out on its use with rabbits and therefore wouldn't recommend it. :?

But I know there are plenty of people who do use it on their bunnies

Hugo's There said:

Bunlover has used cartrophen for her arthritic rabbits.

Our vet has advised us against using glucosamine on our older bunnies :? They said that there has been no research carried out on its use with rabbits and therefore wouldn't recommend it. :?

But I know there are plenty of people who do use it on their bunnies

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Thank you for this Liz. I feel it's important to get personal experiences as I guess this is kind of unchartered territory with rabbits. :wave:

prettylupin said:

I've just looked up Cartrophen on the Noah compendium - it talks about it's use for dogs... will ask my vet about it as no idea if can be used in rabbits or is preferred to meloxicam. But thank you

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Been used for a long time in rabbits. Works in a very different way to meloxicam. Its not a NSAID.

prettylupin said:

Thank you for this Liz. I feel it's important to get personal experiences as I guess this is kind of unchartered territory with rabbits. :wave:

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I was surprised when she told me not to use it as it is the vet that likes to use herbal alternatives and does acupuncture and similar treatments.

Mudgy said:

Been used for a long time in rabbits. Works in a very different way to meloxicam. Its not a NSAID.

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Yes I know, I meant as an alternative to a NSAID, but maybe it can be used alongside it? Something I will need to find out. But thank you
GWR have suggested meloxicam for now so I guess we will go with that at this stage, but it's very helpful to have an idea of alternative treatments that are out there.

Hugo's There said:

I was surprised when she told me not to use it as it is the vet that likes to use herbal alternatives and does acupuncture and similar treatments.

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She must have good reasons then perhaps?! :?

Obviously I need to ask my own vet about all of this first, but thank you.

Hi,

I can remember using a strawberry flavoured glucosamine for my elderly bunnies - they were aged around 9 and 10 yrs old at the time.

They absolutely loved it, just fed it to them by syringe and they seemed to really like it. It was suggested by my vet and I am totally convinced it improved their mobility, I wish I'd started them on it sooner really..... think I gave them around 0.8mls daily, but they only weighed around 1 kg.

I found it in a local health shop by the way - but think you can find it on on-line shops too.

Hope this helps

Sue

Sue&Smokes said:

Hi,

I can remember using a strawberry flavoured glucosamine for my elderly bunnies - they were aged around 9 and 10 yrs old at the time.

They absolutely loved it, just fed it to them by syringe and they seemed to really like it. It was suggested by my vet and I am totally convinced it improved their mobility, I wish I'd started them on it sooner really..... think I gave them around 0.8mls daily, but they only weighed around 1 kg.

I found it in a local health shop by the way - but think you can find it on on-line shops too.

Hope this helps

Sue

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It does, thank you. All experiences are very welcome and valuable to me and my knowledge. Thank you :wave:

Hi, I have been using joint supplements for a couple of my rabbits for about a year and a half now. I have used Arthri-Aid and Invigorate liquids and had good results with both. It took a couple of months for me to see any improvement but after a while the buns seemed a bit more comfortable and were more active than before. The liquid has a caramel base which the rabbits love the taste of and take willingly from a syringe. I was worried that it would be too sugary but they have never had any digestive upsets from taking it. The dose is 0.5ml per kg per day so is easy enough to work out. I bought mine from vetuk:

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/joint-supplements-arthri-aid-and-invigorate-c-4_322

They are marketed for cats and dogs but I checked out the ingredients before buying and they seem safe. The same ingredients are used in horse versions so presumably are fine for herbivores.

You've probably come across this aticle already but I thought I'd post it anyway as it suggests using the same dose as is used for cats:
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Bone_diseases/Osteo/arthritis.htm

I have also been converted to acupunture, as I have seen some great results. Tippex Porkychicken had a session when all else seemed to fail during a bout of stasis. Theres was a dramatic improvement (and lots of poos), literally within minutes of the session finishing

Thank you Pegasys and Lilbun that's very helpful Yes I had read the Medirabbit link and mentioned to my vet last night on the phone that what I had read suggested a feline dose.
He says he has never used any of these meds with rabbits, they only use them in clinic with cats and dogs so wants to do a bit of his own research first and then get back to me, he thought glucosamine or cartrophen might be a good idea though, he just wants to check it out before advising which is fair enough.

I have not heard of arthri-aid or invigorate so thank you, something else to look up

The problem with Nino is that he has no mobility issues - you just wouldn't know he had arthritis at all - it's very odd! Since we started the daily pain meds his level of activity has gone nuts.... he's tearing around the house binkying like there's no tomorrow! :roll: We're wondering if this has been an issue for him since we adopted him... we've never seen him move or binky so fast... he's full of beans. He's always been highly active, constantly hopping around and full of beans, we call him our little duracell bunny... but now he's like a little duracell bunny ULTRA! :roll::lol:

Will keep acupuncture in mind for if things get very bad, thank you Lilbun.

Pegasys said:

I have used Arthri-Aid and Invigorate liquids

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Just had a quick look at the vetuk link - they are glucosamine and a green lipped mussel product is that right? I don't think I would want to use a non-vegetarian product for a herbivore but maybe the arthri-aid is vegetarian? Does it specify on your bottle by any chance?

The liquid ones don't contain green lipped muscle, it is only the tablets that do.
The glucosamine and condroitin in the liquid is not vegetarian though but I checked a lot of other brands and tablet forms and they are not veggie either, even the horse ones. It is only an extract though and the compound is pretty pure before they add it to the supplements. I would watch out for some of the tablets because they have chicken protein in them but don't always mention that in the description :?

I tried a veggie glucosamine supplement for a long time and it didn't make much difference which is why I decided to try the combined supplements. As long as it helps my buns and doesn't have any adverse effects then I am happy to use it, but I undestand that not everyone would agree with that.

I used vegetarian glucosamine tablets for my arthritic bunny. I'm sure I bought them from Boots. We both had a glucosamine tablet every morning.

I pressed the tablet through a garlic press (which was clean) then rolled a banana piece in the powder. He was a good eater and always ate it. By the time you add up the amount of tablet lost in the press, or dropped off the banana, he was probably eating half the tablet. It helped a bit, but by the time we started he was markedly arthritic.

It didn't cause any digestive problems. My vet, who probably wouldn't impress you with his rabbit knowledge, recommended it.

Thanks

Still waiting to hear back from my vet on the glucosamine subject.