Cosequin

[Lucy's Mom]

Has anyone used cosequin or similar for dogs legs?
Has it affected bg's?

Thank you..

[Shellie]

Re: Cosequin

Used it for my cat but she wasn't diabetic so don't know effects. I'm not sure what other ingredients are in it other than the two arthritis things.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Cosequin

We used Cosequin with Chris and it didn't have any affect on his blood sugar.

Not sure whether it helped his arthritis or not but figured it couldn't hurt. He was on Metacam, an NSAID, for the arthritis for his last four years.

Natalie

[Zoology1603]

Re: Cosequin

I contacted Nutramax, the makers of Cosequin and asked them for any information regarding diabetes mellitus in canines. They responded:

Cosequin maximum strength plus MSM has no known reported side effects or contraindications in using this product in diabetic pets. I have posted below the study but unfortunately, it is not open access. However, your veterinarian could request access to the abstract.

https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/j....236.2.183.xml

However, another article states:

The effect of this supplement on serum fructosamine concentrations was studied in healthy dogs rather than in dogs with diabetes mellitus. Several metabolic pathways (i.e. not just glucose homeostasis) are altered in patients with this disease, and, as such, glucosamine catabolism and biologic activity of any drug metabolites could in theory differ between these two populations.

Reference:
https://www.dvm360.com/view/research...itoring-diabet

[Zoology1603]

Re: Cosequin

Another aspect to consider is, some dog food has Glucosamine Hydrochloride and Chondroitin Sulfate (the main ingredients of Cosequin) added. Looking at Wellness Core as an example:

https://www.chewy.com/wellness-core-...ginal/dp/34342

Glucosamine = 1,200 mg/kg (min)
Chondroitin Sulfate = 1,200 mg/kg (min)

This translates to 1.2mg per gram of food. As an example we have an semi-active adult dog that weighs 30lbs and needs roughly 780 kcal per day. That's 211 grams of Wellness Core dog food per day. That would be 253mg of Glucosamine per day your dog is already receiving. The recommendation is 20 milligrams of Glucosamine per each pound of body weight, 600mg for a 30lb dog. If you were going to give this supplement to your dog, you might want to take into account how much Glucosamine they are already receiving through their diet.

According to the label on Cosequin a 30lb dog needs 1/2 a pill (300mg) per day for maintenance and 1 whole pill for the first 4-6 weeks. The dog is practically already receiving 300mg through their diet alone. In that instance you might want to only give 1/4 of a pill per day for maintenance and 1/2 a pill per day for the initial 4-6 weeks.

The recommended dose of Chondroitin is 33 to 66 mg per pound of body weight for 6 weeks, then reduced by half.

[MomtoMax]

Re: Cosequin

I use human grade Glucosamine. Chondroitin and MSM, which has not mucked with his BG numbers.

Donna and Max the Corgi