Adequan?

[vacation1]

We’re almost done the initial month of twice-weekly Adequan injections. I haven’t seen a “miracle” change, but up till today I’d have said she did seem to be easier getting up/down. Today, a little more of the old eeeeeasing down unhappily, but this is after a couple of humid days, so maybe that’s a factor. Basically, two questions:

1. How do you really - judge that it works, I guess? I kinda think there’s an improvement, but not sure.

2. Now what? If you feel that it worked, do you continue with less-frequent shots? Or is this initial month the whole treatment?

*To sum up the background: Older 50lbish mutt, arthritis for about 2 years, on Rimadyl, Dasuquin, fish oil, easy exercise, limited stairs.

Thanks for any insight!

[SquishTheBunny]

It works well for some, and not at all for others. If financially you can do it, keep going with it but it IS expensive (for what it does). You can always try something like polyglycan or pentosan too.

I find most people get the best results with NSAID changes, you do need to do a washout period (cover this with tramadol), but every 6 months rotate to something like metacam, previcox etc.

You can also talk to your vet about upping to Dasuquin, or changing to Cosequin DS and upping the dose. Dogs generally do well with these oral glucosamines.

At least you’ve got some options I say if you feel the adequan is working and you can foot the cost, there’s no (or I should say very little) harm in continuing.

[wendy]

it’s a slow-acting agent- it stimulates the joints to repair. You’ll probably see your best results only 8 weeks or even longer after the first shot if there’s a lot of damage to be repaired. Most people give it monthly after completing the loading dose, but there is no sound evidence to support that strategy, but if you find that works for you, go with it. The company suggests just doing a full month of loading dose twice a year, which ends up being approximately the same number of shots per year as giving it monthly.

Do you have something more objective to rate the dog to see if the dog is actually improving? since the dog will/should be slowly improving, it might be hard for you to notice changes. For example, I rate my old guy’s ability to go up the stairs- I watch him go up, and if he is feeling good he’ll walk up them normally, but if achy, he pulls himself up by the front end, hopping behind with both legs, and that’s when I pull out the rimadyl.

[NBChoice]

Unfortunately Adequan didn’t work for my dog at all. :no:

I was told that if it works for your dog that you can eventually space it out a little bit further apart. Some dogs don’t handle that and you have to start doing it more frequently again.

[paulaedwina]

10 days into Dasuquin with MSM, and tramadol I had my old dog back. He demanded his walk and tried to jump into the Tahoe. I guess I noticed a little at first -better pain management so he had an easier time getting up and down, but then BAM just like that one morning he was up and ready to go! We did our mile and he even tried to trot a couple of times.

Paula

[wendy]

I saw some improvement with my old dog from Adequan, but on Pentosan it was like a miracle cure- after only the second shot. I went from giving rimadyl almost daily pre-adequan, to once or twice a week post-adequan to not at all post-pentosan. I give him a pentosan shot once a week, and plan to try gradually spacing them out in future.