Glucosamine & MSM - Kidney/liver probs

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caths

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Has anyone heard of the above supplements causing liver or kidney problems in horses? Heard from a groom in a local yard that although they are good in the short term that long term use will cause kidney or liver failure. I haven't heard this anywhere else and just wondered what anyone else thinks or has heard about this. Hopefully its nonsense from an ill informed person!
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I don't think that's right - I have heard that long term use of anti inflammatories like bute can cause such problems and maybe tummy problems, but MSM is a natural ingredient with anti inflammatory properties and doesn't have the same harsh effects on their insides.

Fi x
 
I don't have a clue. Did try it on my old mare once, i thought i had caused her premature end. Made her realy ill. She does have problems though so that could be why. I won't touch it again because of the reaction in her but i know of plenty of people that use it with no-problems.
 
I have never heard of this before.
I can't see how this could be right as they are natural products, unlike bute etc.
My vet actually recommended I put my boy on a joint supplement containing both those ingredients and told me to use it long term....that was over 7 yrs ago and he has never had any problems.
If you are worried check with your vet.
 
Your best course of action might be to phone Feedmark, a reputable company who sell the stuff. They are well established, so they will have done trials of their products and be aware of the latest science.

It is always tricky with anacdotal 'evidence'. The groom might have known horses on the stuff who went on to have kidney and liver problems which were noting to do with the fact they were on glucosamin /MSM and would have had these problems anyhow.

On the other hand, feeding these things is a very recent development. 10 years ago it would be virtualy unheard of. So, no one can realy say what the long term effects are.

As to the arguement that they are natural substances... some very poisonous things are natural. Virtualy any vitamin or mineral fed at an incorrect rate can be poisonous.
 
Catherineanne
There was an article in the press a few weeks ago about a guy whose death had been possibly attributed to the use of glucosamine which had been thought in this case to have caused hepatitis - you can find it if you google. I was interested because my mare has been on it for a few years and did have a slightly dodgy liver test result last year. I have been advised by an equine liver expert that yes there had been documented cases of it causing a problem in some humans and to a lesser extent dogs but not horses so far. The reality is that asking the body to process extra neutracuticals can put more stress on the liver but his view was that glucosamine was nowhere near as bad as bute etc which of course is known to have an effect on organ damage so its a case of trade offs and lesser of 2 evils. My mare needs something for her arthritis - glucosamine etc reduce the need for danilon/bute so i am just going to have to take the risk.
So i would say that on that basis, I woudnt use it unless there is a known problem. I also feed milk thistle to help counteract the effect of these things.
 
I feed cortaflex and msm to my horse and have done for a long time, my vet actually reccomended feeding msm, i have never heard of them causing liver or kidney problems.
 
There were several researches upon this case, but due to obvious reasons they were not very widely exposed.
It seems that Glucosamin fed long times and in not appropriate "coctail" has a chance cause digestive disorders for some sensitive horses. Which I guess could lead to talks/beliefs about kidney/liver problems. I'm not sure what other manufacturers made, but Forans added oligo-saccharide Inulin (Inulin stimulates the growth of bacteria in the gut) to correct that and to make joint supplement absolutely safe to use long time.
 
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