HELP - JOINT SUPPLEMENT

surreyhorsechick

surreyhorsechick

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My pony has arthritis in both hocks and is currently on Cortavet powder. I am trying to do a comparison between the main ones, ie Synoquin, Cosequin etc to see if I'm using the best supplement possible for my pony's condition - I am aware that for any real benefit they should contain at least 10mg of Glucosamine, 10mg of MSM and at least 4.5mg of Chondroitin. There is no info on amounts in my tub of Cortavet, although up until recently it did the job. Has anyone else researched this subject?

I have also been recommended to find one with Bromelain in it which acts as an anti-inflammatory. Only present in a couple of British brands and normally at the expense of reduced amounts of Glucosamine etc. I have located Bromelain tablets on the Healthspan website as they can be used for humans, but I have no idea how many I would have to feed a horse and even whether I should try as I've also read that you shouldn't use them for more than a couple of weeks.

Any info would be appreciated!
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Thanks CBAnglo - very useful info, but was hoping maybe someone had done a comparison in terms of specific mg per ingredient!! I will contact companies individually and try and get more info!
 
Thanks HelsB - just looked at Aviform website. With their Suppleaze Gold, it is said to contain:

5,500mg - Glucosamine HCl (not less pure Sulphate)

2,000mg - Sodium Chondroitin Sulphate (Marine)

2,460mg - Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)

40mg - Hyaluronic Acid (HA)

The above amounts are based on a 10g scoop (10g being 10,000mg) so according to my research you would need to feed 2 scoops per day to achieve a result, which is actually what Aviform suggest for the average horse. However this is just a 30 day loading dose before they suggest you reduce it to one scoop per day so I'm guessing if you can keep the horse on 2 scoops per day, the tub will last half as long but at least you will be giving the horse the optimum amount of each necessary ingredient!
 
Riaflex Complete has the following:

300 - 600kg 2.5 scoops (30 days)

10 g Glucosamine
10 g MSM
4 g Chondroitin

A 700g tub (up to 60 days supplement) is £42
 
I have just looked at both of these as well, and decided to try the Riaflex complete for 2 months. If I find an improvement I might then move to the 50:50 as lots of people have said it is just as effective (it just doesnt contain the chondroitin).

The other one I was looking at was Newmarket Joint supplement but I dont think I could find the ingredients anywhere.
 
Newmarket Joint suppliment is pure glucosamine.

Basically you have a few choices but it boils down to what papers you read and what marketing you are swayed by!

Some literature indicates that chondroitin in combo with glucosamine is superior to glucosamine alone. Other literature concludes no significant difference. Chondroitin is expensive, hence why products with pure marine sourced chondroitin and good levels are expensive. Other products are expensive and substandard and just try and con the consumer ...

The problem you have with glucosamine / chondroitin is that they are bloody big molecules and they are difficult to be transported to the areas they are needed.
Hence to stand any chance of them working you need to shovel lots of high quality product down their throats in order for it to work.

You are also reliant on the companies putting in the tubs what they say they are putting in them! Thats one of the problems with off the shelf products. The veterinary distributed products I would be more confident in their quality control, but it does come at a premium.

With regards to cortavet, take a look at the cortaflex website - it explains their marketing angle on this product. I would always buy cortavet over cortaflex, if you shop around it's only about £20 a tub dearer yet more concentrated. But their basic theory is that they don't include whole molecule glucosamine/chondroitin, instead they contain smaller molecules more easily absorbed by the body, these molecules are the building blocks of chondroitin/glucosamine. It's very difficult to do a direct comparison between cortavet and other joint supps as they are essentially different products.

Enjoy shopping around!
 
I was recommended to use Cortaflex by the vets at the vet school something to do with the molecules being smaller and easily used by the body.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Basically you have a few choices but it boils down to what papers you read and what marketing you are swayed by!


[/ QUOTE ]

I'd definitely agree with that, I don't think you can go by how much say glucosamine etc is in each product, as its the combination and type of ingredients that surely make the difference.

I can 100% recommend Cosequin though, its worked wonders on my mare, even though she was previously Cortaflex (for 6+ years!)
 
Thanks Doublethyme - Cosequin was my choice to go for next - you can only give these tings a go can't you?

Cellie - many thanks for the link - unfortunately it doesn't have any real info on Cortavet, but reading Ben_and_Jerry's post Cortavet isn't really comparable to the other products on the market. I do believe tho that the vet-recommended/prescribed suplements are probably the most reliable.
 
I got my Cosequin from American Ebay recently and it worked out much cheaper even with the dire US dollar rate against Sterling at the moment.
 
I really rate Newmarket Joint supplement (pure glucosamine), although expensive it lasts for ages so is cost effective and has worked brilliantly on my horses . It's Glucosamine Hydrochloride. I've tried others to compare that have extra ingredients like MSM and Chondroitin, but I've found this to work on them a lot better. But each horse is different, and what suits one doesn't always suit another!
 
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