Dog Collars and Magenets

[Richard in Smithville]

My older shepherd is starting to show her age and is having trouble with her hips(arthritis). I have seen where there are collars with magenets imbedded in the lining. Any chance this will help? I would like to do anything to help her out and avoid medications( which are hard on dogs). I would be happy to hear of anyone elses experiences.

[SawDog]

Greetings,
When my Elkhound was having the same issues (along with a few other, non-related problems), We tried acupuncture. OK.... There are people who claim it's all psychological, etc. But the dog felt better. She went back to going up and down stairs w/o help, wandering around the yard "just because", etc. So, whatever it does, it worked for us.

We had also tried Glucosamine (the human kind, in canine dosages), but the results were nowhere near as dramatic.

In addition, the first few times we had to keep the dog occupied while the vet performed the acupuncture. There was never any indication that the dog *felt* the needles, she just wasn't one to "sit still" . After a few treatments, she would willingly stand still for them. Coincidence? Training? Maybe. But either way, the acupuncture helped.

Hope your puppy feels better!
Hal

[RAFlorida]

LOML has arthritis and tried wearing a

copper bracelet, didn't work for her. She later tried the bracelet that contained magnets, that didn't work either. I will not say that these things don't work at all, only that my wife says it doesn't give her any relief. I may say that your pet may benefit from the magnetic colar and I don't think their all that expensive, so it may be worth it to try. What ever it takes to give your companion relief is worth the chance I think.
Hal may have a good idea too.

[smorris]

That vet had us giving the dog Rhymidal for her arthritis. It worked well until she went psychotic and started attacking shadows on the wall. Vet said they never heard of such a reaction before.

[cgallery]

One of the things you can do is make sure the dog was something nice and soft to sleep on, like a crib mattress. Elevating it a little to make it easy for the dog to flop onto the floor can also help.

[eccentrictinkerer]

Seems to me that the magnet idea would be about as effective as taping a cow magnet to your car's gas line for better gas milege.

Years ago I managed a local electronic surplus store and we had boxes of cow magnets for $1 each. One summer a guy came in and bought them all.

I asked him what he was doing with them and he said he was selling them at county fairs for $10 each to improve gas mileage.

P.T. Barnum was right!

BTW, we had really good success with an animal chiropractor. Our last dog had horrible pains in his hips and the chiropractor performed miracles. Made his last months a lot nicer.

[gerti]

Our older Malamutes are on daily Joint Max (Glucosamine and Chondroitin) which is easy on their bodies and makes a marked difference. Takes a while to show, but does indeed help.

Sundance, out oldest (which we had to finally put down earlier this year, that was a very sad day) did have several acupuncture sessions, and they did work. But the effect wears of in about two weeks.

[jziegler]

My older shepherd is starting to show her age and is having trouble with her hips(arthritis). I have seen where there are collars with magenets imbedded in the lining. Any chance this will help? I would like to do anything to help her out and avoid medications( which are hard on dogs). I would be happy to hear of anyone elses experiences.

Another vote for glucosamine and chondroitin. We have all three greyhounds on it (even the 2 1/2 year old, although she gets a lower dosage). Zephyr lost a front, middle toe while racing. It messes with the weight distribution and sometimes gives her pain in that paw. Since she has been getting the supplement twice daily, things have been better.

Here's what we use:
Joint Rescue

Jim

[frumper64]

Another vote for accupuncture

We have tried accupuncture on two of our dogs as they aged and the results were remarkable in both cases. I don't understand how it works, but there was no denying the improvement it made.