What are your opinions on dasquin/cartrophen type medications for arthritis? I know they’ve really helped my seniors, but was wondering how widespread their use is and what vets think of them.
gettingvetted here.
Dasuquin/cosequin and other oral glucosamine/chondroitin supplements are used by vets worldwide. I use Dasquin for one of my cats. I’ve not heard of Cartrophen but a brief Google search is telling me that it is along the same lines as Adequan and Legend, and all three brands are injectable supplements intended to decrease joint inflammation in various ways. Adequan is used regularly for both dogs/cats and horses in the US and seems to have good results. None of these should really be used as the only therapy if arthritis already exists, they should just be complementary therapy (for example, my cat on Dasuquin is also on Gabapentin).
Ferox here.
We use Cartrophen (Pentosan Polysulphate, you’ll find more info looking for pentosan than for cartrophen, and it’s not to be confused with Carprofen) quite a lot, both for osteoarthritis and after joint surgery.
Overall I’m pretty happy with them as a secondary therapy for arthritis (as in, you start them on pain relief at the same time as starting cartrophen). Some arthritic patients can be maintained on cartrophen only for a while, but it’s very variable. Clinically it seems to either work very, very well, or not at all. It seems to do bugger all for spinal arthritis cases.
The greyhound vets also love pentosan.
