I hear it all the time from my fellow friends, as their hearts sink and they reveal to me that their dog or cat has started to develop arthritis. I always smile in return, not because I'm an evil man...but because I know that their pets arthritis can be treated in a very effective manner, and I know first hand what the results of such treatment options can do for your pet.

When my 12 year old German Shepherd started to develop arthritis almost a year ago, I was the devastated to say the least, but I soon found out that I did have options for treatment. For the first three months I did nothing but test different formulas and methods to see what she responded best to. It's been about 8 months since she first started to develop arthritis, and she now walks and runs almost as good as new. Here are some arthritis medication do's and dont's:

Dont's

While this would be the exact opposite for humans, when it comes to cat's and dog's, visiting you're veterinarian is simply a waste of time and money. This is because there are no special or prescription treatments that a veterinarian can provide for you're pet. Remember that animal research does not have nearly the same financial support that human research does. Don't worry though, there is plenty of information out there...like here! :)

Don't try and using any sort of hypnosis, or herbal treatments on your pet. These simply don't work, and even you're dog or cat will look at you and think "you must be joking".

If you've been looking for treatment for pet arthritis, then you've probably heard about glucosamine. In my extensive experience and those of others, glucosamine is usually the only thing that works...and yes it works very well. However, be very careful of glucosamine products in powdered and/or pill form. These are very quickly broken down by the stomach acids and liver of you're pet and end up in their stool...not their bones where it should be.

Do's

The only effective treatment options that I have found that have actually worked are regular exercise and liquid glucosamine. I stress liquid over pill form for many reasons...but that's a different subject.

The truth is that regular exercise and liquid glucosamine does work to help heal damaged bones and joints better then anything else around. So is there such thing as arthritis medication for dogs? You better believe, and once you start these treatment methods, you're pets will do nothing by thank you....if they could talk of course ;)