If you have pets, then you understand that frustratingly helpless feeling when you realize your pet's health is starting to decline.

As some of you know, Riley is our almost-9-year-old miniature Australian shepherd. That particular breed usually has a lifespan of 12-13 years - which means Riley is a senior citizen. A couple of years ago, while racing around the yard like he was in a competition, he injured his left back knee. He now has arthritis in that knee, and every few months, he has to get anti-inflammatory and pain meds from the vet. Unfortunately, those meds upset his stomach, so while he's taking them, he doesn't eat well and sometimes gets diarrhea. Without them, he limps and has trouble changing positions from lying to standing and vice versa.

So when I was presented with the opportunity to try ArthroPet, I couldn't say yes fast enough!


ArthroPet is a food supplement for pets made by Neocell. It is made with chicken cartilage (a natural source of collagen type II, glucosamine, chondroitin, and hyaluronic acid), MSM, CMO, and manganese and can help promote healthy joints and skin.


Arthropet is packaged as a bottle of 60 "wafers" - which are really large tablets. Dogs under 50 lbs. take 1 tablet per day, while those over 50 lbs. take 2 tablets per day. It should be given 20 minutes before the morning feeding. It can be purchased at iherb.com for $23.41/bottle (free shipping over $20). Riley weighs about 40 lbs., so he only needs one tablet per day - which means the cost is about $.40 per day! The meds from my vet (who charges a lot less than most vets) cost between $1 - $1.70 per day.

Riley is usually resistant to taking any type of pills, and even when they're hidden in food or a treat, he will find it and spit it out. But he loves Arthropet! I just say "time for your pill" and he runs over, nubby wagging, and gobbles it right up!


After just a couple of weeks of taking one ArthroPet tablet per day, we could see a difference in Riley's behavior. He was friskier. He was more playful. He wasn't limping. His appetite was fine and no gastrointestinal upset!

I don't know if it will work for every dog, but it has definitely improved Riley's quality of life. The cost is minimal and he actually likes taking it. I'm only sorry I didn't know about this 2 years ago!
 
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Most dogs hate loud noises, right? My dog is terrified of thunder and fireworks. And anything that might even remotely sound like them. We've tried medication, but I really don't like giving him doggie Valium - and even more importantly, it doesn't help much. I had heard of the Thundershirt for dogs, but didn't know anyone who had tried it. I checked it out online, and it seemed to have good reviews, so we bought one right before July 4th.


If you are unfamiliar with the Thundershirt, it's made for use with dogs who have anxiety during storms (or fireworks). It's a medium-weight stretchy "wrap" with velcro strips that you wrap tightly around the dog before the anxiety sets in. The pressure is supposed to feel like a "hug", and that in turn keeps them calm. Or calmer.


Going by the measurements on the box, we bought a size medium for Riley. When we got it home, I had a difficult time getting it on him. Of course, he wasn't cooperative at all. Then we kept turning the shirt around & around, trying to look at the directions and figure out how it was supposed to work, The flap kept flipping back over the Velcro and sticking, so we had to keep pulling it off, which upset Riley (the noise and the movement). Then when we finally figured it out, it was really snug. I know they're supposed to wrap snugly, but this was pretty tight. He didn't seem to be distressed by it, but it bothered me. After all this, I needed a Thundershirt of my own. Or maybe just a stiff shot of tequila.


Nothing "important" was covered, but for some reason, he didn't want to pee while he had it on. That was annoying, because trust me, once you get this thing on, you don't want to take it off until you absolutely have to...and you can see in the picture below that we were unable to adjust the flap well because the shirt was a little too small for Ri.


Later that night, we had a small storm. Riley ran upstairs and hid. He shivered and shook. And he didn't want to go downstairs or outside. All in all, he acted exactly like he does when he's not wearing the Thundershirt. You can see in the picture below that he's pretty anxious. Poor doggie. :-(


Yep. 80% of dogs show improvement. Whatever. I have one of the special 20% who resist conformity. Yay, me.

Luckily, the shirt came with a 90 day money-back guarantee - because it was $40 (actually we paid $32 because I used a 20% off coupon at Bed, Bath, & Beyond). As far as I could tell, it didn't calm him at all. Pretty much all it did was cause me anxiety while I was trying to put it on him!

So even though there seemed to be a good number of people who were happy with their Thundershirt, it's not something I could recommend based on my own experience. However, dogs (like people) are different, and what doesn't work for my dog might work for yours. It's great that they offer the money-back guarantee, so I would recommend buying it locally if possible. That way if it doesn't work out, you can easily return it and get your money back.

Have you tried the Thundershirt? How did it work for you? What do you do to keep your pets calm during storms and fireworks?

(Disclosure: I did not receive any sort of compensation for my review of this product. I purchased it myself, and all opinions are as always, strictly my own.)

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