★★★★★
I put her on a diet (mainly, I told everyone to stop feeding her under the table, Lol. ) to help relieve the pressure the extra weight was putting on her joints. Then I started giving her leftover glucosamine tablets from when Grandma took them. I put them in the little pill pockets for dogs until we ran out, then I started to make my own. They are expensive and who knows what's in them! I think the "pockets" I make are also key. Here's what I do:
In a small bowl I mix peanut butter (maybe 4 tbls) with blackstrap molasses until it looks like chocolate (maybe 4-6 tbls?). I don't measure I just mix until it gets a good color. Then I add turmeric powder until it goes from syrup to a malleable putty that cleanly comes off the fingers. I put it into a small jar and then whenever Muffie needs her "medicine" I scoop out a little bit, roll the glucosamine into a little ball and feed her the pill.
She loves it and no longer has any mobility issues, or pain that I can tell. I've been doing this since November 2011. Muffie gets one pill, twice a day, and the amount of turmeric/bsm/pb "pocket" that I make lasts about 3-4 weeks. I buy the turmeric in a half pound bag from the Indian market for about 5 dollars, so this remedy is cheap for us (I haven't even come close to running out yet). It's cheaper than what the vet gives her. Plus, I know it's good for her!
I think the turmeric helped her liver detox the pain pills, reduce inflammation, and lose weight, too, since it helped her liver to process the fat she was losing from her "diet". The powder also allows the concoction to be rolled into a ball instead of just getting peanut butter all over your hands! Be careful, though, it stains yellow.
The BSM is also good for arthritis, but the peanut butter is just a tasty medium that she'll eat. Otherwise, she just spits it out. Before coming up with the homemade pocket I tried bread, cheese, and meat to no avail.
