Thread: Anything to prevent joint problems?

Originally Posted by SpencerTheLion

Does anyone know of anything that helps, like adding vitamins or minerals to their diet?

I am also interested in this too. Our 3 year old boy Remy was having a problem with a rear leg a few weeks ago. Luckily he is fine now so appears he just injured the leg somehow, but there were concerns that he had patella luxation or a hip issue. Doing reading, it appears that the glucosamine supplements can help some animals, though not clear whether can help as a preventative at all. If there was patella luxation vet thought supplements might help reduce cartilage damage. Certainly some people claim huge improvements in their arthritic cats from some of these supplements. Controlled studies remain mixed, however. I read a number of vet comments that said that they are worth a try as they seem to help some cats but not others. But again, this was for cats that were having arthritis problems, not as a preventative measure. It would be extremely involved and costly to carry out the sort of long term studies that would be required to assess preventatives, so such studies are unlikely to ever be done on cats.