Dogs' Joints
The bones in a dog's joints are covered in joint cartilage & glycosaminoglycans are a major component of this cartilage.
Glucosamine is used by the body to produce these glycosaminoglycans which help repair worn cartilage in the healthy joint. This helps the bones articulate smoothly, prevent wear and tear and avoid pain.
It has been proven that injecting glycosaminoglycans directly into a swollen, worn or painful joint does help in the treatment of arthritis and other degenerative joint diseases or where there has been an injury to the joint.
Glucosamine Supplements
However there is no clinical evidence that giving an oral supplement containing glucosamine to a dog has any noticeable benefit.
Joint cartilage has no direct blood supply so all the nutrients which the joint needs have to be small enough to pass through cell walls to get to where they are needed.
Molecules of Glucosamine are very complex and are mostly unable to pass through cellular walls because of their very large size. Imagine trying to get a football through a hole the size of a tennis ball!
Manufacturers of glucosamine supplements have tried to combat this problem simply by adding ever higher levels of glucosamine into each pill or capsule.
Not... very effective!
The solution is explained in the next column.
Glucosamine for Dogs
Cortaflex is a unique solution to the problem of glucosamine supplementation for dogs.
The large molecules of Glucosamine (and Chondroitin too) are already broken down into much smaller constituent parts. These "isolates" have a much smaller molecular size and they much more easily pass through the cellular walls into the joints where they are needed.
white blood cell 
red blood cell 
glucosamine molecule 
chondroitin molecule 
The isolates of Glucosamine & Chondroitin are Glucuronic Acid, Proline, Glutamic Acid, L-Glutamine, Aspartic Acid and Glycene. These are naturally occurring amino acids and aminosaccharides and provide a much more effective way of providing the benefits of glucosamine for dogs.
For the full list of effective ingredients see our Canine Cortaflex page.
The isolates of Glucosamine help the dog's joint speed up the repair and renewal of damaged or worn cartilage.
The isolates of Chondroitin help the joint to improve the quality of the synovial fluid which is the "joint oil" that lubricates and reduces the friction within the dog's joints.
Well lubricated joints with good strong cartilage help the dog move more freely, without stiffness and pain.
Cortaflex - the most effective way of providing Glucosamine for dogs
There are three ways of giving your dog the benefits of glucosamine... |
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| Canine Cortaflex Capsules convenient 1 or 2 a day capsules |
Canine Cortaflex Powder simply sprinkle on your dog's normal feed |
Canine Joint Care new, lower cost for young dogs as a preventative |