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Palaflex for Dogs

Palaflex is a nutritional supplement used to combat canine arthritis. It's also been marketed under the name Cartiflex, but as far as I can tell they're not calling it that anymore. Arthritis supplements are designed to try to

help your dog's body rebuild damaged cartilage on its own by giving it nutrients that it needs to do so. It doesn't work for all pets, but with many animals you will see a dramatic improvement and they will start to move around far less painfully. You usually know if it's going to work after a month or so, which is about the time needed for the dog to start.

How does it work?

Palaflex uses glucosamine, along with a number of different ingredients that are supposed to be natural anti-inflammatory agents. Glucosamine is a natural molecule that is found in both dogs and people does not have the risk of side effects that an actual arthritis drug does. Glucosamine play an important role in the health of bone cartilage. It's a sugar, and it helps the body repair cartilage. As far as the other ingredients, I haven't found anything specifically suggesting that they work, but all of them are natural nutrients your dog's body can use, so they may help out. They include fish oil, algae powder, sea mussel, and gelatin. To some extent these sound more like a marketing effort than something that will actually fight arthritis, but glucosamine has been shown to help in many cases. 

Are there side effects?

I could not find anything to suggest there have been any side effects to Palaflex. This is generally true of most arthritis supplements that are based on the idea of giving the pet more nutrients - they're essentially vitamins, so they really don't cause any negative reactions. Your pet could get some basic indigestion from it or it could dislike the taste, but that's usually it. The stuff in most arthritis supplements naturally occurs in your cat or dog anyway, and it doesn't hurt them to put more into their bodies. The only thing I have seen that is potentially negative is that in humans, people sometimes are allergic to these supplements because of seafood allergies. Glucosamine is often gathered from sea creatures, but I haven't heard of a pet having this issue. I would check the bottle and ask your vet to be sure, though.

Does it work on cats?

I have not found a version available for cats online, just a canine version, so it is probably better to stick to other supplements that are expressly designed for cats. There are many on the market, and you can view them at our pet medications page.

Where can I get it?

You can get Canine Palaflex online here:

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