Powerful, Natural Dog Arthritis Relief: Shark Cartilage & Ling Skins Explained

Normally Influencers write over-exaggerated baseless claims, that we get immune to reading most dog articles.  But At HDT we have always known the great benefits of these two treats, that we recently were able to source these two treats combined into one.  We can also back-up their individual claims with a science paper that explains why these products genuinely assist relieving arthritis for humans and dogs alike!

The combined treats of Shark cartilage and Ling skins, Can actually “delay cartilage degeneration and even help to regenerate the cartilage structure”. REF1

This isn’t just my opinion, we found a great article from 2011 from the prestigious “International Journal of Rheumatology“  that specifically, independently, spells out what we have known for a long time, in their peer reviewed medical article “Effects of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate on Cartilage Metabolism in OA: Outlook on Other Nutrient Partners Especially Omega-3 Fatty Acids“

You can see we are just giving this news straight from the experts. To do this with clarity, we will directly quote slabs of information from this science article:

“Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that is characterized by increasing loss of cartilage, remodelling of the periarticular bone, and inflammation of the synovial membrane. Besides the common OA therapy with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the treatment with chondroprotectives, such as glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, hyaluronic acid, collagen hydrolysate, or nutrients, such as antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids is a promising therapeutic approach”. Ref 1

Since beginning our Healthy Dog treats business in 2011 we have promoted the incredible joint support powers of Shark cartilage for dog joints, and later promoted animal skins too. However, many dog owners made these treats best sellers because of their TEETH cleaning ability and great low fat preoccupier effect for medium and small dogs. For them preventing OA was actually a side benefit.

Before get delver deeper into their science paper, lets tie up what these two treats provide that directly match what this article happens to mention as the best OA treatments (for people and dogs)

• Shark Cartilage has large natural amounts of glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin sulfate
• Ling fish skins have collagen hydrolysate and Omega 3

They also have great nutrients (from the sea), and of course you can chase down hyaluronic acid and Anti-oxidants such as blueberries if you like to add them for completeness.

If you wish to jump ahead and look at the dog treat, here it is Ling skin wrapped shark cartilage  

And this is what it looks like:

If you don’t want to buy expensive NSAIDS vet medication, we have seen many dogs improve gait, and pain control, inflammation, by using shark cartilage (DAILY) alone. If you catch joint issues early enough, sometimes this NATURAL treatment is all you need. Ling fish skin twists, just happen to have a positive effect on Joint issues, from another mechanism, Collagen type 2.  (Like Chicken feet and Croc feet – all with skin on).

The second part of the Science papers ABSTRACT says “Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated that the targeted administration of selected micronutrients leads to a more effective reduction of OA symptoms, with less adverse events. Their chondroprotective action can be explained by a dual mechanism: (1) as basic components of cartilage and synovial fluid, they stimulate the anabolic process of the cartilage metabolism; (2) their anti-inflammatory action can delay many inflammation-induced catabolic processes in the cartilage. These two mechanisms are able to slow the progression of cartilage destruction and may help to regenerate the joint structure, leading to reduced pain and increased mobility of the affected joint.“ REF 1

The paper goes into detail about Human OA issues with Joints, but they are directly applicable to your dog’s ability to walk and play and their pain too.

“Common OA therapy focuses mainly on the treatment of symptoms, such as pain reduction, but does not treat the cause. However, the main goal of OA therapy should be to delay cartilage degeneration and even help to regenerate the cartilage structure. One approach in this direction is the treatment with chondroprotectives, differentiated in symptomatic slow-acting drugs in OA (SYSADOA) or structure-modifying OA drugs (SMOAD).” REF1

The fact is, that the paper goes into such detail, that mostly only experts in the medical or chemical field will have a good grasp on the technical aspects of the subject matter.  We encourage you to read the source material if you need further convincing.

What helped convince us a few years ago was to review a lab trial of dogs suffering from joint pain, and the positive effect that Shark cartilage alone provided.  Dog Shark Cartilage benefit trials

That paper suggested that the trials didn’t make a major different to every dog on the trials, but their level of joint deterioration, the species and hereditary factors means that it was always unlikely to expect anywhere near 100% improvement in 100% of the dog participants in the trials.

I know it worked for my dog, and as a pro dog walker, that was very important for my pack leading dog. For even if he wasn’t able to rejoin the pack (which he was) we wanted a high quality of life for Archie, at home at least.

My initial mistakes in feeding him shark cartilage make sense in review.  I gave it to him, while he was young and didn’t have any obvious OA issues, so I stopped regularly giving it to him. Then when he showed signs of difficulty in walking around 8 years old,  I didn’t realise that he needed the shark cartilage stick dosage (1 to 2 thin sticks) per day, for 1 to 2 weeks).  Then I could reduce it slightly, but still give it daily. I instead was giving it to him every couple of days.

My lack of consistency meant that his cartilage didn’t have a chance to rebuild, and he wasn’t getting enough animal-based Omega 3 to reduce the swelling causing the pain, and restricting blood flow.

Also back then, I didn’t know the true value of animal skins providing Collagen Type 2, that addressed OA issues from another direction. The dual effort of these two “chondroprotective” agents didn’t come in one treat package, and many people are loathe to give their dogs two treats (for medicinal value) in one day, unless their vet specifically prescribes it.  Even though, even if they don’t fully believe in it, there are virtually zero side effects, so over dosage is not an issue.

CONCLUSION

This is one of those rare situations, where you can read information in a blog, and have it backed up directly from a science paper.  Where there are no downsides to giving the treats separately or together.

If you give it daily you should see positive benefits to OA joint issues within 1 to 2 weeks.

Even if you use it in parallel to a big pharma script, it won’t provide a negative outcome.

You can use it as a preventer of OA, and in what I saw in my dog, a reversal of walking issues and pain. I can not overstate the positive value it provided in my dog’s life, and my happiness, in them being able to move freely again.