Osteoarthritis is prevalent in the UK canine population and has a clear impact on animal welfare. Treatment of osteoarthritis is advised to be multimodal, with nutraceuticals becoming a popular part of this approach. However, veterinary nutraceuticals are not subject to any regulation and systematic reviews are still uncommon in the veterinary field, which makes evaluating these products difficult. This article looks at the most commonly used veterinary supplements and how to critically evaluate the evidence of their efficacy. Evidence is promising for omega-3 fatty acids but is limited for other common ingredients. There are limited numbers of rigorous, randomised controlled trials and veterinary studies are often hampered by small sample sizes. Standardisation of reporting, as performed in human medicine, is needed to allow more robust systematic reviews of nutraceuticals to subsequently enable vets to make more informed decisions.

Phillipa Williams -

Rob Pettitt -