Me (Nj) on 01/26/2014:

Two years ago, he could scarcely walk or get up due to awful stiffness of the hind quarters. I was so worried I'd lose him! And he was suffering.

The vet's x-rays showed, to his joyful surprise, zero arthritis in hips and no hip dysplasia. His wife, the other vet in their family practice, prescribed pills for my dog. I tried a 2 week sample. I didn't see much improvement, and he would need regular screening to ensure the pills weren't causing serious organ problems (a possible side effect of these pills). Not only that, but boy, were they expensive! It would have cost $300 per month to purchase those pills.

I wished for an answer, and shortly I received it. My neighbor, who owns 5 gorgeously healthy, huge labrador retrievers, and whose daughter is a veterinary technician, said he'd share his "secret" with me.

Ester C. Yes indeed, Ester C, my friends, that was THE answer! Apparently it even helps if your dog DOES have hip dysplasia. It doesn't cure the dysplasia, but it somehow relieves their pain so they can walk again! I googled it up and down to be sure it was safe and I was providing my faithful friend the right dosage.

My Findings:

1) Apparently you must use ONLY Ester C, not regular vitamin C (it can cause stomach upset). Give the Ester C with their meal, not on an empty stomach.

2) You should load them up in increments, building them up to the proper dose, don't give the maximum dose from the start. After you've built them up to the maximum dose they can tolerate without stomach upset and suitable for their size/weight, you soon see the results. Then you can lower them to a maintenance dose: For my golden retriever, I began with 500mg per day divided into his two meals morning and evening (250mg morning 250mg evening) for several days. I then slowly increased him to 1000 per day, (500mg AM and 500mg PM). I then upped him to 2000mg (1,000mg AM 1,000mg PM).

I saw results in a couple of weeks. I lowered his dose to 1000mg and I have maintained him on 1 capsule of time-release Ester C per day in his breakfast meal for 2 years.

My boyfriend saw the difference, my sister saw the difference and I see the difference. He gets up off the floor NO PROBLEM. Now, mind you, he is 11.5 years old. He is better now than he was at age 8!

He can walk 2.5 miles again like we used to do! I never thought he'd be able to ever do that again!

And guess how much this wonderful treatment costs me? Less than $10. a month! I buy a bottle of 1000mg time-release Ester C, 60 capsules, for about $10. Can you believe it? I can buy the 90 capsules for about $15. That's a 3 month supply, folks.

I guess we're not supposed to name companies here, but it comes in an orange box and an orange bottle. I buy it at Walmart and also at my supermarket Shoprite. I'm sure any decent Ester C will do.

It is for humans, not special for dogs.

I love it and am so thankful for what it has done for my dog!

I hope this post is useful to other dogs out there. I did a lot of research before I used Ester C on my dog. So of course I advise you to research what is right for your dog.

Good luck