Peace (Uk) on 04/11/2014:

About 2-3 years ago, I took my border collie cross to a vet with a joint specialism. He was pretty negative. He told us that our dog had an arthritic knee, possibly due to an old injury, and an arthritic hip. He said that our only option was daily pain killers (which, I found out later, can cause death and are extremely expensive.)

At that point, we were already about 6-12 months into trying natural remedies. We'd been using daily c*rtaflex, cod liver oil and green lipped mussel supplements, with a good diet and regular exercise. We'd also cut out tomatoes and potatoes (ie. no more plate clearing.) These had helped to keep him off daily pain killers but we were still seeing a progression in the disease and he was limping more and more, with a lot of stiffness in the evenings.

I left the vet determined to find a solution and went on to do quite a bit of research. Finally, I got our dog into a simple routine which he is still on today (note: he's about 25kg):

Breakfast: 1 tablespoon ACV (organic, raw, with the mother) mixed with quite a lot of water, in his meal (Burns) so the biscuits go soft. (I'm NOT recommending feeding a kibble diet but it's what he likes and it agrees with him.) Adding the water helps to prevent dehydration and dilutes the ACV so, hopefully, it won't damage his teeth.

Dinner: 1 teaspoon Turmeric (organic, ground - like you would cook with) stirred into water and mixed into his meat. (The turmeric makes him smell but he doesn't mind! )

I have discussed all this with my normal (non-joint specialist) vet and she is very positive about it as she can see how well he is.

My dog is now 11 and lives a full, active, happy life. He has not limped or needed any pain killers since he's been on this dietary routine.

He's not fully healed though - his back legs are clearly not full strength and he is sometimes stiff in the evenings after he's been lying down for a while.

Also, we are careful with his joints. Collies are notoriously 'busy' dogs and he would happily run and jump like a nutter if we encouraged him, but we don't anymore. (That was the one bit of useful advice from the 'joint' vet.) Still, he runs about by himself and is clearly very happy. Also, we are lucky enough to live by the sea so in the summer we get him swimming almost every day.

One point: I looked into using ACV with Sodium bicarbonate (which I take myself) but was advised against this by my vet who said that bicarb can cause kidney problems in dogs and cats. (I have read all sorts about this and decided not to take the risk.)