All my babies (dogs) are on Nutro Natural Senior, after trying about every premium food out there, and they are doing great on it (shiny coats and pretty darn healthy overall). The only thing I needed for my oldest dog was something nontoxic and less harmful than Rymadil because he developed arthritis. The Nutro rep said no food had enough glucosamine/condroitin in it and suggested getting one of the many liquid supplements on sale. So my dog's been on Flexicose for a month now and is as spry as a puppy. So in my experience, I've found the Nutro reps to be quite knowledgeable.
Our Lab has been on Glycoflex (glucosamine/chondroitin tablets) for 5 years now, the stuff has worked great.
Unfortunately as the arthritis progresses it stopped being as effective, so we've put her on Metacam as well as oral glycoflex and Adequan shots (injectable glucosamine). Metacam is like Rimadyl but with more punch and a lower side effect profile. We've had her liver checked repeatedly and it's not causing problems at this time, and has made a world of difference in her mobility.
Just wanted to mention it in case your pup had to go onto an NSAID. They can be scary meds but in our case it was either give it a try or let her go. Fortunately it worked and hasn't caused problems yet. It doesn't have as bad a rap as Rimadyl does.
The generic name is called meloxicam, and they have a human version called Mobic that my friend's husband is on. I like to annoy him by mentioning that he and my dog are on the same meds :lol: .
LQ