here comes another of my argumentative posts

Interesting article. . . makes you wonder! 
 
The product I am currently using by Liquid Health does not contain any chondroitin,  only high levels of glucosamine sulafate, MSM, shark cartilage and a handful of other ingredients. I got my greyhound a little over 2 months ago and the previous owner failed to mention that he had sever arthritis and bone spurs and was in constant pain. He was kenneled for 7 months at the rescue until I adopted him and he had no medication or glucosamine while he was there. Within the first 24 hours I owned him I noticed he would yelp in pain and had a hard time getting up. We tried very low doses of rimidyl for 2 weeks to help ease the pain and I immediately put him on the Liquid Health. Over two months later he is doing outstanding on the glucosamine only (no Rimidyl after the first 2 weeks). I haven't heard him yelp or seen him have stiffness for over 6 weeks now. Whatever is in this stuff seems to work for him.

some things  work and somethings don;'t but shark cartilage has proven to be absolutly worthless..Especially when they get the cartilage for " medicinal purposes" and to be used for shark fin soup. they  cut the fins off the sharks and throw the finless sharks back into the water..They are then unable to swim or maneuver and are left to the ravages of other sharks with no way of defending them selves or getting away...not a pretty picture...especially if you are a shark

I think the practice of "harvesting" shark cartiledge is HORRINDEOUS. I have seen and heard how it is done and don't want any part of supporting that aweful practice.
 
My hubby has degenerative osteoarthritis. He's had both hips replaced and both knees replaced to date. His ankles are going as well as his elbows and he has been on a collection of these products G/C, osteobi-flex, ect. The things that have helped him the MOST have been MSM, fish oil, and his collection of herbs/tonics. The G/C really did not make that much of a difference for his mobility, but the MSM really seems to make movements easier for him. I also feel that the fish oil helps with the inflamation all over his body. I don't know if the herbs really are helping his pain level, but he thinks it is and that's sometimes all it takes. Mental state of mind can sometimes make all the difference, but animals don't know that your giving them something to help with pain, so the placebo effect really doesn't affect them.

Sadie did better with plain MSM than anything else.
And that was suggested by a holistic vet. That was the only thing she suggested for Sadie's joint issues in her elderly years

dvet,
Thank you for your info on shark cartilage. I will have to look further into this but perhaps I will change my JJ to the vegetarian variety of the liquid health brand that does not conatin the sark cartilage.

I think Kennelkeeper hit it right on the head...we may have seen the same show on sharks...where they are thrown back and are at the mercy of any and every thing.. The only source of the benefits to shark cartilage is from companies that are selling it..I have no particular adffinity for sharks but no animal whould be treated this way...would be better for the shark hunters to have their ears cut off and find someone to market it..

Liquid Health does not contain any chondroitin, only high levels of glucosamine sulafate, MSM, shark cartilage

JJsmom shark cartilage has naturally occuring chondroitin,aswell as as glucosamine.

Not ALL sharks used for shark cartilage products are treated inhumanely,i wouldnt use any products that did this!.Look for products that state this fact on the bottle. I know it refers to this on the one i used,i dont have a bottle of it now,and i cant remember the brand name [&o]

I have seen that same show on sharks.  With the exception of a very few sharks like the woobegong and angel shark, the shark must swim at all times or it sinks as it has no air bladder.  Without fins it can not manuver and also bleeds out.

I am not partial to sharks and when i am wade fishing i am always a little fearful as I have had contact with them twice in the 18 years we have lived here on the coast.  BUT they are very much needed for the eco system of the ocean, as are whales, etc. I do know sharks do not develop cancer and one theory is because they do not have a bone skelaton, it is all cartlidge.  Also, their skin is made of the same stuff as their teeth.  My son, a marine biologiest, always gets the biggest kick out of the movie Jaws 3-d where Bess Armstrong is in the tank with the great white and rubbing back and forth on it's back like a dog--she would take the hide off her hand rubbing from tail to head.

One of my favortie hobbies is picking up fossel shark teeth on the beach and I have several thousand. Each  breed of shark has a different type tooth and often times a shark that attacks leaves a tooth in the victim or surf board and it can be identified by that tooth.  About 99% of the teeth I pick up are hundreds or thousand of years old and are black, but every once in a blue moon I find one that is white which means it has not been out of the sharks mouth that long.  Sharks loose thousands of teeth in their life time.  They have rows and rows of teeth laying flat behind the ones you see and one is lost, the one behind it pops up in it's place.  They NEVER run out of teeth.

I am going to try to post a picture of a few of the teeth I have found.  I do think they are going to look larger than they actually are, even tho some are good size.  EDITED TO ADD--No, they came out the right size.

I am sorry to hear that your DH has to put up with such pain.

I learned some things I didn't know before.
 

sandra, that is a great collection...I gave all mine to my grand kids..
Also here is a long discertation  on sharks and cancer..Sorry I don't have a URL on it ..This is not related to the chondroiten etc but to cancer and sharks///
 
Bio.com
December 21, 2004
 
Shark cartilage cancer 'cure' shows danger of pseudoscience
Source: Johns Hopkins University
 
The rising popularity of shark cartilage extract as an anti-cancer treatment
is a triumph of marketing and pseudoscience over reason, with a tragic fallout
for both sharks and humans, according to a Johns Hopkins biologist writing in
the Dec. 1 issue of Cancer Research. "Since shark cartilage has been promoted
as a cancer cure, not only has there has been a measurable decline in shark
populations, but cancer patients also have been diverted from proven,
effective treatments," said Gary K. Ostrander, a research professor in the
departments of Biology and Comparative Medicine at The Johns Hopkins
University.
 
In the paper, titled "Shark Cartilage, Cancer and the Growing Threat of
Pseudoscience," Ostrander writes, "Crude shark cartilage is marketed as a
cancer cure on the premise that sharks don't get cancer. That's not true, and
the fact that people believe it is an illustration of just how harmful the
public's irrationality can be." In fact, Ostrander's paper details more than
40 examples of tumors in sharks and related species, dating back to the
mid-1800s.
 
In the paper, Ostrander and a team of researchers from the Registry of Tumors
in Lower Animals not only dissect what they call the "fallacious arguments"
that have successfully convinced desperate cancer patients to purchase and
ingest crude shark cartilage extract, but they also sound a "wake-up call" for
society to become more scientifically literate and, thus, less vulnerable to
skillfully mass-marketed illogical claims.
 
"People read on the Internet or hear on television that taking crude shark
cartilage extract can cure them of cancer, and they believe it without
demanding to see the science behind the claims," Ostrander said. "This shows
how the electronic media has increased the potential harm of pseudoscience,
turning what would otherwise be quaint cultural curiosities into potential
serious societal and ecological problems. The only way to combat this is to
ensure that government leaders and media professionals receive adequate
scientific training based on reason, and that they also develop critical
thinking skills."
 
Ostrander traces the popularity of crude shark cartilage as a cancer treatment
and preventive measure to I. William Lane's 1992 book titled "Sharks Don't Get
Cancer," which was further publicized by the CBS News program "60 Minutes" in
1993. Though Lane acknowledges in the book that sharks do, in fact, get
cancer, he bases his advocacy of crude cartilage extracts on what Ostrander
calls "overextensions" of some early experiments in which the substance seemed
to inhibit tumor formation and the growth of new blood vessels that supply
nutrients and oxygen to malignancies.
 
"The fact is that it is possible that highly purified components of cartilage,
including from sharks, may hold some benefit for treatment of human cancers,"
Ostrander said. "The key will be to isolate these compounds and design a way
to deliver them to the site of the tumor. Lane and others ignore these
existing barriers and suggest that consuming crude cartilage extracts by mouth
or rectum could be curative of all cancers - an approach for which there is no
scientific basis. It is worth noting that despite more than a decade of
evaluation of shark cartilage, not a single controlled clinical study has
established that it works as an anti-cancer agent."
 
 

I saw one show on Discovery I think it was, where they were injecting lemon sharks with cancer cells trying to get them to develop cancer.  Personally i could never understand why not having bones would prevent cancer, but that has been the claim for several years.
 
I have caught fish that had tumors, or at least what I took for tumors, on their body and those fish went back into the water.  During the fall the mullet (bait fish) run close to the granite block jetty where i like to fish, and that brings in the mackeral and the redfish.  Also dolphins are close.  i catch a number of reds with badly damaged tails and we think the dolphins have caught and played with them.  Dolphins will do that, catch fish and toss them into the air, etc.  Is amazing to see. BUT since we don't know that their tails were actually damaged (bit sore rips, etc) we also release any that have any damage.
 
I have read many times and seen many times that sharks do not get cancer, but as far as I know, only lemon sharks have been experimented on.  maybe they are the only ones that don't get it, or are believed not to get it.
 
Yes, I am pretty proud of my collection of shark teeth, which numbers in the thousands as I have been picking up for 18 years.  My favorite ones are the long dagger ones that come from mako and sand tiger, and the the ones that come from the regular tiger shars, the ones that come down, then curve back almost like a hook.  They are the three rarest i find.  Do get an awful lot of bull sharks (they are the ones that do most of the attacks on the Texas coast), hammerheads, lemon, etc.  Some I have no idea what they are.  I also pick up manta ray grinders wich is what they have for teeth.  I do not know much about them.  And I have found two fossil sand dollars that are like stone.  Great find I understand.

Dvet, please keep starting your "argumentative threads" - we're learning a lot from them.  []

Joyce

I totally agree.  I don't  care what many (and I am not saying ones on this forum) say about modern learning,  techniques, etc,  the "old timers" know a lot more from life experinece than youngsters do from books.  Heck, I got my salt water fishing techniques and tricks down from listening to and watching "old timers", not from reading about it and seeing pictures, etc.  I am not saying new ideas, techqunes are not good, and I know many can save dogs that could not be saved 50 years ago.  But when it comes to common sense and life learning, listen to the old timers.  And now, heck, darn it all, I am ALMOST  (not quite)  an old timer myself.  Where did the years go?  Gee, this sounds like I am saying listen to me, but I am not.  I am not a true "old timer" yet. LOL

Edie,
Thanks for that helpful info. I will have to look on the bottle and see if it says anything about the humane treatment. I am almost out of the first bottle so I am thinking I will switch to another liquid health brand that is carried locally that doesn't contain the shark cartilage. Here are the ingredients. . .any reason anyone can think of why this product wouldn't be a good one? Are the amounts of glucosamine and MSM alright??
 




Nutritional Information


Regenasure® Glucosamine (from Aspergillus Niger)*: 1600 mg
MSM (Methyl-sulphonylmethane 99.9%)*: 1500 mg
Hyaluronic Acid: 10 mg
Grape Seed Extract (95%)*: 10 mg
Boron (Chelate)*: 10 mg
Bromelain* (80 GDU): 100 mg
Vitamin C: 100 mg
Manganese (Chelate): 30 mg
Omega 3, 6 & 9 Essential Fatty Acid Blend: 25 mg