How Does Glucosamine Help Your Pet’s Joints?

Ingredient lists on packaging can be intimidating—especially when shopping for joint supplements for your pets. That’s why we want to break down one of the most important joint support ingredients: glucosamine. What is it? What does it do? Why is it beneficial for your pet's joint health?

Let’s start with cartilage. Glucosamine is a natural building block of cartilage, which is a strong substance that covers the ends of bones. This creates less tension and more cushion at the places where bones meet—also known as joints.

As pets (and humans) age, the cartilage starts to wear down, which can lead to friction at the joints and make movements like running, jumping, or climbing stairs uncomfortable.

Quality pet supplements with glucosamine can help stimulate cartilage production, which in turn leads to more cushioning around joints. We can’t reverse the aging process (no matter how hard we try) but giving our pets glucosamine can help them move more comfortably as they start to get older.

Choosing a joint supplement

Our entire line of GlycoFlex® joint supplements for dogs and cats* is formulated to support hips and joints, promote mobility at every age, and address occasional joint discomfort in pets. Glucosamine is just one of the high-quality ingredients we use to help make that happen.

GlycoFlex® Stage 3 and GlycoFlex® Plus joint chews and tablets, which offer high levels of glucosamine, are strongly recommended for pets who are already showing signs of aging.

Products like GlycoFlex® Stage 2—with ingredients like glucosamine, green-lipped mussel, and DMG—are helpful for maintaining healthy joints and cartilage production in pets of any age, to keep them moving better for life!

*Some of the products here may have been rebranded in 2024. See here for a full list of previous & new product names.