Joint healthHow to tell if your dog is in pain, not just old
Dogs rarely limp on cue. The signs that matter are behavioural, there are validated scores for them, and one documented bias fools 40% of owners.
Everything we have read, and what it said
One question per article, the canine trials that answer it, and the honest limits of each one. Every efficacy claim links to its source so you can check our reading against the paper.
Joint health
The category we grade, and the one with the widest gap between what labels claim and what trials found.
Joint healthHow much omega-3 does your dog actually need?
The best-supported ingredient in the category, and the published dose in grams per day. Most chews carry a fraction of it.
Joint healthIs glucosamine really effective for dogs?
It is in almost every joint supplement on the shelf. What it is, where it actually comes from, and what 72 clinical trials concluded.
Joint healthThe new joint ingredients: what the evidence actually says
UC-II®, eggshell membrane, green-lipped mussel, CBD, ursolic acid. How much canine evidence each one really has.
Meta-analysis72 clinical trials, one verdict
The 2022 University of Montreal analysis of 38 joint compounds, read in full: one clear loser, one clear winner.
Weight and longevity
The interventions with the strongest evidence in canine health, none of which is sold in a jar.
Weight and jointsIs your dog overweight? The six-year question
Lean-fed Labradors developed hip arthritis at a median of 12 years against 6 for their own littermates. How to score your dog in thirty seconds.
LongevityFive ways to help your dog live longer
Four of these five things cost nothing, and the first bought Labradors nearly two extra years. Plus where a supplement fits on top.
Whole-dog health
Categories outside our own, graded the same way, including one where the evidence is genuinely encouraging.
Oral healthDental disease: the most underestimated problem in dogs
Conscious examinations find it in about one dog in seven. Examinations under anaesthesia find it in up to all of them.
Digestive healthDog digestive health: what probiotics can actually do
One of the few supplement categories where the canine evidence is encouraging, including a randomised trial on 773 dogs.
How we decide what to publish
We start from the dog literature rather than from human trials, we say how many animals were in a study rather than describing it as "clinically proven", and we keep the results that go against us on the page. The full grading criteria are on our Methodology page, and our ownership by a supplement maker is stated in the footer of every page on this site.
If you find a figure here that does not match its source, write to us at petevidence.media@gmail.com and we will correct the page and note the change.