Adequan for Dogs UK: Is It Licensed? Cartrophen, Dosage & Side Effects

Adequan Canine is not licensed for dogs in the UK. It is a US prescription injection of polysulphated glycosaminoglycan (PSGAG), given into the muscle twice a week for up to four weeks (a maximum of eight injections), and the only Adequan products on the Veterinary Medicines Directorate's database are authorised for horses. When a UK vet wants an injectable joint treatment for an arthritic dog, the licensed option is Cartrophen Vet (pentosan polysulphate sodium, POM-V): four injections under the skin, five to seven days apart.

This guide covers both: what the US Adequan label and the peer-reviewed trials actually say (including the parts that are less flattering than the marketing), why a UK vet would need a special import certificate to use it, how Cartrophen compares, what a course costs in pounds, and where a daily joint supplement fits once the injections finish.

What is Adequan for dogs?

Adequan Canine is polysulphated glycosaminoglycan, a semi-synthetic compound extracted from bovine tracheal cartilage and chemically sulphated. It is principally chondroitin sulphate carrying three to four sulphate esters per disaccharide unit, with a molecular weight between 3,000 and 15,000 daltons. The oral chondroitin sold in supplements is a related but far less heavily sulphated molecule, and we cover chondroitin for dogs in the UK separately. In the US it is supplied as a 100 mg/mL sterile solution in a 5 mL multiple-dose vial preserved with 0.9% benzyl alcohol.

It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under NADA 141-038 and is made by American Regent (Animal Health Division, Shirley, New York). In the US it is restricted to use by, or on the order of, a licensed vet — the equivalent of our POM-V category.

Two things set it apart from the oral products on a pet-shop shelf. First, it bypasses the digestive tract entirely. Second, it is a regulated medicine that went through a formal approval process, which no joint supplement has done. Those are real differences and they are worth understanding before you decide anything — but for a British owner the more immediate fact is that your vet cannot simply order it in.

Is Adequan a steroid?

No. Adequan contains no corticosteroid and no anti-inflammatory drug. It is classed as a synthetic heparinoid — structurally related to heparin — which is precisely why the label warns against using it in dogs with bleeding disorders. Cartrophen, the UK alternative, is also a heparin-like polysulphated molecule and carries the same kind of bleeding warning.

Is Adequan available in the UK?

Not for dogs. The VMD Product Information Database lists Adequan only as equine medicines: Adequan 100 mg/ml Solution for Injection (Vm 48469/4001) and Adequan IM 500 mg/5 ml (Vm 36483/4002), both POM-V and both authorised for horses. We found no Adequan, or any other PSGAG injection, authorised for dogs in Great Britain.

That leaves three routes, and only one of them is routine:

1. Cartrophen Vet (the normal route). Pentosan polysulphate sodium is authorised in the UK for lameness and pain of degenerative joint disease in skeletally mature dogs. This is what most UK vets mean when they talk about "joint injections" for arthritis, and it is covered in detail below and in our guide to joint injections for dogs in the UK.
2. Importing Adequan Canine under a Special Import Certificate. A GB vet "will need a SIC (Special Import Certificate) to import, use or hold any medicine that is not authorised for veterinary use in GB", according to the VMD's import guidance. Only an RCVS-registered vet can apply, and they must show there is no suitable authorised product available. The guidance is blunt that "costs, convenience or withdrawal periods are not acceptable reasons to import alternatives" — and because Cartrophen exists, most vets will start there.
3. Using the horse product under the cascade. The prescribing cascade lets a vet use a medicine outside its licence when no suitable authorised veterinary medicine exists for the condition. That is a clinical decision for your vet alone; an equine vial is not a do-it-yourself substitute, and the volumes, vial sizes and dosing are built for horses.

What owners cannot do is import it themselves. Sites offering "Adequan for dogs, shipped to the UK" without a prescription are selling an unauthorised prescription medicine; avoid them. If you want to compare medicine prices legitimately, ask your vet for a written prescription and use an online pharmacy checked under the VMD's Accredited Internet Retailer Scheme.

Cartrophen vs Adequan: the UK injectable your vet will actually offer

Searches for "Cartrophen for dogs" outnumber searches for Adequan in the UK roughly two to one, and for good reason: it is the injectable joint medicine British dogs actually get. Here is how the two compare on their own labels — the US insert for Adequan and the GB summary of product characteristics (SPC) for Cartrophen, revised September 2026.

The practical differences matter. Cartrophen is four visits rather than eight, given under the skin rather than into the muscle, and a single 10 mL vial covers the whole course even for a giant breed. The GB label also advises against giving it at the same time as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as meloxicam, aspirin or steroids, so your vet will plan the timing if your dog is already on pain relief.

How does Adequan work in dogs?

The honest answer is that nobody knows for certain. The package insert states plainly: "The specific mechanism of action of Adequan® in canine joints is not known."

What the label does offer is a proposed mechanism, and it is careful about where that evidence comes from. Experiments conducted in vitro showed PSGAG inhibiting catabolic enzymes that break down cartilage — serine proteinases, elastase, stromelysin, metalloproteases, cathepsin B1 and hyaluronidases — and enhancing some anabolic enzymes. Increased proteoglycan and hyaluronic acid synthesis was shown in cultured human and rabbit chondrocytes. The detailed distribution table on the label comes from rabbits, where peak blood concentration occurred 20 to 40 minutes after intramuscular injection; the label notes that canine serum and joint-fluid curves have been studied and appear similar to those in humans and rabbits.

Canine-specific mechanistic work exists but is more complicated than the marketing suggests. In a Cornell University study of canine cartilage explants, PSGAG increased DNA content and inhibited proteoglycan breakdown dose-dependently — but at the same time reduced proteoglycan synthesis, by 19% in osteoarthritic cartilage at the lower concentration and by 55% in normal cartilage at the highest (Sevalla et al., Vet Surg 2000). The authors hedged their own conclusion with "if the results of this study extend to in vivo use."

Structural benefits have been shown in living dogs, but in a surgical model rather than in naturally occurring disease: in dogs with a cut cranial cruciate ligament — the laboratory equivalent of a torn cruciate ligament in dogs — PSGAG reduced cartilage metalloproteinase activity and improved histopathology scores (Altman et al., Arthritis Rheum 1989). Laboratory-induced arthritis in a research colony is not the same condition as the slow wear you are watching in your ten-year-old Labrador.

So: a plausible biological story, built largely on test tubes, rabbits and human cells, with the canine contribution limited mostly to distribution curves, cartilage explants and surgical models. That is not a reason to dismiss the drug. It is a reason to be sceptical of anyone who tells you confidently that Adequan — or any injection — rebuilds your dog's cartilage.

Adequan dosage for dogs (and the UK Cartrophen dose)

The US-approved Adequan regimen is fixed and short. There is no "loading dose" concept on the label — the eight-injection series is the protocol. We show it in metric because that is how UK practices weigh and dose.

For comparison, the GB Cartrophen label is 3 mg/kg (0.3 mL per 10 kg) by subcutaneous injection on four occasions, five to seven days apart, stored at no more than 25°C and protected from light, with an in-use life of three months once the vial is opened.

Maintenance schedules you may hear about — a booster injection every few weeks or months, or repeating the course once or twice a year — are not on the Adequan label. They are a clinical judgement your vet makes for your individual dog, based on how well the first course worked. If your dog responded well to a Cartrophen course, your vet may discuss repeating it; ask what they recommend and why. Do not dose from an article, including this one.

Does Adequan need to be refrigerated?

No. The label specifies controlled room temperature, 20–25°C. Cartrophen likewise should not be stored above 25°C and does not need a fridge.

How successful is Adequan for dogs? What the evidence actually shows

This is the most-asked question about the drug and the least honestly answered. Here is the entire canine clinical record, laid out.

• The US pivotal field trial. Fifty-one dogs with joint disease confirmed on X-ray in one or two joints were randomised to Adequan or saline, with blinded investigators. Twenty-four dogs (35 limbs) received the drug. Result, as stated on the label: treated dogs showed a statistically significant improvement in range of motion and total orthopaedic score over placebo-treated controls. Note what is absent — no cartilage-preservation endpoint, no X-ray progression endpoint and no published effect size. Anyone quoting you a success percentage is inventing it.
• The trial that did not reach significance. A double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of dogs with hip dysplasia (de Haan et al., Vet Surg 1994) enrolled 111 dogs, 84 of them evaluable, across three PSGAG doses and a placebo. The 4.4 mg/kg group improved most and placebo least — but in the authors' own words, "the differences in clinical improvement between the four treatment groups were not statistically significant." This is a negative trial on its main comparison, and it is almost never mentioned.
• The study with no placebo group — and an interesting wrinkle. Fujiki et al. (Am J Vet Res 2007) gave PSGAG to 16 osteoarthritic dogs without an untreated comparison group. Lameness scores improved in 12 of 16, and serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein fell in the dogs whose lameness improved. The wrinkle: the nine dogs with hindlimb lameness improved significantly, while the seven with forelimb lameness did not. A good argument for getting a specific joint diagnosis rather than treating a generic "joint problem".
• Where it ranks against everything else. A systematic review of 16 canine osteoarthritis trials (Aragon, Hofmeister & Budsberg, 2007) concluded that a high level of comfort exists for meloxicam, and a moderate level for carprofen, etodolac, pentosan polysulphate, green-lipped mussel, P54FP, polysulphated glycosaminoglycans and a glucosamine–chondroitin–manganese ascorbate combination. Read that list again: PSGAG and pentosan polysulphate (Cartrophen) sit in the same evidence tier as green-lipped mussel, and below an NSAID.

One more thing worth knowing. Objective force-plate gait analysis — the gold standard for measuring whether a dog is actually putting more weight on a limb, as opposed to whether an owner thinks the dog looks better — has been published in dogs for fish-oil omega-3s (Roush et al., 2010) and for undenatured type II collagen (Gupta et al., 2012). We could find no force-plate study of PSGAG in dogs on PubMed. That absence does not mean the drug fails. It means the objective test has not been run.

The UK picture puts all of this in proportion. A Royal Veterinary College VetCompass study of 455,557 dogs under UK primary vet care found 2.5% were recorded with osteoarthritis in a single year — around 200,000 dogs a year — at an average age of 10.5 years at first diagnosis. Labradors (6.1%), Golden Retrievers (7.7%), Springer Spaniels, Border Collies, German Shepherds and Rottweilers were among the breeds at higher risk, and dogs heavier than average for their breed had 2.3 times the odds. Three in four diagnosed dogs were recommended pain relief. Injections are one tool in a long-term plan, not the plan.

How long does Adequan (or Cartrophen) take to work?

Most articles give you one number. The useful version separates what is happening pharmacologically from what you might actually see across the kitchen floor.

Judge it at four weeks, not at four days. And write things down before you start: how many seconds it takes your dog to stand up from lying down, whether they take the stairs in one go, how far into the usual loop of the park they start lagging. Memory is a terrible instrument for measuring slow change, and the caregiver placebo effect is large and well documented — in the placebo arm of an approved canine trial, owners judged their dog's lameness improved 39.7% of the time and vets 44.8% of the time, while force-plate measurements stayed flat (Conzemius & Evans, 2012). The UK charity Canine Arthritis Management (CAM) has free owner resources that make this kind of tracking easier.

What are the negative side effects of Adequan?

Reported honestly, because a side-effects section that reads rosier than the label is not worth reading.

• In the clinical trial: possible adverse reactions were reported after 2.1% of injections — brief pain at the injection site, short-lived diarrhoea, and one incident of abnormal bleeding. All were described as mild and self-limiting and did not require stopping treatment.
• After approval: the label lists, in decreasing order of frequency, vomiting, loss of appetite, depression/lethargy and diarrhoea, and adds: "In some cases, death has been reported." These are voluntary reports and cause cannot be established from them, but the sentence is on the label and you deserve to know it is there.
• From the 13-week toxicity study in 32 beagles: at ten times the label dose, one dog developed an injection-site haematoma severe enough to require euthanasia, alongside a longer prothrombin time, a lower platelet count, and raised ALT and cholesterol. The detail that matters most for normal use: intramuscular inflammation, haemorrhage and degeneration occurred in all three treated dose groups, dose-related in incidence and severity — including at one times the label dose.

Cartrophen's GB label lists a similar pattern: vomiting, diarrhoea, lethargy and loss of appetite have been reported, along with bleeding disorders and transient swelling at the injection site. If you notice anything unusual after either injection, tell your vet; suspected adverse reactions can be reported to the VMD, which is how problems with a medicine come to light.

Contraindications and cautions on the label

• Do not use in dogs with known or suspected bleeding disorders. PSGAG is a synthetic heparinoid. This is an absolute contraindication, not a caution — and Cartrophen's label goes further, excluding dogs with blood or clotting disorders, bleeding or malignancy.
• Do not use in dogs showing hypersensitivity to PSGAG.
• Safety in breeding, pregnant or lactating dogs has not been evaluated.
• Use with caution in dogs with kidney or liver impairment (Cartrophen's label also advises caution with liver impairment).
• The indication is explicitly non-infectious arthritis. A hot, swollen, painful joint could be septic arthritis, which is an emergency and a different problem entirely.

If your dog has surgery planned — including a routine dental or a spay — tell the veterinary team that your dog is receiving or has recently received a PSGAG or pentosan injection. Cartrophen's GB label specifically says not to use it during the peri-operative period.

Can Adequan be given subcutaneously?

The Adequan label says intramuscular injection only. Subcutaneous use is off-label, though it is common in US practice because it is easier for owners. (Cartrophen, by contrast, is licensed only for injection under the skin.)

The only published data we could find is an owner-perception survey of 69 dogs receiving subcutaneous PSGAG long term (Varcoe, Tomlinson & Manfredi, JAAHA 2021). Thirteen of the 69 owners — 18.8% — reported an adverse event. Most were minor: stomach upset, loose stools, injection-site pain, fear of the needle. One was severe: a low platelet count with bruising, which resolved when the drug was stopped. No canine study of subcutaneous absorption was found, so the often-repeated claim that "it doesn't absorb as well under the skin" appears to be assertion rather than measurement.

Worth keeping the routes straight: Adequan goes into muscle or under the skin, never into the joint itself. If your vet has raised putting something directly into an arthritic joint — hyaluronic acid, a corticosteroid, platelet-rich plasma or a stem-cell preparation — those belong to a different category, covered in the joint-injections guide linked above.

This is a decision for your vet, who is legally permitted to prescribe outside a licence under the cascade and is the only person who can weigh it for your dog.

Can I buy Adequan without a vet prescription in the UK?

No. Adequan Canine is not authorised for dogs here at all, and only a vet holding a Special Import Certificate can import, hold and use it. Cartrophen, the UK alternative, is POM-V: it needs a vet's examination and prescription, and the injections are normally given at the practice. The US trial required X-ray confirmation of joint disease before a dog could enter, which tells you the level of work-up involved. There is no legitimate route round the prescription, and horse PSGAG products are not interchangeable substitutes.

What you can do is ask questions. Under the Competition and Markets Authority's vet-market remedies, written prescription fees are being capped at £21 for the first medicine and £12.50 for each additional one, and large practice groups must publish price lists by December 2026. If your vet prescribes Cartrophen, you can ask for a written prescription and compare a vial price at an accredited online pharmacy — but agree first whether the practice will inject a vial you bring in, and what that costs.

How much does a course cost in the UK?

There is no national price for either injection, and any figure printed in an article goes stale within months. What does not go stale is the arithmetic, which shows where your bill really comes from. The volumes below are for cost estimation only — your vet calculates and gives the dose.

Two things jump out. With Cartrophen, one 10 mL vial covers a full course for almost any dog, and an opened vial lasts three months — so the drug is rarely the big number. With imported Adequan, a giant breed's course needs around five times the drug a small terrier needs, and a vial must be discarded 28 days after first puncture with a maximum of ten punctures, so a small dog on a four-week course will not finish a vial before the clock runs out. Add the specialist import paperwork and Adequan is very unlikely to be the cheaper route in the UK.

For most British owners the bill is built from consultation and administration fees rather than the drug. As a reference point, a standard consultation was listed at £49.38 at Abbey Vet Centre in Grimsby and £58 at the Royal Veterinary College's Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital in London when we checked in October 2026. Ask your practice for the per-injection fee, whether the follow-up injections are nurse appointments, and whether repeat courses are priced differently. If your dog is insured with Petplan, ManyPets or another provider, check whether osteoarthritis is covered and how much of the annual condition limit a course would use before you start.

Adequan vs Cartrophen vs Librela vs a daily joint supplement

These get compared constantly and they are not the same category of thing. The comparison below is deliberately about route, UK regulatory status and evidence — not about milligrams, because comparing an injectable medicine to an oral supplement by the milligram is meaningless.

There has never been a published head-to-head trial of Adequan or Cartrophen against an oral joint supplement. Anyone claiming a supplement matches, replaces or outperforms a prescription injection is making it up. These are different tools, and for most dogs the realistic question is not which one wins but what the whole plan looks like.

If the injection your vet is actually proposing is the monthly anti-NGF one, the detail sits in our guide to Librela for dogs in the UK, including costs, written prescriptions and the VMD's February 2026 safety assessment, which concluded the benefit–risk balance remains positive.

Where a daily joint supplement legitimately fits

Two moments send owners looking: the vet quotes the cost of a course and it is out of reach, or the injections finish and the owner asks what happens now. A daily oral supplement belongs in that conversation as one part of a vet-directed plan — never as a substitute for one. The PDSA puts it plainly: joint supplements help some dogs, but not all, so speak to your vet — and they are generally safe alongside anti-inflammatories and pain relief.

If you are choosing one, the evidence tiers are clearer than the marketing suggests. A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis of canine and feline osteoarthritis trials (Barbeau-Grégoire et al., Int J Mol Sci) found evident pain-relieving efficacy for omega-3 supplements and omega-3-enriched diets, a weak effect for collagen, and a "very marked non-effect" for chondroitin–glucosamine products, which the authors said should no longer be recommended for osteoarthritis pain. (The same author group discloses pet-industry funding, which is worth knowing in either direction.) The earlier Aragon review, as above, placed green-lipped mussel in the same moderate tier as the injectable PSGAG and pentosan polysulphate. For the detail on that, see our guide to glucosamine and chondroitin for dogs.

That finding is inconvenient for most of the joint aisle, because most of the joint aisle is built on glucosamine and chondroitin. It is why our Hip & Joint Chews are built on 17 active ingredients rather than two: green-lipped mussel, undenatured type II collagen (UC-II — the form studied at 10 mg a day with force-plate confirmation in Gupta et al. 2012, and found comparable to robenacoxib for mobility scores over 30 days in Stabile et al. 2019), boswellia, turmeric, ginger, eggshell membrane, hyaluronic acid and MSM, alongside glucosamine HCl, chondroitin and manganese. Glucosamine and chondroitin are in there, but they are the floor of the formula rather than the whole of it. They are cold-extruded soft chews; give them by the weight-based directions on the label.

For a dog who will not take chews, or a small dog on a tight calorie budget, our Liquid Collagen for Dogs (£25) gives 462 mg of hydrolysed type I and III collagen per 2 mL plus undenatured type II collagen (UC-II), with salmon oil, hyaluronic acid, L-glutamine and ginger root extract.

What UK owners compare (prices checked October 2026)

Our chews sit at the top of that table for breadth: they combine the green-lipped mussel that YuMOVE and Antinol rely on with UC-II collagen, which none of those three lists. And because we ship free to the UK with duties and VAT prepaid, the price on the page is the price you pay — no customs charge from the courier or Royal Mail on the doorstep. For a wider comparison, see our best joint supplements for dogs in the UK guide.

The interventions nobody on this topic mentions

Almost every article on Adequan treats arthritis as a drug-versus-drug decision. The three interventions with the strongest support in canine osteoarthritis management are free and entirely under your control:

• Body condition. Excess weight increases joint load on every step a dog takes, and in the VetCompass data above-average bodyweight more than doubled the odds of an arthritis diagnosis. Nothing in a syringe or a jar competes with getting a dog to a lean body condition score.
• Controlled, consistent exercise. Short daily walks beat the weekend-warrior pattern of nothing all week and two hours on Saturday. On cold, wet British mornings, a slower warm-up and a towel-dry afterwards help a stiff dog more than a long first lap.
• Traction and access. UK homes are full of laminate, tiles and stairs. Canine Arthritis Management recommends non-slip runners, ramps or a harness for stairs and the car, a supportive bed in a warm, draught-free spot, and bowls raised to roughly elbow height. Arthritic dogs lose confidence on slippery floors long before they lose the muscle.

More practical detail in our guide to how to help a dog with arthritis at home.

Common mistakes owners make with Adequan and Cartrophen

1. Judging it at week one. The trial endpoint was four weeks. Stopping after the first one or two injections because "nothing is happening" throws away the part of the course where change is usually noticed.
2. Skipping the diagnosis. Fujiki's forelimb dogs did not improve. "My dog is stiff" is not a diagnosis, and both labels exclude infectious arthritis.
3. Not mentioning bleeding history. A dog that bruises easily, has bled for a long time after a nail trim, or is a breed with von Willebrand risk (Dobermanns are the classic example) needs that raised before the first injection, not after.
4. Forgetting the other medicines. Cartrophen's GB label advises against combining it with NSAIDs, aspirin, steroids or anticoagulants. Give your vet a full list, including anything bought over the counter.
5. Treating it as the whole plan. The JAAHA survey found PSGAG is most often given alongside other medicines and rehabilitation. Multimodal management is the standard of care.
6. Measuring by feeling. Without a baseline written down, you cannot tell improvement from hope.

When to call your vet

A supplement is never the answer to any of these. Call your vet — or your practice's out-of-hours service, such as Vets Now, at night and weekends — if you see:

• Sudden inability to bear weight on a limb, or lameness after a fall or knock
• A joint that is hot, swollen or painful to touch, especially with a temperature
• Unusual bruising, bleeding gums, nosebleeds, or blood in faeces or vomit
• Vomiting, loss of appetite or marked lethargy after an injection
• Swelling or a firm lump at an injection site
• Lameness that worsens despite rest, or rapid muscle loss over a limb

Not sure whether what you are seeing is arthritis at all? Start with the signs of arthritis in dogs, and find a practice through the RCVS Find a Vet register if you are new to an area.

Frequently asked questions

Is Adequan licensed for dogs in the UK?

No. The VMD's Product Information Database lists Adequan only as horse medicines (POM-V). A UK vet who wanted to use Adequan Canine would need a Special Import Certificate from the VMD and would have to show that no suitable UK-authorised medicine exists — cost and convenience are not accepted reasons.

What is the UK equivalent of Adequan?

Cartrophen Vet (pentosan polysulphate sodium, 100 mg/mL) is the injectable joint medicine authorised for dogs in the UK. It is POM-V and given under the skin at 3 mg/kg (0.3 mL per 10 kg), four times at intervals of five to seven days, for lameness and pain of non-infectious degenerative joint disease in skeletally mature dogs.

How long can a dog stay on Adequan?

The US label regimen is a maximum of eight injections over four weeks. Longer-term and repeat-course use is off-label practice rather than a labelled protocol, and the label says not to exceed the recommended regimen. How long your dog continues — and whether a Cartrophen course is repeated — is a decision for your vet based on response and health.

What are the negative side effects of Adequan?

In the clinical trial, adverse reactions followed 2.1% of injections — injection-site pain, short-lived diarrhoea and one bleeding incident, all mild and self-limiting. Post-approval voluntary reports list vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy and diarrhoea, and the label notes that in some cases death has been reported, though cause cannot be established from such reports. It must not be used in dogs with known or suspected bleeding disorders.

How successful is Adequan for dogs?

In the US field trial of 51 dogs, treated dogs showed statistically significant improvement in range of motion and total orthopaedic score versus placebo. No success percentage has been published. A separate placebo-controlled trial in dogs with hip dysplasia found no statistically significant difference between groups. A 2007 systematic review placed PSGAG, and pentosan polysulphate, at a moderate level of evidence — the same tier as green-lipped mussel, below meloxicam.

Which is better, Adequan or Librela?

They do different jobs, and only Librela is authorised for dogs in the UK. Adequan is a polysulphated glycosaminoglycan given into the muscle twice weekly for four weeks. Librela is a monoclonal antibody against nerve growth factor, given as a monthly injection under the skin for osteoarthritis pain. No published head-to-head trial compares them, and the choice depends on your dog's diagnosis, health and tolerance — a decision for your vet.

Does Adequan rebuild cartilage in dogs?

That claim goes beyond what the label supports. The approved use is control of signs, the label states the mechanism in canine joints is not known, and the cartilage-synthesis data come from laboratory work and cultured human and rabbit cells. One canine explant study found PSGAG reduced proteoglycan synthesis even as it inhibited breakdown.

Can I buy Adequan without a vet prescription in the UK?

No. Adequan Canine is not authorised for dogs in the UK and only a vet with a Special Import Certificate can import and use it. Cartrophen is POM-V, so it also needs a vet's prescription, and the injections are normally given at the practice.

Is Adequan safe for older dogs?

Age itself is not a contraindication on the label, but older dogs are more likely to have the conditions that are. The label rules out dogs with known or suspected bleeding disorders and advises caution with kidney or liver impairment — both more common in seniors — and Cartrophen's label also excludes dogs with malignancy. Blood tests before starting are a reasonable thing to ask your vet about.

Can I give a joint supplement alongside Cartrophen or Adequan?

Usually yes, but ask your vet first because they know your dog's full medication list. The PDSA notes that joint supplements are generally safe alongside anti-inflammatories and pain relief, though they do not work for every dog. A complementary feed such as Pure Majesty Pets Hip & Joint Chews supports normal joint function between and after injection courses; it does not replace them.

References

• Adequan® Canine (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan) injection — US package insert. American Regent, Inc., Shirley, NY. NADA 141-038.
• Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Product Information Database. Adequan 100 mg/ml Solution for Injection (horses, Vm 48469/4001); Adequan IM 500 mg/5 ml (horses, Vm 36483/4002).
• Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Cartrophen Vet 100 mg/ml Solution for Injection for Dogs (Vm 62860/3000); GB summary of product characteristics (revised September 2026).
• Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Apply for a certificate to import a veterinary medicine into the UK; The cascade: prescribing unauthorised medicines. GOV.UK.
• Competition and Markets Authority remedies, summarised in vet prescription fees to be capped at £21.
• Anderson KL, O'Neill DG, Brodbelt DC, et al. Prevalence, duration and risk factors for appendicular osteoarthritis in a UK dog population under primary veterinary care. Sci Rep. 2018;8:5641. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23940-z.
• PDSA. Joint supplements for dogs; Arthritis in dogs.
• Canine Arthritis Management. Home environment adaptations.
• de Haan JJ, Goring RL, Beale BS. Evaluation of polysulfated glycosaminoglycan for the treatment of hip dysplasia in dogs. Vet Surg. 1994;23(3):177–81. PMID: 8066981.
• Fujiki M, Shineha J, Yamanokuchi K, Misumi K, Sakamoto H. Effects of treatment with polysulfated glycosaminoglycan on serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein and C-reactive protein concentrations, serum matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 activities, and lameness in dogs with osteoarthritis. Am J Vet Res. 2007;68(8):827–33. PMID: 17669022.
• Aragon CL, Hofmeister EH, Budsberg SC. Systematic review of clinical trials of treatments for osteoarthritis in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2007;230(4):514–21. PMID: 17302547.
• Sevalla K, Todhunter RJ, Vernier-Singer M, Budsberg SC. Effect of polysulfated glycosaminoglycan on DNA content and proteoglycan metabolism in normal and osteoarthritic canine articular cartilage explants. Vet Surg. 2000;29(5):407–14. PMID: 10999454.
• Altman RD, Dean DD, Muniz OE, Howell DS. Therapeutic treatment of canine osteoarthritis with glycosaminoglycan polysulfuric acid ester. Arthritis Rheum. 1989;32(10):1300–7. PMID: 2803328.
• Varcoe G, Tomlinson J, Manfredi J. Owner perceptions of long-term systemic use of subcutaneous administration of polysulfated glycosaminoglycan. J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 2021;57(5):205–211. PMID: 34496011.
• Conzemius MG, Evans RB. Caregiver placebo effect for dogs with lameness from osteoarthritis. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2012;241(10):1314–9. PMID: 23113523.
• Barbeau-Grégoire M, Otis C, Cournoyer A, Moreau M, Lussier B, Troncy E. A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis of enriched therapeutic diets and nutraceuticals in canine and feline osteoarthritis. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(18):10384. PMID: 36142319.
• Gupta RC, Canerdy TD, Lindley J, et al. Comparative therapeutic efficacy and safety of type-II collagen (UC-II), glucosamine and chondroitin in arthritic dogs: pain evaluation by ground force plate. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr. 2012;96(5):770–7. PMID: 21623931.
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Veterinary disclaimer. This article is educational and is not veterinary advice, a diagnosis or a treatment plan. Adequan® is a registered trademark of American Regent, Inc.; Cartrophen Vet is a product of Arthropharm; Librela® is a registered trademark of Zoetis; YuMOVE is a trademark of Lintbells. Pure Majesty Pets is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of these companies. Label information is reported here as published and is not dosing guidance — only your vet can prescribe, dose or give a prescription medicine to your dog. Pure Majesty Pets supplements are complementary feeds that support normal joint function; they are not veterinary medicines and are not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any disease. Talk to your vet before starting any supplement, and before starting, stopping or changing anything in your dog's health plan.