Quigley has no idea these treats are a delivery system for 3 nutraceuticals to help his arthritis. Each jerky stick contains 1000 mg sea cucumber extract, 200 mg MSM, and 200 mg glucosamine HCl. Glucosamine, which helps repair cartilage, was used in veterinary medicine to relieve arthritis before it was used for humans. A Medline search reveals lots of studies demonstrating the effectiveness of glucosamine for cartilage repair and pain relief, with the most bio-available forms being glucosamine sulfate and glucosamine HCl. MSM, although not widely studied, is believed to reduce inflammation. I know several people who find MSM reduces their arthritis inflammation and theres a lot of anecdotal evidence of this in animals as well. Sea cucumber is an invertebrate marine animal that contains chondroitin sulfate, a substance that gives cartilage elasticity and has shown effective for pain relief. So its theorized that sea cucumber will help arthritis, but as of this writing it has not been studied in peer-reviewed journals.

Do the sea mobility sticks help Quigleys arthritis? I suspect they do, but its impossible to say because hes also on a separate glucosamine supplement. The dose of glucosamine in the sea mobility sticks is a low-level maintenance dose (1 stick per day per 50 lbs.), so dogs with obvious arthritis may require additional supplementation, at least initially. Although Quigleys quite stiff upon waking, after a few minutes of walking he loosens up a fair amount. Given that the mobility sticks contain substances shown to help arthritis, I suspect they help him. But even if they dont, hes getting a tasty treat that certainly seems to make him happy.