Hi all...  my brother (who has 7 cats!) sent me some info. on the
Glucosamine Sulfate I was asking about the other day.  I just wanted to
share with hopes that it may be helpful!!

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Laurie,

OK,  I did a little research on Glucosamine Sulfate (see:

http://www.glucosamine-arthritis.org/glucosamine/glucosamine-sulfate.html

It is a mineral supplement that you can get w/o a prescription.  You want to
be sure you get Glucosamine Sulfate HCl, not NaCl or KCl (NaCl is table
salt;
KCl is another salt).  Apparently, the brand "Flexicose" is considered
fairly
high quality (for both humans and pets...)  See:

http://www.flexicose.com/order-flexicose/order-pets.html

for information about ordering it online.  It's fairly inexpensive (assuming
Pooh weighs over 10 pounds, you can get about a 4 month supply for 29.95

BTW, steriod based drugs (which you need a prescription for) are generally
anti-inflammatories (i.e., they help with the swelling and inflammation).
I'm not sure what exactly Glucosamine sulfate does; the first web site
listed
above can probably explain that in more detail

For an elderly cat, you may still want to discuss this with your vet.