Should I feed my dog jelly babies?

Our vet David Grant works his animal magic

QMY 13-year-old labrador is remarkably fit for his age. A friend read of the benefits of jelly baby sweets for his paws in frosty conditions and also for joints. I’m giving him nine each week. Is the gelatin beneficial in your opinion?

AWHILE I like jelly babies, I don’t think they’re suitable for dogs at all. Although they contain gelatin there is also sugar which is not essential and I worry about the risk of choking.

I have not heard anything about their use during frosty conditions and I doubt whether there is any benefit.

There is, however, some evidence of the benefit of gelatin when it comes to joint care. But most of the information to be found about gelatin is anecdotal and it has not been subjected to clinical trials.

If a medicine for a particular disease has been tested in a well-designed clinical trial with a large number of animals and compared with a placebo or standard treatment, it will have received a licence for that disease.

There are several nutritional supplements that have been subjected to this. The most common one is glucosamine with chondroitin sulphate which is used to treat osteoarthritis in humans and dogs. There is some evidence that this combination can be effective in relieving pain in stiff joints. It could therefore be considered in due course for your labrador should he develop problems. David Grant MBE was a vet at the RSPCA Harmsworth Hospital for Animals. Write to him at Express Yourself, 10 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6EN. He is unable to enter into individual correspondence.