Nutramax
Dasuquin with MSM Chewable Tablets (Large Dog)
$50–$120
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Best for
The dog who is already on Dasuquin with MSM soft chews and does not need the fish-oil chew base — and, more importantly, the dog on a fish-free elimination diet, for whom the soft chew is disqualifying and this is the only form of Dasuquin he can have
This is the same product as the soft chew we have always linked, minus a fish oil base, at $17 a year less. On its own that gap is too small to move anyone, and we are not going to pretend otherwise — if your dog takes the chew happily, keep buying the chew. The reason this page exists is the case where the form is not a preference: a dog on a fish-free elimination diet cannot have the soft chew at all, and until now the only Dasuquin we pointed at was the one he cannot eat. Buy this one for that reason, or if you want the ASU without paying for 75 mg of EPA+DHA you could buy far more cheaply from a bottle. And judge the category honestly: give it six measured weeks, against something you scored before you started.
What works
- Identical actives to the large-dog soft chew, verified on the maker's own two product pages on 4 September 2026: glucosamine hydrochloride 900 mg, MSM 800 mg, sodium chondroitin sulfate 350 mg, ASU 90 mg, Boswellia serrata extract 40 mg, green tea extract 32 mg — per unit, and on the same one-a-day maintenance schedule
- Cheaper than the chew for the same daily dose. $77.99 for 150 tablets against $84.99 for 150 soft chews (both Amazon, both in stock, 4 September 2026) — about $190 a year against $207 at maintenance for a dog over 60 lb
- The base is inert where it matters for an elimination diet. Inactives are brewers dried yeast, dextrose, lecithin, microcrystalline cellulose, mixed tocopherols, natural and artificial flavors, silicon dioxide and soy protein isolate — no fish, no added oils
- Same FCHG49 glucosamine and TRH122 chondroitin forms as the rest of the Nutramax line, and the same ASU that is the only reason to pay Dasuquin prices over Cosequin ones
What doesn't
- It gives up the soft chew's omega-3 line — 90 mg total omega-3s and 75 mg EPA+DHA per unit, which the chew carries because its base is fish oil. That is a real difference, but a small one: 75 mg is under 2% of the 4,374 mg on Colorado State's canine osteoarthritis fish-oil chart for a 75 lb dog, which CSU states as a maximum rather than a target
- Palatability is the whole risk of the tablet form and we have not tested it. A dog who takes the chew as a treat may need this one hidden in food, and a supplement refused every night is worth nothing at any price
- Contains soy protein isolate and brewers dried yeast, so it is not universally elimination-diet-safe either — it is fish-free, not allergen-free. Read the inactives against your dog's actual diet
- The category evidence is modest and applies here too. The one blinded, placebo-controlled canine force-plate trial of Dasuquin with MSM (Kampa 2023) did not separate from placebo
- Nutramax publishes no calorie figure for either form on its own product pages, verified absent 4 September 2026 — so neither the chew nor the tablet can be budgeted against a weight-loss plan
Specifications
- Materials
- Chewable tablet. Inactive ingredients per the maker's page: brewers dried yeast, dextrose, lecithin, microcrystalline cellulose, mixed tocopherols, natural and artificial flavors, silicon dioxide, soy protein isolate
- Sizes
- Linked ASIN: Large Dog (60+ lb) chewable tablets, 150 ct — $77.99 · Large-dog dose per the maker: 2 tablets daily for an initial 4–6 weeks, then 1 daily. A 150-count is therefore about 4 months once loading is done · A Small/Medium Dog tablet exists as a separate SKU with a smaller panel — do not give a large-dog tablet at small-dog counts, or the reverse
Why we added a second Dasuquin page
We have linked the large-dog soft chew since this site started, and for most readers that is still the right link. This page exists because of a case the chew cannot serve at all.
When we read Nutramax's two product pages side by side on 4 September 2026, the active panels matched line for line — the same 900 mg of glucosamine hydrochloride, 800 mg of MSM, 350 mg of chondroitin, 90 mg of ASU, 40 mg of Boswellia and 32 mg of green tea extract, on the same dosing chart. What did not match was the bottom of the label. The soft chew's inactive list opens with fish oil; the tablet's opens with brewers dried yeast. That is also why the chew carries an omega-3 row and the tablet does not: the base is doing it.
For a dog whose vet has just put him on a novel-protein or fish-free elimination diet, that is not a nuance. It is the difference between a supplement he can have and one he cannot, and nothing on either listing tells you so.
What you give up, priced honestly
The chew's extra line is 90 mg of total omega-3s and 75 mg of EPA+DHA per unit, which at the large-dog maintenance dose is 75 mg a day. Colorado State's veterinary teaching hospital publishes a canine fish-oil chart for osteoarthritis whose figure for a 75 lb dog is 4,374 mg of EPA+DHA a day — stated by CSU as a maximum rather than a target. The chew's contribution is about 1.7% of that.
So the chew's omega-3 line is real and it is very small. If omega-3s are what you are after, buy them as omega-3s and dose them against that chart rather than hoping a joint chew covers it.
None of which is an argument against the chew. It is an argument against treating the chew as omega-3 supplementation, which the omega-3 line on the label quietly invites you to do.
Who should not buy this one
- A dog who will not take a tablet. We have not tested palatability and will not guess at it. If the chew goes down like a treat and the tablet becomes a nightly argument, the chew is the better product for your household at any price. Compliance beats $17.
- A dog on a yeast-free or soy-free diet. This tablet is fish-free, not allergen-free: brewers dried yeast and soy protein isolate are both in it.
- Anyone buying it as their dog's omega-3. See above.
- Anyone who has not tried the cheaper base first. Cosequin carries the same FCHG49/TRH122 glucosamine and chondroitin at roughly half the daily cost. The ASU is what you are paying extra for, and its canine clinical evidence is thinner than its laboratory evidence.
What wears out first
Nothing wears; it expires. The practical failure mode with either form is the bottle outlasting the dog's need for it or the owner's memory of when it was opened. Write the open date on the lid, and set a review date six weeks out at the same time — the point at which you decide, against something you actually measured beforehand, whether this is worth re-buying at all.
Frequently asked
- Is the Dasuquin tablet the same as the soft chew?
- On actives, yes — and we checked both panels at source on 4 September 2026. The large-dog tablet and the large-dog soft chew each carry glucosamine hydrochloride 900 mg, MSM 800 mg, sodium chondroitin sulfate 350 mg, ASU 90 mg, Boswellia serrata extract 40 mg and green tea extract 32 mg, on the same schedule: 2 a day for an initial 4–6 weeks, then 1 a day. There is exactly one difference on the panel. The soft chew adds a line the tablet does not have — total omega-3s 90 mg, EPA+DHA 75 mg — and the inactive lists explain why: the chew's base begins with fish oil, the tablet's begins with brewers dried yeast. The form is not the texture of the same thing. It is a different base carrying the same medicine.
- Which should I buy, the tablet or the soft chew?
- Three cases. If your dog is on a fish-free elimination diet, buy the tablet — the chew's base is fish oil and it is not an option, whatever your vet said about the actives. If your dog is fussy and takes the chew like a treat, buy the chew and stop reading; a supplement that gets eaten beats a cheaper one that gets spat out. Otherwise it is a $17-a-year decision ($77.99 per 150 tablets against $84.99 per 150 chews, both 4 September 2026), and what the extra money buys is 75 mg of EPA+DHA a day. That is under 2% of the 4,374 mg on Colorado State's canine osteoarthritis chart for a 75 lb dog, a figure CSU states as a maximum, so do not treat it as your dog's omega-3 supplementation. If you want the omega-3s, buy them where they are cheap.
- How many tablets a day for a large dog?
- Nutramax's own schedule for a dog 60 lb and over is 2 tablets daily for the first 4–6 weeks, then 1 tablet daily after that. That makes the 150-count roughly 25 days of loading plus four months of maintenance. Budget the loading month before you begin — stopping partway through it produces no information about whether the product works, which is the most common way owners waste the whole purchase.
- Is this cheaper than Cosequin?
- No, considerably more expensive, and the difference is ASU. At maintenance this runs about $0.52 a day for a large dog. Cosequin Plus MSM tablets from the maker's own store are $59.99 for 250 tablets, and a dog over 60 lb maintains on 1–2 of them — roughly $0.24 to $0.48 a day, on which we earn nothing. What Dasuquin adds is avocado/soybean unsaponifiables, Boswellia and green tea extract. Those have laboratory and animal-model support rather than strong canine clinical evidence, so the honest order is to try the cheaper base first, measure it for six weeks, and consider the upgrade only if that trial did nothing.
- Does the tablet have calories?
- It does — everything a dog eats does — but Nutramax does not publish a figure for either form, which we verified absent from both product pages on 4 September 2026. That matters more than it sounds. Excess weight is a modifiable driver of arthritis pain in dogs whose removal has a measured effect — in one 16-week trial in obese osteoarthritic dogs, lameness scores fell significantly from a 6.10% body weight loss onward (Marshall 2010, Vet Res Commun 34(3):241-253). A soft chew is a small daily treat by construction, and the one number that would let you subtract it from the day's food is the one nobody prints. If your dog is on a weight-loss plan, ask your vet to account for the supplement and tell them plainly that the maker publishes no figure.
Where we recommend it
The articles this product earns a place in, and the context it earns it for.
