[Pacosmomie]

I would be greatful for any info that anyone has on dosing. A quick history: We adopted Paco after he had been hit by a car and broke his right leg(ulnar bone fractured once and radius fractured in 2 places). He had some difficulty healing because he's a naughty boxer and kept jumping on his cast and wouldn't stay off it in his foster home. He's fine now but both the shelter's vet and our vet say he will probably develop arthritis in his carpus and elbow as he ages. He's about a year and a half old now. The only time I see it bothering him is when we take him to the dog park (when no other dogs are there to play) and he runs off lead like a horse at full speed for a long time. He tends to favor it towards the end of his run session but doesn't limp or favor it later while walking arround. I would like to get him on some supplements to try to prevent this and any future problems as much as possible. His food has listed on it's guarenteed analysis 300mg/kg glucosamine and 100mg/kg chondroitin. Is this adequate or should we be using supplements also? If so how much? He is about 70 pounds.  I realize this is long so thanks for reading and any info that anyone has would be really appriciated.

 

[Ky_IsisnOnyxsMama]

i would also reccomend water therapy..swimming...i rehab injured people BUT dogs muscles joints etc work the same as ours..also remember this..more more you keep his MUSCLES strong the more pressure you keep off those joints

what food are you feeding him if you dont mind me asking?

 

[Pacosmomie]

Hi. We are feeding Kirkland Chicken formula, it seemed to get pretty good ratings. Thanks for the tip about swimming, if only I could get this big baby in the water. He loves to go play at the beach or lake but wont get in, he just watches us in the water with this look like "you people are crazy, I'm not going in there". We unfortunatly don't have our own pool. I also thought about getting a treadmill for him (and me), it seems like it would have less impact than walking him on the sidewalk. We do 2 walks a day 30min to 1hour and he never seems to be bothered, only when he runs like a crazy dog. I just want to do everything right now so he doesn't have pain later when he gets older.

 

[samsonsmom]

Try GlycoFlex, it comes in 3 different stages..Not sure how old Paco is but stage 1 would probably be what you would want....Here's a link to where I get mine from, it's Stage 3, but you can find the other stgaes as well. Samson gets 2 chews a day for a total of 1000mg of Glucosamine, plus Msm and some other good things

http://www.entirelypets.com/glyco3soft120.html#

 

[sharonL]

I agree with samsonsmom....300mg is not enough to make a major impact..In general we try to aim for 12mg per pound unless you have an older dog with severe arthritis then it is closer to 15mg per pound..........

 

[Pacosmomie]

Great, thanks guys. Paco is about a year and a half, I'm going to look into that right away. I had a feeling the food wasn't enough but wasn't sure where to go from there. This forum is so great, I'm so glad everyone is so helpful. Thanks.

 

[Zhanna]

Yes!  We use the GlycoFlex also!  We have Henry on the level 2 and he is just about 20 months old.  He's only been on it a few weeks, so haven't noticed a big difference.  Or maybe he is better and I just don't have anything to compare it to. :wink:  

 

[nano]

The swimming would be great for him.  You have to encourage and teach them how.  It really helps to have a life preserver on them.  Boxers can learn to swim but at first the aren't always to keen on it.  I used treats to lure mine into the water.  Keep the session short and fun and give them alot of encouragement.  I had one that love to swim so much that he would race me across the pool.  He wouldn't get in without permission and if I said "Osmond want to race me?" he would wait until I went down the steps and in he would jump and race me across the pool.  He always won!  He had to have an ACL repair so it was great exercise for him in his post op recup when he was able to start again.

Nano