Does anyone feed supplements to their dog?

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Abandluc

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I've a 8 month old Bullmastiff, who today has been diagnosed with fragmented medial coronoid process in the elbow.
I'm feeling really really gutted as he is so young and have been told that even with surgery (that he is having on Thursday) he will get arthritis in the joint.
I'm trying to work out what I can do to help delay the onset and I want to start feeding supplements to him. But it is so confusing, I've read so many different things that I can't work out what is good and bad!

If anyone can help guide me I'd be eternally grateful!
 
Sorry to hear about your bully and fingers crossed for his surgery on Thursday.

We give our mixed breed, Willie (who has bad hips and a reconstructed hind leg) a daily glucosamine chondroiten supplement which I think helps him quite a bit. On our vet's advice as well as his surgeon's, he gets a larger than normal dose of it every day and it seems to help him as he is rarely stiff even though he is still an active dog. We also give the same supplement to our beagles who are the same age as Willie (they are all about 6 years old) but they just get a normal maintenance dose.

I would ask you vet's or surgeon's advice on supplements TBH. They should be able to point you in the right direction if any are appropriate for your boy. Ours also recommended a good brand which we buy online. :)
 
Henry gets cod liver oil once a day. When I've been paid I'm going to Tesco - they do a joint supplement which has fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin in it.

My vet was really helpful, I would speak to them about suitable supplements:)
 
I'm so sorry about your pup. My dog has supplements aswell.

Biotic Biotin for his skin

Glucosamine for his joints.
fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin tablets from Tesco

I have a bulldog who ruptured his crusiate ( sp) ligament and these prevented the need for surgery which the surgeon said was hit n miss anyway.
 
Spudlet said:
Tesco - they do a joint supplement which has fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin in it.
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LHS said:
fish oil, glucosamine and chondroitin tablets from Tesco
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Ok, 2 numpty questions!!!

1: Are these good for all dogs? Even young dogs to prevent joint problems?
2: Are these human tablets or dog ones?

:o:o

Thanks, and sorry for ongoing dim-ness on my part!!
 
These are human dog tablets and anything human goes through loads of testing. My vet said they're wouldn't be a problem and he has a 1/2 tablet a day.

The canine cortaflex is hugely expensive.

Not sure about young dogs tbh and I wouldn't put your dog on anything until you've had a convo with your vet as they will know the best things to treat your dog with.
 
For young dogs not showing signs of joint problems, the best way to prevent problems in future, especially in large breeds, is not to overdo exercise or too much jumping over obstacles/in and out of cars etc before 12 months. IMO!

Vets are best to advise about variations and dosage.
 
If he were mine I'd put him straight on a good raw meaty bone diet that would supply all the omega 3's appropriate to dogs, greatly assist the repair process and fend off arthritis. All the nutrient's in that diet are readily available to the dog in the best possible form, a good diet is cheap to source and there would be no need of further supplementation.

But sadly your vet will probably advise you otherwise. If you are going to feed cod liver oil go for cold pressed, i.e. raw, that has not been damaged by the heat extraction process. It's more expensive but will much better help him if he is on a less than helpful diet.
 
CaveCanem said:
For young dogs not showing signs of joint problems, the best way to prevent problems in future, especially in large breeds, is not to overdo exercise or too much jumping over obstacles/in and out of cars etc before 12 months. IMO!

Vets are best to advise about variations and dosage.
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My dog has never jumped in his 8 months of life! He has a ramp to get in and out of the car does not and never has jumped up at people/tables or anything.
2 reasons for this is: I'm very aware that jumping can cause problems and secondly the dog is too damn lazy!!!!

He has on occasions got on the settee but trust me he clambers up there and take an age to get down whilst trying to convince me that it's ok to still have his bum on there if his front paws are on the ground.

I appreciate everyone's advice and I'm going to try green lipped mussel extract and cod liver oil (raw!) for now on my vets recommendation.
 
Everyone will have their own favorites. I asked two different vets re giving my old girl with arthritis a supplement and they both independently said that there was no one better supplement than the others...so try one and stick with it a minimum of six weeks before expecting results.

I put my old girl on NAF Relief. She's been on it for about 18 months or so now. AT the time she couldn't walk up a single step (she's only wee anyway, bless) but now she's back to zooming up stairs -- okay not THAT fast, but she's coming on for sixteen! I'm also vigilant about keeping her slim to at least give her a fightin chance, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. She probably has days where a pain killer would be useful and I might start doing that soon, under vet guidance. But for now, she seems pretty good.
 
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