Glucosamine????

[Brandy's Mom]

I get mine at the grocery store. Do you have any foreign stores in your area like hispanic or asian grocery stores? I always find them there.

Hmmmm.....not any I can recall off hand, but I'm sure I can find one if I dig. I know there's one about 45 mins from me and a friend lives near there, so a good excuse to go visit her! Thx.

Thanks Caro, I certainly don't want to do any harm in starting to give her a supplement. The chicken feet sound like a more tasty alternative. I had used Dancing Paws supplements w/ my other furry, and they use human grade ingredients. Brandy hasn't grown much in the last month or so (maybe got a bit longer but I haven't measured her), but I think I will wait until she's at least a year old (5-29 is her bday) before considering anything. I just wanted to get more informed and try to help her joints early in life if that was the right thing to do.

 

[BarbV]

Personally, I would not just automatically feed any dog or person, supplements unless there was a need.

Truly, if you imagine all the vitamins and supplements out there for human consumption and the mini-subset for pets, you would have a cabinet just for supplements. e.g. "I think I'll pop some B12's just in case I might get a little sleepy this afternoon...Heaven forbid, that I might get sleepy after a day working in the garden!"

Enough, I say! If your dog is healthy and on a good diet, that should be enough. To even be discussing Glucosamine for dog less than 1 year old is nuts! The comparable would be putting human infants on anti-inflammatories because someday they might get arthritis 40 years later.

Different though if your dog is aging, or experiencing other ailments. Then fill your boots!

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

Personally, I would not just automatically feed any dog or person, supplements unless there was a need.

Truly, if you imagine all the vitamins and supplements out there for human consumption and the mini-subset for pets, you would have a cabinet just for supplements. e.g. "I think I'll pop some B12's just in case I might get a little sleepy this afternoon...Heaven forbid, that I might get sleepy after a day working in the garden!"

Enough, I say! If your dog is healthy and on a good diet, that should be enough. To even be discussing Glucosamine for dog less than 1 year old is nuts! The comparable would be putting human infants on anti-inflammatories because someday they might get arthritis 40 years later.

Different though if your dog is aging, or experiencing other ailments. Then fill your boots!

THANK YOU!!!!!!

And back to my theory that if you are feeding the right food, your dog doesn't need supplements or digestive aids.

 

[BarbV]

THANK YOU!!!!!!

And back to my theory that if you are feeding the right food, your dog doesn't need supplements or digestive aids.

Yep! I agree.....totally!

Unless your dog has some diagnosed illness....So, Bacca is in on Hepata Support supplements (milk thistle). But he has a real and diagnosed liver ailment. We are using the supplements as alternative to more intrutsive remedies.

 

[marymrumfelt]

Yep! I agree.....totally!

Unless your dog has some diagnosed illness....So, Bacca is in on Hepata Support supplements (milk thistle). But he has a real and diagnosed liver ailment. We are using the supplements as alternative to more intrutsive remedies.

I also give my dogs milk thistle. I do it anytime I have to give them flea treatment or other chemicals as they say it helps the liver process those ugly toxins a bit better. It's a great thing!

 

[corbinam]

And back to my theory that if you are feeding the right food, your dog doesn't need supplements or digestive aids.

I agree with this to some extent...with one exception.

My dogs do agility very, very often. They are not from performance lines. I think of them the way I think of human athletes in terms of their intake. They require different nutrients when they are working harder than usual.

College and professional (I know, my dogs are not professionals, but they work as hard sometimes!) athletes are on strictly regimented diets which include numerous supplements.

(Also, I would prefer to feed raw as far as "feeding the right food" goes, but right now I can't. So I supplement.)

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

(Also, I would prefer to feed raw as far as "feeding the right food" goes, but right now I can't. So I supplement.)

Instead of using processed, unregulated supplements, try eggs and liver. Liver is like nature's multi-vitamin. Chicken livers are good. Beef livers are sketchy. Venison liver is perfect. Kidney is good too. You can just add it to their food. Eggs are always good.

 

[danisgoat]

Instead of using processed, unregulated supplements, try eggs and liver. Liver is like nature's multi-vitamin. Chicken livers are good. Beef livers are sketchy. Venison liver is perfect. Kidney is good too. You can just add it to their food. Eggs are always good.

Careful with feeding a lot of liver. I do believe that you can cause bone spurs and bone damage if you feed liver more than 3 times a week from Vitamin A toxicity. This among other problems.

 

[corbinam]

Eggs are always good.

How do you feed them? Raw? Boiled? Over easy?

 

[Brandy's Mom]

Thanks everyone! I don't want to ever give her something she doesn't need. I guess I'm just paranoid about the joints because of my other furry's problems, so I'm trying to learn more and wanted to ask and find out about it early in her life. There are tons of supplements, etc out there and Klee had degenerative joint and also blew out her acl at age 11, which is why she was on them. Sometimes after Brandy runs a lot she seems to shake her butt more in her walk, and maybe that's what got me thinking more about this.

There are just so many different kinds of food, diets, combos of stuff that trying to make sure you cover the bases well enough can overload the brain sometimes. I'm going to transition her to an adult food in the next few weeks, so nutrition and other possible needs are on my mind.