nellybly10

I had the same problem with my young bulldog bitch, she just never ate kibble at all only raw/barf meals (I tried about 5 different premium brands), but then I switched over to Nutro Adult Lamb and Rice and she loves it! Which Nutro are you using? If she is old enough maybe you could start trying her on this one? I think Nutro will send you some samples to try before you spend your $$$ on a big bag Good luck!

Sylvet is the same as cartrophen just in a tablet form, from what my vet said I dont think you can give both at the same time. It sounds like you are doing alot for your dogs with arthritis, they are lucky to have someone who cares so much

I have a friend who breeds Newfys who puts her bitches and pups onced weaned onto Thrive D to help with weight gain, coat condition etc and has used it for years. Her dogs always look great so I guess it is a nutritional supplement of some sought I will have to ask her what is in it and see if it is similar.

Hi Stormy I saw those pups at the PP as well and thought they looked so strange You would think they would have trouble selling them as they are not the normal SWF that appeals to most petshop puppy buyers

Glad to hear she has put some weight on, my other suggestion would be to make sure she is fully wormed, I have seen many skinny dogs who ate and ate (both good and poor quality diets) and stayed skinny, and all it took was a good dose of an intestinal wormer for them to gain condition again.

I asked my vet this same question, he said that there is not enough of the glucosamine and chondroitin in any of the foods to really make a difference, so he recommends keeping dogs on the food that they are doing well on (mine were on Eagle Pack but have now switched to Nutro) and then supplementing with a product like Joint Guard or Cosequin etc.

I can tell you in about 6 months as we plan on using our boy again then, this will be about 12 months after he first had the implant. Apparently it can last up to 12 months so I am not sure whether he will be fully fertile again, but will report back as soon as I am sure Has anyone else bred from a dog who had the implant?

Nope no smell, its just a plain white powder. I havent smelt Sasha's blend before but I've heard its pretty nasty ;)

I use the Joint Guard as my vet said it was important to have both glucosamine and chondroitin as they work together, and I read an article the other day saying that it is now proven in a study that the two together were far more effective than using glucosamine alone (this article was about humans but I'm sure it is the same in doggie arthritis )

I havent heard this but I just checked my tub of Joint Guard and it contains Vitamin E so maybe this is true

I use Joint Guard in my boy, it contains glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulfate which are both natural alternatives to rimadyl etc. It also has MSM which is a natural pain reliever and is made here in Australia

Wow that is so small compared to my beasts ;) I guess you would just give half of the recommended dose for a 5kg dog??? According to the label that would be 1/4 scoop initially then 1/8 scoop as maintenance! That would be just a pinch each day, and would mean one tub would last you nearly 2 years ;) If only my dogs were that inexpensive!

Hi Paddington How big is your chow? I have my tub of Joint Guard here with the dose rate so I can let you know how much to give. I think it would be a great idea to supplement Max's joints, and as these are natural products even if it doesnt help it certainly wont do any harm if you are using the maintenance dose :D

Our boy is 25kg and he gets 1000mg glucosamine, 800mg chondroitin sulfate and 100mg MSM every day, this is the maintenance dose. We use Joint Guard as it is roughly the same price as the human ones from the health food shops that also contains MSM, but it has been designed for dogs so we can be sure they are getting the right dose. I thought the chondroitin sulfate was to stop the cartilage from breaking down, not for absorption??? Thats the reason I use it in the first place as I use it as a preventative Its what my vet told me anyway!

Ok I'm back with photos for an update... a little embarrassed as I said that Bubba's hadnt shrunk all that much, but apparently I hadnt been paying attention lately as they have gotten a lot smaller than I had thought! The first photo is the 'before' photo and following are the 2 photos I took on the weekend (must have deleted the photo at 2 mths....sorry) which are of Bubba after 5 months with the implant. They are definitely smaller and a lot tighter than they used to be. The implant is supposed to last anywhere up to 12 months, but I will keep you all posted as to when his 'nads' are getting larger again, indicating that the implant is wearing off. We didnt do a sperm count before the implant, however we recently used him for an AI and his sperm was examined then and his count was extremely high, so when we use him again I will let you all know if this has changed, however probably wont be for another 6 months at least! Apparently they should recover full sperm production, even after long term use of the implant. In regards to his behaviour he was never a dominating/aggressive/hard to control boy so nothing much has changed here, he is still interested in our young bitch who is due to come on heat very soon, although doesnt try and 'hump' her (actually it is the other way around ) so I will have to keep an eye on him just in case. He did always pay this sought of attention to the ladies however so it might just be that he is that kind of boy Hope this info has helped, feel free to ask any more specific questions

Yes probably shrunk just a little bit more...I will take another photo tonight and post on Monday (sorry will be away for the weekend). Just to note though I didnt notice much of a behaviour change in Bubba, although he was never aggressive or dominating before really, so I wander if maybe it hasnt worked as 'strongly' in him as other dogs? My girl hasnt come on heat yet but should be soon so I will let you know if he is interested in her at all.

Haha now I dont feel so wrong...there is someone else out there willing to take photos of their dog's nads I can't comment from a show perspective as we are not exhibitors, however my boy's change in size was not dramatic and I would certainly still consider them to be of 'normal' size. Hope this helps!

From the little that I know about pet diabetes (we had an old cat who had it - injections twice a day) dogs and cats get two different types. Dogs get the equivalent to Human Type 1 diabetes which is always insulin dependant, whereas cats get the equivalent to Type 2 diabetes (the most common human form, mostly due to being overweight, poor diet etc) and they can sometimes in the earlier stages be controlled by diet alone. Type 2 in cats is also reversible in some cases after long-term insulin therapy, whereas I think dogs have it for life.

I bought my Eagle Pack online at Petdeli.com.au they deliver to your house/work for free which is great as it weighs 18kg to heavy for me to lift if buying from a shop! You can have a look at the EP website it has a list of distributors

I have never tried Innova, and my guys used to be on Hills Sceince Diet, but I have recently switched to Eagle Pack. I must say after only 2 weeks I have already noticed a difference in my boy who gets terribly red itchy skin when he eats certain foods, the Eagle Pack has almost cleared all of this up! My girl normally doesnt eat kibble as she is very fussy but I have noticed her eating now which is also great news. I bought the Hollistic EP kibble which was quite expensive but already seems to be worth it

Thanks for that - it is almost exactly the same as cosequin - but with added Zinc, Copper and Vitamin E. Cheaper too I think! Looking at the label it also has MSM, which with a quick google search is methyl sulfonyl methane, a natural ingredient which helps treat arthritis and also acts as an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever. The scoop comes with the tub, it says it is 5g of Joint Guard powder, so if your dog only needs half a scoop a day that is 160 days of treatment.

My friends dog used to be on the cartrophen capsules but apparently they were taken off the market because they didnt work and vets stopped using them, she ended up back on the injections. It looks like these are a generic version of the cartrophen capsules??? Just looked at the website and the only contact details for the company is a fax number! Hmmm

My boy used to be on Cosequin but is now on Joint Guard which is exactly the same but in a powder form so much cheaper, it also has MSM which is a natural anti-inflammatory and pain reliever so good for hip dyslasia i would imagine. I also buy mine online as it is cheaper than at the vets.

Try living with British bulldogs.... they snore, burb and fart no matter what I feed them...and believe me I've tried everything!!!

Our British Bulldog male showed signs of arthritis at 2 yrs old He is quite short and stocky and weighs 25kg so there is definitely alot of strain on his joints, he was always very stiff after getting up which was worse in the mornings. It was not that bad but we put him on Cosequin to prevent any further damage. It really helped and now he is on JointGuard which is the same but cheaper. I think it is better to put them on something earlier to prevent damage down the track. It only costs me about 40c a day and hopefully this will avoid bigger $$$ later in his life! Good luck I hope it is nothing serious with your girl