Topaz522

PS. Sas I forgot to mention that my lab goes to the chiropractor with me. I have a wonderful chiro qualified in animal treatment and Topaz loves going. The adjustments are not manual with the dog but with a little instrument called an activator ( it looks like a tiny pogo stick remember those?) anyway just another suggestion that might help if you have a chiro qualified in your area. From what I can gather animal qualified chiros are trained in the US.

Dear SAS, I am actually feeding my dear lab Topaz more vegies than meat. Research suggests that protein is associated with skeletal disease. So the lower meat content isn't about weight gain, just joint problems. If you would like, do a search on the internet and there is heaps of info on it. Hence, Topaz is on about 1/3 to 1/2 her meal is meat and the rest is vegies. To get calcium, plain yoghurt and goat's milk are options as are raw meaty bones such as chicken necks, wings or carcasses. The bones help with cleaning their teeth too. Everything I have added (supplements) to Topaz's meals I have added gradually as the levels she requires are higher due to her hip dysplasia eg OmegaPet is approximately 60-80ml.

My dear Lab was diagnosed at 10 months with severe hip dysplasia (CHD). When x-rays were examined by a specialist at Murdoch University Hospital report read that even though x-rays weren't taken properly the right hip was so bad that the poor x-rays didn't matter!! Anyway my lab is doing extremely well and this is what I do: With each meal I mix into her food - Nutra-Life "MSM Glucosamine Chondroitin Joint Food" (from health food store) - Ester C powder - Melrose "OmegaPet" (a pet omega oil mix from healthfood store) I feed her a raw diet of kangaroo, mutton and vegies. With a higher quantity of vegies to meat because of the CHD. If you are interested I can give you the exact measurements of what I feed my lab. And can tell you what my info recommends for the weight of your dog. One thing I do know, MSM is a vital component of the supplements because it is a real PAIN inhibitor. You can actually buy MSM powder on it's own. It seems very expensive when you see the price but you use such a small amount it's not as expensive as it seems. You can give high doses of it according to a booklet I read on it from the pharmacy. So more than anything right now I would look into using MSM for Kaeleigh to manage the pain. When my dog has had a bad hip day or is about to go swimming (she won't use the worst hip when swimming) my vet has given me a bottle of Metacam to get through the bad days. She picks up and is herself again. In conjunction with everything else some people don't believe she has such bad hips. [/u] A good friend of mine has a german shepherd with hip dysplasia in BOTH HIPS and elbow dysplasia in BOTH ELBOWS. Not the most pleasant situation but we both are following a similar routine and having fantaxtic results. Please let me know if I can help in any other way. Good luck :rolleyes: :p