Greyhound Help

[colouroflies]

Sorry guys, but how important is Joint Guard and similair products to ex racing greyhounds and breeds that put alot more pressure on their legs etc? I have a 5yo grey and worried about degenerative joint conditions later - should I start early to prevent it or wait till it comes? Btw do they even get joint problems later?

[Poodle wrangler]

Sorry don't know for dogs, greys in particular, but these joint supplements (e.g Glucosamine + chondritin) for humans have only been shown to be effective once the joint problems are present. Only effective in certain dosages, also.

It might help, before the problems start, but far as I know there's no studies to support it.

[Anissa]

If you want to prevent you Grey to get degenerated joints later one good thing to do is feeding for example joint guard (but start at a very low dose since many dogs have to get used to it and can easily throw up the whole food (or get diarrheia) when you feed to much.

Another in my opinion very important thing would be to feed no corn at all and if possible gluten free food since this food increases the possibility to get arthrosis.

I have a (now 11 year old) Collie whose familiy had lots of arthrosis probs but she is still perfectly healthy. I feed raw food (without corn or any cereals) and she gets 1 Tblspoon of Joint guard every day (since she is 2 years old).

[Dogsfevr]

I start as pups

[New Age Outlaw]

Given the amount of stress that the joints of most racing greys have been under through their racing career, I always give mine jointguard from the day I get them. I also give fish oil tablets daily (except for the couple of times a week that I give fish like sardines, mackerel or salmon) as this is believed to work with the glucosamine to improve the protection to joints (and anyway the fish oil makes their coats nice!).