Recommendations For Kibble

[Rhi]

Sable is currently on Science Diet Large Breed Puppy (vet is a good sales man!) and is now ready to move onto an adult diet.

He has knee joint issues and would I like to include a Glucosamine supplement to his diet whether it's in the kibble or as additive.

Can anyone recommend a brand that they have had success with...

Edited July 23, 2007 by Rhi

[4 Paws]

I too had one of my dogs on Science Diet Lg Breed Puppy but didn't see any difference after going through the lg bag.

If you can get it Nutro makes a lg breed range which contain Glucosamine and chondroitin for healthy joints.

Both my german shepherds are on the lamb and rice lg breed and have never looked better,one used to have a skin problem before we got onto Nutro and she used to have a smell about her all the time,now that smell has gone and so too has her itchiness

good luck

julie

[MolassesLass]

I feed Nutrience to both my BCs and the Bullmastiff after having done an ingredient analysis of the major brands. The Large and Giant types both contain glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate.

[cassie]

Hey Rhi,

My two get Nutro Large Breed (puppy for Oakley and adult for Zephyr) and they are doing well on it. Oakley also gets Glucosamine and Manganese supplements, as recommended to me by his breeder. I just buy the human Glucosamine from my local health shop, which comes in a powder form, and sprinkle the required amount over his dinner each night. Just another option, another way of going about it.

Give Sable a pat for me ;) I love that boy!

[Poodle wrangler]

Check out the amount of glucosamine in the ingredients- it's normally only a small amount, probably not enough to have any effect if your dog already have joint problems. There are so many threads on kibble- where to start? Look at the ingredients- meat should come first, not any grains like corn, rice etc. "Meat byproduct" less desirable than "meat meal". I like to feed at least some raw foods, also. It doesn't make sense to me that food kept "fresh" in a bag for months on end is the best nutrition, fed solely, for a dog.

Better to give a specific supplement IMO.

I'm sure you already know, but keeping your dog lean will also help any joint issues- less weight thru joints.

Edited July 23, 2007 by Poodle wrangler

[Rhi]

Check out the amount of glucosamine in the ingredients- it's normally only a small amount, probably not enough to have any effect if your dog already have joint problems. There are so many threads on kibble- where to start? Look at the ingredients- meat should come first, not any grains like corn, rice etc. "Meat bthyproduct" less desirable than "meat meal". I like to feed at least some raw foods, also. It doesn't make sense to me that food kept "fresh" in a bag for months on end is the best nutrition, fed solely, for a dog.

Better to give a specific supplement IMO.

I'm sure you already know, but keeping your dog lean will also help any joint issues- less weight thru joints.

This is great advice, I'm going to have to train myself to be a more thorough lable reader (well at least for the first purchase)!

Thanks to everyone who has replied.

[Rhi]

So, I've been doing a lot of lable and internet reading about the ingredients in Large Breed Adult foods. It's all massively confusing...

I've come across one brand after doing a search here (in health section) I can't find many reviews.

Does any one use Pro Plan by Purina? Please share any success/horror stories. Just interested to find out more on this brand.

[goldielover]

Rhi, i have used ProPlan in the past on my girls, also when they're in whelp and have also raised a litter on ProPlan. I have found that my goldens did very well on it. My only issues were: protein level a bit too high for for large breeds and it contains byproducts. You can buy products without by-products for either the same amount (eg. Eagle Pack natural), or a little more eg. Nutrience, Nutro, Eagle Pack Holistic. I was pretty happy with it and in fact have just bought 7kg of it as the 3.63kg bags were 2 for the price of 1 at a local shop and i'm on a pretty tight budget right now!