By Jacquie Eubanks BSN, RN
Just like humans, all dogs may suffer from a joint pain from time to time. But, if they are a pure-breed or beginning to get a long in the tooth, your dog may be beginning to feel a more joint pain than normal. Obviously, any sudden change in your dog’s behavior should warrant a visit to the vet’s office to rule out any serious problem. More often than not, however, a little joint stiffness will gradually become more serious if left untreated.
As any caring dog owner will tell you, the most important things to give to your dog are a healthy diet and plenty of exercise – beneficial for both human and pet! A balanced and varied selection of food helps to maintain the bone and muscular structure of your dog, preventing the likelihood of your pet developing joint pain.
However, sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we just can’t get those essential vitamins and minerals we need. With our modern lifestyle, we can just take a vitamin tablet or other supplement to keep us going, but what about our dogs?
Pet supplements are now to be found in almost all pet shops and veterinary offices with prices greatly varying and often confusing sales pitches accompanying them. So what does your dog actually need from a supplement to prevent joint pain?
Often the go-to supplement for joint pain is ‘glucosamine’. This powerful supplement is one of the most popular sold in the USA today, and that’s just for humans. So why shouldn’t our beloved pets benefit from this? Glucosamine helps keep joints strong and supple by maintaining the elasticity and flexibility inside the joint itself. By keeping the inside strong, the outside will be less prone to aches and joint pain.
Prevention is always better than cure and many dog owners fear the day their dog’s legs will become painful and stiff. To prevent and slow this from happening, a good, wide-ranging diet is often supplemented with glucosamine products and other protein-maintaining ingredients such as perna canaliculus and methylsulphonylmethane – an organic and naturally occurring sulphur compound that often breaks down in the processing of food. Owners are able to supplement their dog’s diet with this compound to maintain healthy function of not just their pet’s joints, but of its whole body.
With plenty of exercise, a sustaining and healthy diet and a caring owner, dogs’ painful joints can be avoided. With the owner providing what the dog cannot eat naturally, she can ensure her dog’s health, without joint pain thanks to modern science and supplements.
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