Cosequin

[INU]

Jazzy had her annual exam today. The new vet (I like her!) said she is healthy and on good weight. I asked her about hip x-raying soon and discussed about HD as I am starting agility with her end of this month. She suggested if I want to prevent that I could use 'cosequin' once a day. She told me most joint supplements are not tested but this one is approved. She is 14 months old and as a over-pretected mom I don't even let her jump on/off my car. She didn't give me price but prevention sounds better than fixing later. Anybody ever used it to prevent HD? Is this really proven to work?

 

Also, I remember someone mentioned about using fish oil instead of medicine. Fish oil for humans or do they sell special fish oil for animals?? Thank you.

[Tassie]

Hey Inu

 

FWIW here?s a link to the manufacturer?s info about Cosequin. http://www.cosamin.com/veterinary/coseqfaq.htm#when . I?ve thought about using glucosamine/chondroitin proactively, but haven?t done it.

 

Personally, unless you had reason to suspect problems, I wouldn?t worry about X-rays ? because you really need to look at shoulders and elbows and spine as well ? that?s where a lot of pressure comes in agility IMHO.

 

For me it was really important to let the dogs learn to jump properly. I actually used Suzanne Clothier?s Natural Jumping Method (I?ll PM you the info about where to get it, if you want.) You can probably find similar methods ? using a series of jumps in a chute, which when you set the distances correctly, basically allows the dog to figure out for herself how to take off, pick up feet, and land properly and safely.

 

Lots of work on teaching Jazzy where her body is (back end awareness) is also important, as is warming up and stretching (for you and the dog).

 

If Jazzy turns out to be fast, like my guys, you?ll also probably want to learn to call the directions and obstacles while the dog is on the previous one, to give her time to make the necessary change in landing foot, rather than waiting for her to land and then expecting a tight turn. Never mind about being good for dogs, agility is also good for handler?s brains and bodies ? especially if you?re somewhat uncoordinated, like me.

 

Not sure about the fish oil - they do make it for animals, I think, so it's probably a value for money decision.

[StillTerry]

I have an old arthritic dog that I have had on consequin for sometime. Because it is much more expensive than the "store bought" glucosomine chondrotin, I tried the "store bought" generic and Tux became noticeably worse. Went back to cosequin and he again improved.

 

My vet told me the same as your vet, it is the only joint medication that has had extensive testing.

 

(Glucosamine chondrondtin is not in spell check and I am sure that I annihilated the spelling)

[INU]

Thanks Barb.

I would be appreciated if you could PM me the info. That might be something we can do before we start the class.

 

I am thinking about just doing low jumps even after she is fully matured. I am not planning on competing so the jumping height isn't important.

 

Thanks

[INU]

Thanks Terry. We must have replied at the same time

[France]

Hi, I used to work for a vet (I am now retired) and in reply to your cosequin questions, we had terrific results with this product. We only gave it to animals who had real problems and not as a preventative nature. Just do training properly with warmups first and proper cooldowns. Dont try to exceed the ability of you dog.

Keep us up to date on the training

[BigD]

Inu -

 

Buddy - our 4 year old is slightly displastic. He's in agility and is very active as well.

 

My vet told me to get something called "Move Free" from Costco. It's a glucosamine/chondroitin pill for humans. He gets one of those a day.

 

Now, does it work? Well...we ran out of the pills many months ago. I was just too busy to even remember to buy toilet paper, let alone those pills. So Buddy went without for about 2 months. What a difference! After a fun day romping in the fields, playing with the ball, etc...Buddy was visably sore. He was slow to get up and his joints would crack.

 

It finally registered that maybe I should get more pills! I'd say within 2 or 3 days, he was back to Mr. Spunky.

 

The results are so astounding that my husband started to take the pills too! He said that within a month he started to feel better too.

 

Well...I have 2 success stories on this stuff!

 

So...this stuff did work for Buddy. As for the Cosequin, my vet said to try to cheaper stuff first and see if that helps. I never thought it worked, until he went off it and then back on.

 

Our 14 month old puppy is mild as well. They took x-rays for reference when she was spayed. Basically we were told - keep the weight off, the muscle mass high. We were not told to limit jumping, only to be smart about it. I won't let Marzipan jump into the back of our truck, but she can jump into our car.

 

And as for agility - the first many classes (at least for us) is only about contacts, obstacles, target work and combinations/hanlder movement. We use jumps all the time, but the rail is never above the first rung. It's not a trial - it's just there to teach the dog how to move and how to react to "over" and things like that. So you won't have to worry about your dog jumnping high unless you go into a trial right away. And unless you club is wonky!

 

We're on our 3rd, 10 week agility class and they have never raised the bars higher than 8" off the ground (or so). Only the advanced classes jump for height. So...don't worry about it. If you pup has ever hopped up stairs, that's probably higher than what you will jump in the first few classes.

 

Denise