Q. I have a seven-year-old spayed German shepherd with terrible hips. She eats Blue senior food. I add Missing link, Prozyme and salmon oil to her food. I also give her glucosamine and condroitin tablets. Glucosamine and chondroitin seem to be everywhere, in food, treats, etc. How much is enough? Can they be toxic in any way? What else can I do to make her comfortable? My vet wants her on Rimadyl but I refused.

 

A. For the proper dosing of glucosamine/chondroitin, you should get one of the more accepted and known brands, such as Cosequin by Nutramax, and follow the recommendations by weight on the label. I also like Glycoflex (especially formula #3); one of the many homeopathic combinations, especially containing rhus tox; and herbally, one of many indicated for arthritis containing especially yucca, alfalfa and devil’s claw. You can also consider getting her on foods that are whole and unprocessed and contain no or minimal processed carbohydrates.

Q.I have a 7-year-old neutered Chinook. He has been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. Rather than load him up with steroids and antibiotics, I have chosen home prepared cooked chicken diet. Carbs are limited to cooked sweet potato and white potato. I use shark cartilage powder rather glucosamine/chondroitin products which may have known allergens for him as oats, wheat, beef, yeast or soy. Have you any suggestions for a multivitamin and joint support product?

 

A.We have been very successful with these cases. We use Acetylator by VetriScience. It does have a glucosamine derivative in it but it may be worth trying. We also use a homeopathic combination of BHI Intestine and Diarrhea. I’ve just started to work with a new product called Primal Defence (homeostatic soil organisms) which I feel will have great benefit. As for diet, I list a potato diet in my book similar to that you are currently feeding, but with a few additions. In all these cases we perform a metabolic analysis to align the other organs of digestion and assimilation.