Dog diet question – Great Pyrenees arthritis/hip dysplasia?
I thіnk mу 6 year οld Pyr іѕ developing arthritis, bυt bесаυѕе I аm unemployed (thank уου, economy) I саnnοt afford a trip tο thе vet. Thе symptoms аrе stiffness οf thе hind hips, аnd a “high arching” limp.
Thе first thing thаt comes tο everyone’s mind іѕ hip dysplasia. Whеn I take hіm οn walks іt tends tο loosen up аnd bу thе еnd οf thе walk іt іѕ relatively unnoticeable.
Sο I thіnk іt іѕ actually јυѕt arthritis…. bυt I know thе οnlу way fοr sure іѕ tο take hіm tο thе vet аnd pay a chunk.Hе′s never hаd a limp until recent months – wе′re іn аn apartment wіth аll hardwood floors. A few months аftеr moving іn hе ѕtаrtеd limping, ѕο I bουght hіm a memory foam bed. Thаt hеlреd fοr a whіlе bυt thеn thе limp came back. I hаνе аlѕο noticed improvements whеn I give hіm senior supplements bυt now I’m out οf those. I аm hoping a change οf diet саn hеlр hіѕ condition until I аm employed again аnd саn gеt hіm tο a vet.
I hаνе always fed hіm Authority Large Breed (thе petsmart store brand), bυt now I аm looking fοr something thаt сουld bе more beneficial fοr hіѕ condition.
Anу recommendations?
I would firstly call the vet’s office. If you’ve been a patron of their clinic for a while, you can ask them if they’ll accept a payment plan, or if you can possibly make payments on a visit when the money comes up. Times are tight and more clinics nationwide are doing this. A good vet clinic first and foremost would like for its patients to be healthy and safe, even if that means letting their owners pay for the care later on.
I am not a vet by any means, but sounds more to me like your dog is suffering arthritis, especially because you mentioned that he seems to “loosen up” on his walks. You can start adding glucosamine to his diet if you haven’t already.
If he’s having trouble with your new hardwoods, as in skidding and sliding, this is common- my childhood Golden has trouble with hardwood floors in my parents’ new home. They’ve purchased some Show Foot (http://www.showdogstore.com/bio-groom-show-foot.aspx ) for him to prevent him from sliding all over the place- he’s an old dog with arthritis and it does happen.
As for your dog’s diet, Authority isn’t really the best in terms of nutrition. Here are the ingredients from the beef and rice formula:
Beef Meal, Brewers Rice, Ground Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Brown Rice, Animal Fat Preserved with Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols), Beef, Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavors, Dried Egg Product, Canola Oil, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Corn Oil, Choline Chloride, Iron Oxide, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Copper Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Riboflavin, Calcium Iodate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamin Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement.
The Brewers Rice, Ground Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, and Animal Fat Preserved with Vitamin E are all kind of iffy ingredients because corn and corn gluten meal are undigestable by dogs. Brewers rice is a poor quality filler and Animal Fat is questionable simply because they won’t tell you what kind of animal it’s from.
A nice alternative available at PetSmart would be Blue Buffalo, http://www.bluebuff.com . They use higher-quality ingredients, but better food won’t necessarily help your dog’s condition. A better diet couldn’t hurt, though!
Try to keep your dog on the “lean” side (helps when there’s less weight on the joints) and try to look into getting your boy in to see the vet to determine the origin of his issues.
Best of luck! I just have to add that Pyrs are one of my favorite livestock guardian breeds- I think they’re beautiful and I hope your boy is on the mend soon.
Hi Jonny,
I raised Pyr’s for many years, in fact, I just lost my eleven-year-old male on Mothers day. Pyr’s are susceptable to hip dysplasia, and arthritis. My Pyr had it too. I gave him food with glucosamine in it, and vitamins. Arthritis is very painful and it just seemed that the food was ot enough. I don’t think it would cost too much to take him to the vet to make sure it isn’t something else. But try the glucosamine to see if he gets any relief. If not, it would be beneficial to let your vet take a look at him. Good luck,
I have a few suggestions for you
First: Either switch him to a dog food that has glucosamine and chondroitin in it, or buy a supplement of these two things to add to his food. These two compounds are great for joint health, and it is important that they are given together because each one helps the other one to work better. A great food that has these both is Innova Senior, you will not be able to find it at Petsmart, but if you Google Innova you can locate a dealer near you on their website. It is a bit expensive of a food, but you will probably feed less of it that the Authority because it is of such high quality.
Second: Try doing some light massage on your dog a few times a week, maybe when you get home from you walks. Since you say that the dog seems to loosen up as you walk, some of the stiffness may just be older muscles, a bit of massage gets the blood flowing and will help to ease the pain. If you have no idea how to give your dog a rubdown check out the videos at http://www.monkeysee.com/play/2163-how-to-massage-your-dog for some pointers.
Third: The memory foam bed was a great idea, large breed dogs like Great Pyrenees should never be allowed to sleep on hard surfaces because of the likelihood that arthritis will develop. Try to make sure you dog has a good, soft sleeping spot in each room that you spend time in. To help prevent slipping and sliding on the hardwood floor you might want to try looking up Paw Pads, these are things you stick on the bottom of your dogs feet that provide extra traction and stability, they were originally designed for dock dogs so they didnt slip on the wet surface running of the end of the dock, but some senior pet owners are finding them quiet useful for slippery floors.
If all of these things fail and your dog is still in pain, then obviously you need to make a trip to the vets office. Most vets will do a care credit program which allows you to pay the bill over time without interest so that would make it a little bit more affordable. Otherwise look for an low cost vet clinic in your area and maybe they can help. Good luck!