[alicefred]

Hello friends..
I am first time on this forum and just want to greet you all. Well, I have 5 yrs old male Basset Hound and I have been noticing for the last couple of weeks he has difficulty getting up/down stairs and jumping on the bed. I read somewhere that in this age it is common for their joints to become less flexible. Can anyone recommend me good supplement that helps my dog to maintain healthy joints? I searched around and found many brands available in the market, but can't decide which one to buy. So what do you guys suggest?

Thanks..

 

[Soundtrack]

The best "supplements" are a nutritious diet, appropriate exercise and maintaining a healthy weight and muscle tone. Five is awfully young for a dog to be stiffening up.

 

[Yogi's Mom]

I use GlycoFlex II for Yogi. Have you taken your dog to the vet to be checked out just to see what's going on?

 

[Tuesday]

I would suggest getting him checked out. That could be a symptom of Lyme disease, something that can be cleared up. Or their could be something else going on. Good luck! Hope he feels better!

 

[SophieB]

Hello friends..
I am first time on this forum and just want to greet you all. Well, I have 5 yrs old male Basset Hound and I have been noticing for the last couple of weeks he has difficulty getting up/down stairs and jumping on the bed. I read somewhere that in this age it is common for their joints to become less flexible. Can anyone recommend me good supplement that helps my dog to maintain healthy joints? I searched around and found many brands available in the market, but can't decide which one to buy. So what do you guys suggest?

Thanks..

You have maybe answered your own question!! Three generations of my family have kept and still own Bassets, and breeders and vets have always said to NEVER let a Basset Hound up and down stairs... going down is especially bad for them as it puts too much weight on their front legs and stairs are also bad for backs! Also not to let them jump on/ff anything higher than they are!!!

I can honestly say that none of my Bassets (from pups or rescues) have had back or joint problems and they have always been kept off stairs with a stairgate!


PS: Rose Hips may be OK as a joint supplement, better than Glucosmine that is now said to be not what it was cracked up to be!

 

[Soundtrack]

You have maybe answered your own question!! Three generations of my family have kept and still own Bassets, and breeders and vets have always said to NEVER let a Basset Hound up and down stairs... going down is especially bad for them as it puts too much weight on their front legs and stairs are also bad for backs! Also not to let them jump on/ff anything higher than they are!!!

I can honestly say that none of my Bassets (from pups or rescues) have had back or joint problems and they have always been kept off stairs with a stairgate!


PS: Rose Hips may be OK as a joint supplement, better than Glucosmine that is now said to be not what it was cracked up to be!

Mine go up and down stairs all the time. We've had no problems from this. The only dogs of mine that have trouble getting on the furniture are Chili (who is fat) and Ginger and Lucy (who are 12 1/2 and arthritic - however their litter sister Gabby is still able to leap onto the bed).

 

[sadeyes2]

Like SophieB I too had been told not to let him do stairs, jump off furniture etc. This house is like a 'BMX track' with the ramps, gates etc to stop Toby damaging his joints.

Having said all this he was diagnosed as having arthritis in both his back legs, which probably started when he was just under 7 although wasn't diagnosed till later.

He was put on Metacam (anti-inflamitory) and seraquin (glocusamin & chondroitin). I then read on the internet that the seraquin had not been proven to help this condition and decided to stop giving him it. Within a week I noticed the difference, he was not as agile and certainly a lot stiffer. The seraquin IMO definately works for arthritis.

Before giving it to your dog, I would get him vet checked as I don't if it would do any good unless your dog had a specific condition that merited using it.

 

[SophieB]

Soundtrack, perhaps some smaller, finer built, more agile Bassets can probably jump on and off a bed OK and manage stairs, but hounds like my two girls, that are quite big built and chunky and weigh 66 and 70 lbs, could not jump on a bed and they can't jump in the back of my Golf hatchback either and going down stairs is a no-no as that would be far too much weight on their leg joints!

 

[ama_ya]

Take foods and vitamins rich in calcium or coral calcium. Also the glucosamine is good is good for the joints too.

__________________
Mesothelioma Clinical Trials

 

[Wworm]

Worm is allowed to go up on things, but not jump down. Unfortunately, we do have a flight of stairs up and down, which is unavoidable, but otherwise, we use the elevator for going down. He had straight legs at ~4 months. Now at 1 year, his legs are turning out more and more and there is some knuckling over. So I have started him on hip/joint supplements too. They are the kind with chondroitin and glucosamine-- more for preventative measures than anything else.

If your basset has a change in activity level, I might think it would be good to make sure from the vet that your basset doesn't have a back (slipped disc) problem that is making it harder or more painful for him to move around. That certainly can happen at this age.

 

[Mikey T]

The best "supplements" are a nutritious diet, appropriate exercise and maintaining a healthy weight and muscle tone

Could not agree nore especial on the weight. secondly on all joint sumplements Is that all the clinic studies that show any cinical significance are those done by the actual manufacture independant studies have not be show the same result. Fortunately if you decide to try a suplement there is little posibility of harm from then,


If the dog is suffer from arthritis at the age of five It is likely

1. the dog is over weight.

2. There may be a autoimmune issue involved

3. there is a previous or concurrant tramatic injury to the joint that will require repair.

A non-surgical intervention that is can popularity because of antidotal evidence of remarkable result but it is far from cheap is stem cell replacement into the joints.

Stem Cell Therapy for Dogs, Cats, and Horses

 

[Kirska]

I would suggest building or buying a step or steps for the bed. We built a step for Anabelle to get on and off the couch that was pretty easy and cheap to build.

 

[Mikey T]

Soundtrack, perhaps some smaller, finer built, more agile Bassets can probably jump on and off a bed OK and manage stairs, but hounds like my two girls, that are quite big built and chunky and weigh 66 and 70 lbs,

Weight is not and issue provided they are not overweight/obeses and are in proportion because they also have increased joint size to distribute that weght.
FWIW Mirrriam dogs are not known for being light boned non-conformational dogs Given that the vast majority of the dogs she now has are Conformational Champions trying to seperate whether to do stairs jumping simply based on conformation does not fly. However the body condition, and fitness certainly play a role. The dog most likely to be injured jumping is the dog that does very little of it then sudenly spend all day jumping. So should a non-athletic couch potato be encourage to jump No. But at the same time studies at least in humans indicate that atheletes contrary to popular myth actual have fewer joint issues then the overweight couch potato general public. so it is very easy to be overprotective and in so doing create problem that would not otherwise exist. I have Had one "Joint issue " since competeing in agility with a total of 3 basset hounds over the last 15 years and that was a streached digital fexor tendon that occured during a basset 500 run. I have had no soft tissue injuries, arthritis etc since switching to a high fat, high protein diet.

Now at 1 year, his legs are turning out more and more and there is some knuckling over.

The knuckling over is a seperate issue than the turning out. At this age it is not uncommon. that is because of the growth plates normal close as different rates. In bassets the Ulna close even earlier than most breed creating the normal for basset crooked leg. However in basset proper front end conformation is rare

 

[Soundtrack]

I wasn't going to comment since the thread is so old, but...

Soundtrack, perhaps some smaller, finer built, more agile Bassets can probably jump on and off a bed OK and manage stairs, but hounds like my two girls, that are quite big built and chunky and weigh 66 and 70 lbs, could not jump on a bed and they can't jump in the back of my Golf hatchback either and going down stairs is a no-no as that would be far too much weight on their leg joints!

I wouldn't call these two "smaller, finer built and more agile".

Gabby, now 13 years of age and still going up and down the stairs, and hopping on the bed and into the van.

Chili, who is now somewhat heavier than she was in this picture.

 

[Mikey T]

The Myth of Runner's Knee

A 2008 Stanford University study followed 500 longtime distance runners over 50 for nearly 20 years. At the study's onset, the runners ran approximately four hours per week, which declined to an average of 76 minutes per week after 21 years. Additionally, 6.7 percent of runners had mildly arthritic knees compared to none in an age-matched control group, reported The New York Times. Now, the old school of thought would lead you to believe that after 20 years, runners experienced a higher incidence of arthritic knees. In reality, the reverse happened. Only 20 percent of runners experienced arthritic knees compared to 32 percent in the control group.

Health Fitness Studies Debunk Exercise and Knee Injury Myths

However, a high-tech Australian investigation of 297 men and woman without knee injuries or disease showed that people who performed the most vigorous weight-bearing exercise had the thickest, healthiest knee cartilage.

...Former varsity runners, for example, are no more likely to develop arthritis in their legs than former college swimmers, and champion runners are no more likely to end up with arthritic hips than nonathletes.
Another German study compared the knees of runners to those of swimmers. No difference was reported in the level of knee pain between the two groups of athletes, despite the difference in weight bearing and impact stress of the two sports

Exercise Does Not Hurt Joints: Study Debunks Common Myth

Additional body weight was found to be a problem. "The largest modifiable risk factor for knee OA is body weight, such that each additional kilogram of body mass increases the compressive load over the knee by roughly 4kg," Hunter also said. Logically speaking, with exercise helping to keep weight down, it could in fact serve to lower one's chances of getting osteoarthritis.

and dog studies

Osteoarthritis and Exercise

In a study evaluating the knees of beagle dogs who ran as much as 40 km/day for a year, Arokoski et al5 identified a decrease in the concentration of glycosaminoglycans in the knee but saw no signs of degeneration of the articular cartilage. In a study of beagle dogs who ran on treadmills for as much as 15 km/day at a 15 uphill angle for 40 weeks, Kiviranta et al6 found that cartilage thickness and glycosaminoglycan concentration were both decreased compared with controls. This result contrasted with a previous study,7 in which the same authors found an increase in both cartilage thickness and glycosaminoglycan concentration after a more modest running program. Newton et al8 found no difference in cartilage thickness or mechanical properties of the cartilage at the end of a study in which 11 dogs ran on a treadmill at 3 km/hr for 75 minutes for 527 weeks (ten years) while wearing weight jackets (weighing 130% of the dog's body weight). Arthritis did not develop in any of the dogs. This research suggests a threshold after which changes are seen in the cartilage and that these changes are probably adaptive rather than pathologic. Even in these studies of long-term, very vigorous exercise, no arthritis was seen in otherwise normal joints.

Dog Injuries From Jumping

Overweight dogs are at a greater risk for injury than healthy-weight dogs.

Preventing ACL (CCL) Injuries in Dogs

As in humans, the knee joint in dogs is extremely vulnerable because there are no interlocking bones in the joint. The one area that owners should focus on is their dog’s conditioning. The dogs most at risk for this injury are those with poor conditioning or even suffering from obesity. Dogs with appropriately strong muscles near the knee joint are better suited to avoid possible ACL tears.

 

[doggy071111]

I actually just read a great article about arthritis in dogs, I highly reccomend checking it out if you're concerned about it.

http://ezinearticles.com/?So-Your-Dog-Has-Arthritis&id=6280701

 

[reinaann2]

Bring him to the doctor so that right medicines will be given to him.

 

[Mommy2MaggieMae]

A suggestion from my vet for my 12 year old cocker who is arthritic was to give half a baby aspirin a day.

 

[houndmomma]

I’m not sure it sounds like Lyme disease but would still be a good idea to check for it. Two of mine have it so I’ve been through the treatment. (I know, not a healthy one in the pack) It could also be arthritis which my two older ones and the one I just lost had – and we give them “Dasquin” which seem to keep them activity moving. We call it our Flintstone vitamin

I’m with everyone else on the not jumping on things especially beds. The one I had that required back surgery was the last one I would have thought would ever need it because of the shape she was in and her weight. I always thought it would have been our tank at 75lb out of shape. In retrospect I believe she hurt her back jumping off the bed because of where I found her one night but she didn’t show signs for almost full year.

Vet visit sounds like the best idea to put your mind at rest and give her the best help you can.

 

[woof_sense]

A dog's weight can determine the health of its appendicular joints. There are basset owners who have no problems with their pets going up and down stairs but there are also those whose dogs have joint problems as a result of being overweight. I came across this informative blog on being how to "Be an Advocate for your Dog's Joints".