Asfa ii
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I am all to familiar having to deal with excess travel to find any kind of coursing or racing which is safe to do. I envy those folks who have both in their own "back yard" and are able to bring a kennel worth of entrants for some serious points no less! Not sure it means as much to me besting my own dogs but it would certainly be cheaper and easier in the long run - plus the added bonus of knowing my kidz can run safe and unmolested.
Ouch! Having arthritis in the hips is not normal in a 4.5 year old - not even in a dog coursing as much as Trog does. I can say - being in my field - if he is bad now, he will be much, much worse as he gets older; owners often do not look/think ahead when it comes to joint health in elder animals while the pet is still young and building blocks are easier to create and maintain. And dogs with chronic pain rarely show it, instead becoming desensitized to it - it becomes easy for us humans to then assume they are without pain/discomfort when they are.
I hope he is on some sort of joint support now (the best - which is double blind studied is CosamineDS/Cosequin.) The human version - Cosamine works great - found at Costco, Walgreens, online. You will need to do a loading dose for 6 weeks, then taper to a maintenance dose. Having spoken with clients who are themselves on Cosamine - they say that it really does help.
Good luck in all of your goals and endeavors for the next year. Sorry again about Xander.
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trog takes a ostarplex supplement from standard process and Trixsym for the occasional inflamation. We take him to the chiropractor for adjustments monthly, he always has one place in his back l4 or l5 that needs to be put back in, and usually either a hip or a shoulder will be out. We normally only run Trog one day a month so he can get plenty of rest between events. The rest of the time its Xander and the 2 whippets alternating who runs what. His next chiropractor visit is next week, I'll ask his Dr if the supplements you mention would be of benefit in addition to the ones he takes now. He is fine when on the supplements and a regular exercise routine, it was before the supplements that he really had a lot of pain in his hip area after running.
Trog was born with his front paws curled under and he is quite severely cow hocked, so we make sure that he does not overdue it. When he runs with Xander, Xander noticibly slows down so Trog does not get too far behind, he takes care of his brother. -
Sounds like you take good care of him. Standard Process is good stuff. I assume your Doc does Nutritional response testing via kinseology(sp)? If yes, then s/he can easily muscle test if Cosamine would be good for him in addition to his SP supplement.
Good luck.
