Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dogs and bad hips

The old girl has had a rough life, we rescued her from a high kill shelter who in turn rescued her from a puppy mill where if she wasn't breeding she was locked in a cage, so her back legs and hips never had a chance to develop. We didn't think she had much gas in the tank when we rescued her but she kept on surprising us. Several times we thought we were going to have to put her down but she keeps on ticking. Three years ago we bought a puppy because we wanted her to have the chance to be a mother to a pup instead of having them ripped away. No idea how old she actually is we figured 4 or 5 when we got her 7 years ago. Still a pup at heart she is her own worst enemy. She gets overly excited and her back legs give out. She's having a more difficult time walking. I don't want her suffering anymore just to hang onto her longer but if something helps her in the mobility department I'm willing to give it a shot. I think I'm going to try a dog hip brace and hope for the best. Any recommendations would be appreciated.


Big Mama part pit/mastiff. Nothing but love, top speed of tortoise unless she hears dog food being poured into her bowl

Glucosamine Chondritin. You may wanna check with your vet for dosage, but OTC formula for humans is OK. Just check dosage,

We gave our shepherd glucosamine and CBD oil and it really helped.

Along with the glucosamine stuff, try some Vitamin C.

Long ago, in the 90's there was an article in Outdoor Life about using Ester-C (a patented version) on dogs with arthritic hips and such. I started giving it to my old 90+ lab cross and he was able to keep going at a higher rate of activity for a few more years.

Lots of info about it out there now

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Vitamin+C+and+dog%27s+hips&ia=web

Get her a set of wheels, that'll take the weight off her hips and give her a bit more life to enjoy.

Meloxicam IIRC worked for Cookie for his last 4 yrs.
Flavored .
He used to like to get it as his special snack about 2 hrs before bed.

Good on you - and hope some of these suggestions help her and you Lovely photos, and those with "her pup" are touching. Thx.

Thanks for the tips I'm going to order a brace to see if that gets her on the right path, and go with the supplements as well. She still plays with the pup she just lays on the ground and let's him do the tugging in a tug of war. And he's so big he fits her entire head in his mouth when they are playing

Yep, good on ya.

Careful with the dosage of glucosamine.

Sad to say, but poor random breeding.

Europe has far higher pedigree standards and as result, hip dysplasia is rare.

Along with the Glucosamine, ask the vet about Deramax,, I'm not a vet but had an old bloodhound with bad hips from old age, worked wonders on him, I believe it's the doggie version of Celebrex.

Considering she was rescued from a high kill shelter in NYC I'm guessing her owners to be a couple ghetto Michael Vick types who only cared about selling puppies and not their dogs health. I'd love to have a few hours alone with them and a baseball bat

We gave our dogs Rimadyl when they got older with joint and hip problems. Seemed to help most of the dogs.

https://www.thelabradorsite.com/rimadyl-for-dogs/

https://www.swansonvitamins.com/p/swanson-ultra-glucosamine-chondroitin-msm-hyal-joint-90-caps


Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM was developed to treat arthritis in dogs. Racing Greyhounds. It works.

I've used both the Glucosamine (liquid) and the CBD in oil form.

The CBD has been more effective and by far faster acting for my dog.
Problem with the CBD is there's a lot of junk products that just don't work.

After trying a half a dozen different brands of CBD I found one that worked.
https://petreleaf.com/product/hemp-oil-750


The Glucosamine had some effect but nothing at all like the CBD.

This is the Glucosamine product I used.

Sandy’s about to turn 15yo, last couple years slowed by arthritis but happy and still after it. Was on carprofen (Rimadyl) but exacerbated her renal decline. Changed to fish oil, glucosamine/chondroitin MSM, gabapentin; clearly helped. As benefit faded, tried adding Adequan injections, but didn’t appear to benefit. Pricey. Stopped that in favor of galliprant, supposed to be somewhat more renal friendly nsaid than carprofen, and it clearly has given her a boost. A little pricey but she’s doing well and living to torment gf’s much larger and younger dog i think.

Had to put down my old lab last winter because his hips would just give out on him. Sad day.