Bone & Joint Health and Nutrition in Dogs
Watching your dog do the zoomies, fetch a stick, or jump on your bed to cuddle with you are some of the small but beautiful joys of pet parenthood. If you want to preserve that physical exuberance and carefree movement, it’s important to prioritize their joint health.
However, many pet owners think that joint problems only come up when the pet gets older. This misconception has led to years of discomfort for pets all over the world. Some studies put osteoarthritis prevalence to be as high as 20% in dogs more than one year old. This is because the symptoms of chronic joint and bone problems are easy to overlook, especially in the early stages.
An understanding of dog mobility issues, how to prevent them, and how to spot them are essential to responsible pet ownership.
What good canine mobility should look like
Joints allow your dog to move without the pain of grinding adjacent bones together. A dog with a healthy set of joints will be able to tolerate a wide range of physical activities, such as walking, running, jumping, going up and down stairs, getting into potty position, and others.
When acute problems like fractures or trauma occur, the symptoms are very obvious. Limping, a change in posture, difficulty moving, and pain are all apparent. If you’re looking for a silver lining here, it’s that you can easily detect the problem and quickly do something about it. But there are more insidious conditions that degenerate the joints over time. Misalignment of bones due to inherited conditions, mismatched growth of the skeleton and the soft tissues, obesity, high-impact exercises, and malnutrition could all cause mobility problems in the future. The signs may already even be there, but they’re so subtle that we don’t even notice it until it’s too late.
Factors affecting canine joint health
Breed predisposition
Centuries of breeding to attain our modern-day dog breeds have come at the cost of genetic predisposition to diseases, including those concerning joint and bone development. There are many online resources that you can read up on to see what medical issues are prevalent within your dog’s breed. For example, German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers have a higher likelihood of being born with hip dysplasia, while Chihuahuas and Yorkshire Terriers are more prone to patellar luxation.
Do your research to find out what the condition’s symptoms look like. Carefully watching your dog for early signs and asking your vet to assess their mobility when you do your regular visits are great ways to catch joint and bone problems early. Physical examination to assess range of motion, crepitus, and pain, combined with diagnostic imaging techniques like x-rays will help the vet see if your dog inherited a genetic problem.It may be scary to get a diagnosis, but remember that the earlier you know, the better. This not only saves your dog from worsening pain and discomfort, it also allows you a broader range of treatment options that are less invasive to your dog’s body and less taxing on your wallet.
Nutrition
Joint health revolves around balance. You want to feed just the right amount of nutrients to your furry buddy--not too little that they experience stunted growth, but not too much that they grow overweight.
Between the two, obesity is the more common problem--in fact, it is the most common nutritional problem presented in veterinary clinics today. It has major implications on the dog’s health, particularly when it comes to mobility. The increased weight puts additional pressure on the joints, and this will eventually lead to joint inflammation and degeneration.
But that’s not to say that malnourishment is not a problem too. Most commercially available dog food is made with canine nutritional requirements in mind. However, improper storage and spoilage can affect the content.
Homemade diets are fast gaining popularity, but if done without the help of a licensed animal nutritionist or veterinarian, it could result in chronic health problems, including issues with the bones and joints. For example, a dog’s mobility is impaired when fed a magnesium-deficient diet, while joint stiffness is often seen in cases of hypervitaminosis A.
Physical Activity
Regular physical exercise has loads of benefits for our canine buddies: it helps maintain a healthy weight, keeps the joints in good working order, and channels excess energy into less destructive pursuits.
But the principle of balance is still key to working out your dog--give too little and your dog gains weight and their joints become stiff from disuse, but give too much and you risk overexertion and injury.
It is important to note that you can only reap the benefits of exercise if you do it regularly. So take into consideration your dog’s preferences and your lifestyle when thinking of your dog’s exercise plan. For it to be sustainable, it should be something both you and your dog can look forward to. Each breed has different energy levels and exercise needs; so here’s a guide to find out how much exercise your dog needs.
Age
The wear-and-tear of joints over time is unavoidable. Our geriatric, silver-haired dogs will not exhibit the same exuberance as they had as puppies. That being said, there are still many things we can do as fur parents to keep their quality of life as high as possible in their old age.
How to keep your dog’s joints healthy
Provide adequate nutrition for your dog
It is important to take into consideration your dog’s age when choosing a diet, as dogs at different life stages have very different nutritional demands. Puppies will need a lot more nutrient-dense food in order to sustain their growth up to maturity, while adult dogs just need to maintain a healthy body condition. Puppies will thrive when fed puppy-appropriate food until the time they are mature--for toy breeds, that may be as early as 6 months old, while in giant breeds, it can take up to 24 months.
Once your dog reaches adulthood, the nutritional priority shifts from growing to maintaining body condition. By the time your dog is fully grown, their skeletal system is more or less set. But if you give them too much nutrients, the body frame they already have will be carrying a lot more than expected. The structure that pays the price are your dog’s joints.
The easiest way to ensure that your dog is given a balanced diet is to provide commercial dog food from a reputable brand. If you prefer more control over your dog’s food, you can opt to prepare a homemade meal, but be sure to consult a veterinarian to ensure that it’s balanced and complete relative to canine nutritional requirements.
Giving chondroprotective supplements such as glucosamine, polysulfated glycosaminoglycan, and chondroitin sulfate can help minimize further joint degeneration, but it cannot reverse damage that has already been done.
Practice weight management in dogs of all ages
The hard truth that we must swallow is that obesity is hardly ever the dog’s fault--it’s ours. When owners (or someone in the household) can’t resist those puppy dog eyes, accidentally leaves food where dogs can reach it, or fails to secure garbage against doggy raids, canine obesity can follow.
If you don’t want your dog’s joints to degenerate under all that weight, make sure to watch what they eat. You can ask your veterinarian about how to compute energy requirements for your particular dog, taking into account their size, age, health condition, activity level, and the type of food you want to give them. Then you’ll get the amount of dog food you can give them per day. If you need treats for training or for playtime, you can ask your vet to allocate a certain portion of the energy requirement for treats. This way, you can then spoil your dog responsibly. Preventing obesity is easy on paper, but maintaining consistency (and getting your entire household on board with it!) can be difficult. But when you think about the pain, discomfort, and increased risk of disease that you’re saving your dog from, it becomes that much easier.
Keep an eye out for signs of chronic pain
Symptoms of acute joint injury are pretty easy to see. The problem lies in identifying the signs of chronic conditions. Exercise intolerance, difficulty moving to an upright position, hesitancy to go up the stairs, lameness that comes and goes, a stiffness in movement, subtle weight shifts, and decrease in muscle mass in a certain part of the body could all be signs of mobility issues.
These may be present at different levels of severity. That’s why it is important for fur parents to be attentive to their furry buddy’s habits, preferences, and personality. When you know what is normal behavior for your dog, then you’ll be able to spot when something is different. If you notice these subtle changes, be sure to mention it to your vet during the next visit for a proper diagnosis.
Adjust physical activities
When planning out your dog’s workout routine, keep in mind their age and health condition. Young puppies’ bones are still developing, but their energy is sky-high. This sets the stage for fractures and luxations if exercise is not controlled. On the other hand, senior dogs with osteoarthritis have thinned joint cartilages that make movement painful.
In general, multiple short exercise sessions is better than a single long one. Your dog and their joints have time to rest and recuperate after the impact. Start with a slow pace, and gradually scale up over time. Always keep an eye out for signs of overexertion and adjust accordingly.
If your dog is at its prime, you can do some high-impact exercises every so often (if their condition is up for it and always with supervision!). But for young puppies, a walk around the block or zoomies in the yard should be good enough. For arthritic patients, choose low-impact physical activities like slow, short walks, swimming, and underwater treadmills.
For older dogs, any physical activity can be taxing. This involves not just exercise, but going around the house. Make it easy on their creaky joints by putting their sleeping area, food, and water bowls, and toys on the first floor to lessen stair climbing. If you’re feeling extra, you can even add ramps to help them reach higher areas. Non-slip mats are another great addition to the home of a geriatric dog, as it decreases the chance of injury on slippery floors.
More on this topic: How much exercise does my dog need?
Resources
Stahlmann, R., Kühner, S., Shakibaei, M., Flores, J., Vormann, J., & van Sickle, D. C. (2000). Effects of magnesium deficiency on joint cartilage in immature beagle dogs: immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and mineral concentrations. Archives of toxicology, 73(10-11), 573–580. Effects of magnesium deficiency on joint cartilage
Bland, I & Guthrie-Jones, A & Taylor, R & Hill, Julian. (2010). Dog obesity: Veterinary practices' and owners' opinions on cause and management. Preventive veterinary medicine. 94. 310-5. 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2010.01.013.
Loftus, J. P., & Wakshlag, J. J. (2014). Canine and feline obesity: a review of pathophysiology, epidemiology, and clinical management. Veterinary medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 6, 49–60. Canine and feline obesity: a review of pathophysiology, epidemiology, and clinical management
Bhathal, A., Spryszak, M., Louizos, C., & Frankel, G. (2017). Glucosamine and chondroitin use in canines for osteoarthritis: A review. Open veterinary journal, 7(1), 36–49. https://doi.org/10.4314/ovj.v7i1.6
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