What is the best dog food for a 7 year old half pit/half dalmation who is showing signs of arthritis? Any idea?

2 Responses to “What is the best dog food for a 7 year old half pit/half dalmation who is showing signs of arthritis? Any idea?”

1. Comment by Susan

   a low energy one, we changed our dogs food from wet to dry, it seems to help he doesn’t want to bounce around anymore and he’s 11 he’s acting his age now.

   try a Senior one we get bakers complete senior. hope this helps

2. Comment by Fed up!

   First and foremost, make sure the food is GRAIN FREE, ie. no corn, wheat or soy, no byproducts or artificial preservatives or colors as all these things will exacerbate arthritis.

   If you’re feeding anything that contains corn, wheat, soy, byproducts, or artificial preservatives or colors, BHA, BHT, get rid of it! In short, if you buy your dog food at the grocery store or WalMart, it’s ABSOLUTE CRAP and WILL eventually make your dogs sick with allergies, kidney or liver failure, or cancer. It’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN! Grain free dog foods are more readily available at livestock feed stores. You may pay more up front than the cheap crap, but your dogs coats will improve, their stools will be smaller and cleaner, they will be healthier and they will eat less because grain free foods are more digestable, thereby providing your dogs with substantially more nutrients and higher quality proteins. Dogs CAN NOT digest CORN! Wheat and soy cause all kinds of allergies ie. paw licking, poor coat, itching a lot, dry scaly nose, lethargy, labored breathing, etc.

   There’s a reason that there’s been 11 pet food recalls in the last 12 years. Commercial brands like Iams, Pedigree, Science Diet (ahhh), Eukanuba, everything Purina makes, Beneful, Ol’ Roy, Nutro, Maxx, and the list goes on, are killing our pets and/or making them very sick. Think about it, there has NEVER been a wolf shot for raiding a farmers CORN, WHEAT OR SOY CROP!! NEVER EVER!!!!

   Some of the better brands are:

   Wellness CORE
   EVO
   Orijen (expensive, but superior, has 70% total real meat)
   Earthborn Holistic Grain Free (more affordable)
   Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul (more affordable)
   Merrick Before Grain
   Blue Wilderness (don’t like how much rice they use)
   Petcurean GO! (80% total real meat)
   Fromms Surf & Turf (a tad high in ash)
   Natures Variety Instinct “Duck & Turkey Meal” (not crazy w/Brewers yeast)
   Taste of the Wild High Plains (they don’t guarantee their “fish meal” supplier doesn’t use Ethoxyquin, a carcinogen)

   Here’s a site where you can compare the ingredients in your dogs food and how it rates and why. Then compare the 4, 5, & 6 star rated foods and the difference will shock you!
   http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

   You can go to a livestock feed store and get some MSM (99.9% pure) for about 15.00 per lb. Add a scoop to her dog food every day and you should notice a difference within 3 to 5 days. Most dogs like it but if she doesn’t, you can get empty capsules at a health food store and fill them with the MSM and stick them into cheese or meat or gently poke them down her throat. She’s a fairly good sized dog so you want to make sure that she gets about 1/2 tablespoon daily or 2 teaspoons daily. If you don’t see improvement in her mobility by day 3, increase the dosage about 1/4 tsp. until you see the positive changes.

   The way to tell if the dog or a person is getting enough MSM is that it’s pretty powerful in cleaning out the colon. That’s a very good thing but you just don’t want to do it too fast. Too much too soon can cause diarrhea. But that’s just a marker. All you would do in that case is decrease the dosage by 1/4 tsp. per day until the bowel movements have a good consistency. So be watchful when your dog goes potty and when you get the dosage right, your dog will have the best poops and the cleanest colon you’ve ever seen.

   See, the beautiful thing about these NATURALLY occuring sulfates is that they actually preserve and restore healthy cartilage. That can NOT be said for the prescription NSAIDS and COX 2 inhibitors like Celebrex and other super expensive DRUGS that actually deteriorate and eventually, completely destroy cartilage, leaving the arthritic patient with excrutiating bone on bone. Therein lies the prescription trap, you CAN’T quit taking those drugs because you could not survive the pain of bone on bone.

   I’ll include some links to articles that should help you learn more about MSM. Please understand that I’m not endorsing any particular brand other than whatever MSM you buy, make sure that it’s 99.9% pure MSM. The articles below are for informational purposes. The link to horse.com is if you don’t know where else to buy it and their prices are great, even better than MY local feed stores. You just give this stuff a try because in just a few days, your pup is going to THANK YOU from the bottom of her heart! Good luck and God bless.

   http://www.nutriteam.com/msm.htm

   Don’t worry that this product says horse care on it. MSM is widely used in the horse industry and that’s why you get the best prices at livestock feed stores. Every person I’ve recommended MSM to goes to the ‘feed store’ to get it. You can go to a health food store to buy it and pay a grundle more, but all they’ve done is change the label. Trust me, your dog will not care what’s on the label. You can get this 2.5 lb. bucket for just $10.95.
   http://www.horse.com/99.9-MSM-Pure-Powder-BWA56.html