Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Read the original blog post
Add Topic
Offline
Hmmm. If my food always tasted like chocolate I don't think I'd mind too much lol! 😉
@jerry - Mmmmmm. Choclaaate. 
Btw - just got back from a session learning new exercises for June from our Certified Canine Rehab Therapist (CCRT), and I asked her about her thoughts on supplements, mainly because I knew she’s also a Certified Canine Fitness Therapist (CCFT) and has a lot of clients in dog sports (agility, flyball, dock diving, etc.) as well as working dogs (like the security sniffers at the nearby international airport).
I asked her about her views on joint supplements for dogs as a preventative measure. She said she was a big believer in supplements and that pretty much all canine athletes are on joint and muscle supplements for support/prevention. She said a joint supplement for tripawd support/prevention is a great thing to do.
She said there are a lot of good products out there but that she ultimately wants one that 1) does the job, and 2) doesn’t cause stomach upset for the particular dog. Her two favorites were:
Canine Connectin (this is the one her own competitive sports dogs are on):
And Yumove, which you already featured above:
Natalie & Juno (aka June)
Oooh thank you for asking her, she sounds like a fantastic therapist. I really appreciate her perspective, and the recommendations. Still trying to decide what Nellie should be on other than fish oil, it can be so overwhelming.
June needs to show us her workout! 😉
Still trying to decide what Nellie should be on other than fish oil, it can be so overwhelming.
I feel this. My dogs are both getting fish oil and glycoflex stage 2. Is it the best choice? No clue. I appreciate the options provided here, though. It can't hurt to do some reading and maybe make a change when my current bottle runs out.
@jerry, mischief - I know - it’s such a puzzle and I still haven’t decided either!
I did ask one more person - the woman who boards Juno and was part of the help and support that moved us toward the diagnosis of her osteo. She and her family have bred, shown, and competed in dog sports with cocker spaniels all their lives (admittedly not a large breed). And she currently has a tripawd herself (limb deformity at birth). I asked for her thoughts about supplements and she said she quizzed a lot of vet friends and most recommended this Dasuquin, which she now gives her canine nosework tripawd (it's a variation of the one Sally recommended above):
* there are versions for large breeds and cats as well
PS - I posted June’s workout here!
Natalie & Juno (aka June)
My vet had mentioned dasuquen when I first adopted Loki, but wanted her to finish growing before we put her on it. Something else to ask about at her appointment in a few weeks...
I am hoping to get in to a couple of nosework trials down your way in November... I would be very excited to run into someone else with a tripawd! I've only met one in my years of trialing...
I appreciate this info too! I'm considering changing Elly's supplements and the new hooligan Callie does not tolerate fish oil. Moving away from fish oil is attractive since it is hard to keep it fresh with just one small dog taking it.
I've had Elly on a type of Dasaquin for years (she is almost 9) as well as fish oil and the muscle supplement Myos recommended by her Rehab Vet after her hip injury last year. I did tell the rehab vet what supplements she was taking and she was happy with them at the time. We are due for a check up with her next month- I'll try to remember to ask her preferences.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls and Boy
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
@mischief - if you do run into her, she’s one of those folks worth knowing, just an all-around awesome human being.
Karen - Totally curious what your rehab specialist says. It’s really interesting to see what everyone uses and recommends, and you get a broad sense of the descent options. Cool about the Myos - I’ve heard of it but don’t know anything about it.
---
So I did finally take the plunge and pick out a supplement for June. In the end I passed on Dasuquin because as trusted, effective, and well tolerated as it seems to be for most dogs, the two main side effects people seemed to note in the reviews were GI troubles and nervous agitation - both of which June already has enough of on her own, so it didn’t seem worth the risk.
I would have loved to go with Canine Connectin as the business is woman owned and developed by a researcher who worked on related issues in humans before turning to full time work making products for dogs (more comparative medicine at work! …and they appear to have a tripawd in their ad!) It seems to really work for so many dogs, but it has a ton of additional herbal ingredients (most quite natural, admittedly) and I’ve learned over the years that complexity (even as natural as this is) is not often Juno’s GI's friend. 🤢
What I did end up going with is Purina’s new Joint Care supplement that just came out in June 2023. It has the sweet spot of all the ingredients I was hoping for: Glucosamine, Chondroitin, Hyaluronic Acid, and Omega-3s from fish oil. It’s essentially a slimmed down version of Canine Connectin with fish oil. Bonus is that over the years we’ve inadvertently gravitated to a range of Purina products for Juno because they work for her and don’t upset her GI. Check and check!
Maybe one day after June’s treatment is done 🤞I’ll try the trial pack of Canine Connectin…but for now (and this does come in a version for large breeds):
Natalie & Juno (aka June)
So I did finally take the plunge and pick out a supplement for June. In the end I passed on Dasuquin because as trusted, effective, and well tolerated as it seems to be for most dogs, the two main side effects people seemed to note in the reviews were GI troubles and nervous agitation - both of which June already has enough of on her own, so it didn’t seem worth the risk.
This is really good info to have. Loki doesn't need more of those, either! She's doing fine on Glycoflex stage 2.
I think that the Purina product looks promising but there is not very much fish oil in there so you may still need to supplement; the large dog chews only have 60 mg of omega 3s per chew but for joint support a dog needs at least 180 mg per 10#.
Pam
Dr. Pam - Ah! Thanks for weighing in - that’s good to know!
Natalie & Juno (aka June)
Thanks for the feedback Dr. Pam! I'm curious if you know about this one:
Here is a product we are thinking of putting Nellie on, Jope.
We had a long conversation with the vet who created it. What got us interested in Jope was that it's based on UC-II, undenatured collagen, and our Wyatt Ray was on it. This was something recommended by his ortho vet / rehab therapist at Colorado State. Having had a positive experience with UC-II, and fairly confident it helped Wyatt during his last years, I think that Jope looks promising. The company is gearing up to get certified by the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC), which speaks volumes about their commitment to creating a great product that actually works. I'll keep you posted.
Super interesting product, @jerry. I just found this graphic on their site which is intriguing:
Natalie & Juno (aka June)
I will have to search more when I have time but I did not see the specific amounts of the ingredients on their website. UC-II is the only product in the Flexadin Advanced which is one of the things I give my dogs and I just do the fish oil separately as the Welactin concentrated liquid then I give the Dasaquin Advanced that has the glucosamine combo with turmeric and other holistics. One of my dogs also gets Adequan monthly and I am waiting for Librela but we won't get that until November. I have used Yu Move in the past for the green-lipped mussels but my dogs all hated the taste so I am looking into various products that only contain green-lipped mussels but so far my dogs are doing well so I may save that for later as well as the Myos product.
Pam
tazziedog said
I will have to search more when I have time but I did not see the specific amounts of the ingredients on their website.
Here's a datasheet that does list it:
https://downloa.....y-2023.pdf
2 Guest(s)
