Our GR has been diagnosed with mild hip dysplasia which is causing her some stiffness.  The vet has said she needs to lose about 2kg in weight and has given her some metacam, he also wants to change her diet to Hill JD, so I thought I'd ask on here for opinions on this, anyone used it? is it any good?

As the HD is only mild he wants to use the metacam to make her a little more comfortable in the short term and use weight control and Hills JD to control it in the future

I'm sure your GR would lose weight by cutting down her normal food, without going on Hills, not a Hills fan!
The Metacam will help her pain also, maybe think about getting a magnectic collar to help when she is a bit stiff.

The Hills was more for the HD than the weight loss, the vet likes it because apparently it has similar affects to the metacam over a long period but using natural additives.

> the vet likes it

Maybe because he's on commission to sell it!!! Sorry for being sceptical but I've heard so many reports & experienced vets pushing Hills & from the research I've read & other people's opinions on here it's no better or worse than any other food!!

My dog has HD also & I found that a good healthy balanced diet, treats in moderation & plenty of sensible exercise e.g swimming has got & kept the weight off! Try some supplements also, glucosamine appears to work.

JD is one of the medically-formulated diets for a specific condition, and has been shown to reduce the need for medication - and I got that information from vets who acknowledge that Hill's isn't the best food for every dog (but better than many)!

To be fair to the vet he did say to order the small bag to make sure Honey got on with it, he didn't say this was the greatest thing ever and would cure everything it's something that they have used which seems to help many dogs.  The amount he charges to order the food is not significantly higher than a couple of websites that sell it.

I've used it for my Rottie - didn't see any difference to feeding her a good quality food with additional supplements (Glucosamine, cod liver oil etc). The only concession I have made is that I now give them veterinary quality Glucosamine rather than the Holland and Barrett own brand.

> I now give them veterinary quality Glucosamine rather than the Holland and Barrett own brand.

I think the veterinary Glucosamine is normally Glucosamine HCL, the most common non-vet glucosamine is Glucosamine sulphate. The GlucHCL is more effective then the Gluc Sulphate, also the vets gluc generally has a higher dosage of gluc per dose, this is why the vets stuff is generally more effective.
I use Synflex (liquid glucosamine), a combination of Gluc HCL & Gluc sulphate @ 1250mg (not from the vets), it also contains chondritin etc.. I have found it to be great for my dogs ED. I swear by this stuff now :) It's a bit dearer than the little tubs of tablet suppliments you can get on-line, but still for Buster, 1 bottle will last 1 month (it's dosed on body-weight) and at about £13 per bottle I think it's a great buy :)

I have and 8 year old girl who is spayed and gets stiff , as a rule i dont rate hills but i tried the reduced cal j-d and it has proved to me that this particular diet does work  , her movement has improved and lost all the weight she gained , if your vet sells hills  see if he can get a 12kg sample for you as hills do send them out , thats how i tried it , they do the normal j-d and reduced calorie
it only has one down side ,  creates more poo !!  more pick ups but a good resuly other than that.

I have a bitch who has had both cruciates repaired and now has arthritis in both knees. We were struggling to keep her weight down due to restricted movement and consequnetly she was needing metacalm continually. No amount of good quality supplements where helping I decided to try the Hills JD light as recommend by my vet. My bitch is now an ideal weight is more mobile and has very little need for pain relief. I no longer feed her the JD as once we had achieved a good weight loss I could move her back to my prefered food AG senior and with her increased mobility she has remained fit and active. So it could just be a useful step to losing that initial weight.
As an aside I was told Hills would give a full refund on the JD if my bitch didnt like it. I only got the first bag from my vet found that the price even with postage was better from Here

We have had a fair few clients try it at work and say it really does help their joints.

My lass is on Hill's JD.  For her, it has been the best food she has ever been on!  Sheb's has an intolerance to red meat and appears to do better on lower grade type feeds; grainy food for example.  Solid stools, terrific glossy coat and I can't really fault it - for her.  However, it is very adapt at putting weight on very quickly with just an increase of a very small amount which I found out when I first increased her feed for the winter and had to cut back on it.  She has HD and we managed it with hydro, then bringing in JD and Synoquin although this year, she's started on Rimadyl. Gets stiff in the cold weather but I'm hoping to reduce the Rimadyl, condition permitting when the warm weather comes in.  All in all, she does very well on it.

You don't have to buy Hill's foods from the vets. Not even the Prescription Diet ones. check out the online suppliers like animalmedic or vet-medic, there are loads of them and all selling Hills much, much cheaper than buying from the vet.
My vet is very good. she doesn't mind me at all buying my Hills foods and any other supplements, that she would normal supply, online. If she can she will also price match for me :o)

Hi Spender.
How ya doing??
Anne

HI, my dog also just been diagnosed with ED, vet recommended hill's but on close read the ingredients seems pretty bad, loads of derivatives rather then fresh ones; I am considering keeping him on orijen and switch to adult; orijen also contains glucosamine and chondroitin and also had real salmon and fish oils and thats on any food they do... they turn up to cost roughly the same.