My boy is now 7 and I'm beginning to see a change in him and how long it takes him to get up after a nap or sleep etc.

He is on a higher dose of yumove, has sardines in oil, coconut/rape/fish oil in his meals etc but is there anything I can be doing for him? I have now started to add turmeric to bone broth and trying to keep him lean.

Should I look into hydrotherapy? Any other suggestions?

The turmeric works better if you make golden paste make sure its a recipe with black pepper in it as that helps the beneficial ingredient (can remember whats its called) easier to be absorbed by the body whether dog or human. I use coconut oil as well I know some recipes use olive or sunflower.

So to make golden paste, mix tumeric with crushed black pepper and coconut oil?

Recipe from Dogs Naturally website:

How To Make Golden Paste

Australian veterinarian Dr Doug English has seen great results with a turmeric recipe he developed called Golden Paste. Here is his recipe:

½ cup organic turmeric powder (Make sure it’s organic turmeric powder to be sure it contains lots of curcumin)

1  to 1 ½ cups filtered water

1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (Grind organic black peppercorns in a coffee grinder or magic bullet)

¼ cup organic cold pressed virgin olive or coconut oil (Coconut oil is a great choice because it also has great health benefits)

Mix the turmeric with the water in a pan, starting with 1 cup water and adding more only if needed. Stir the liquid on medium/low heat and in about 7 to 10 minutes, it should form a thick paste. If your paste looks watery, just add a bit more turmeric and heat it for another couple of minutes.

Once you’ve got a paste, add the pepper and oil, then stir it very well.

Allow the mixture to cool, then place it in a jar with a lid and store it in your fridge. Ideally, you should store the paste for no more than two weeks … after that, you’ll want to make a fresh batch.

Thank you tectona. Will make this tonight.

Flexsprinkle Green Lipped Mussell powder really helps my sister's cocker spaniel who is 14 and has arthritis - and it was also good for him when he was recovering from a cruciate ligament surgery 2 years ago.

Cosequin DS tablets helped with our Bernese when he was recovering from triple-pelvic osteotomy surgery for hips dysplasia when he was 7 months.

Golden paste is awesome stuff.  I really need to get off my backside and get a new batch made up, for me as well as the dogs!

Does flexisprinkle do the same as yumove as that contains green lipped muscles too?

Also, how much golden paste per day for a 40kg dog? Think I'll give it to all of them as a tonic and not just my boy. Thanks

I think they are pretty much the same - a few ingredients different but not much in it from what I can see on the ingredients - but I don't know how they compare to each other as we have only used the flexsprinkle on our dogs as it was recommended by the both the vet and the hydrotherapy team we knew at the time.... and our dogs like the taste (though it smells like what it is - i.e fish - it stinks).There seems to be quite a flood of new supplements for joints these days Collaplex is another one I have heard of. Though Green Lipped Mussel products in my view work pretty quick - and pretty well as they contain/act like a natural anti-inflammatory which can combine with any meds your dog is on quite safely - plus we had no upset tummies which our cocker suffered with frequently when taking other supplements or vet prescribed anti-inflammatories.

Before you give any supplements, I'd find out what's causing him to find getting up after a nap difficult, and ten to one this is arthritis.   Arthritis, obviously, cannot be cured, but it can be helped during the times he has a flare up - eg cool damp weather.   He should be better when itls dry and warm if my arthritis is anything to go by!

Most good dog food contains the kind of supplement that might help your dog and before you give more, which can sometimes do more harm than good, I do urge you to have him checked to find out exactly whats going on.

Hydrotherapy would be kind on arthritic joints, providing exercise without putting strain on these joints.   And adjusting how much exercise he has when he's bad, should help too much as with arthritis, it does help to keep up moderate exercise.   And for sure, keeping his weight down should be vital.

Is it common for your breed to have problems at such a young age as 7? I'm asking because if it was my breed, then I'd know something was definitely not right, and my first step would be a vet's appointment.

Although it is common for my breed to have joint issues, he is young to have arthritis.  When he was 6 months old, he was attacked by a collie whilst in a lead. The dog grabbed his neck and tried to pull him over, twisting his right front shoulder. All the while, I was kicking the bloody thing to get it off. He sometimes has recurring stiffness there and as he leans on that leg to pee and get up, its added strain. He is fed a raw diet so I need to supplement in order to create balance. He is fed raw chicken feet, beef traceas and yumove to help with this.

Although more prevalent last winter, he does choose to sleep in concrete or laminate, so I think his bones get chilled, which doesn't help at all.

When he was 6 months old, he was attacked by a collie whilst in a lead. The dog grabbed his neck and tried to pull him over, twisting his right front shoulder. All the while, I was kicking the bloody thing to get it off. He sometimes has recurring stiffness there and as he leans on that leg to pee and get up, its added strain.

I see -yes then I understand.

Has he seen a chiropractor?  An incident like that can have a massive effect on the alignment of the whole body, not just the injured part as the dog goes on to compensate for any pain by changing gait, favouring that limb and so on.  Getting straightened up by a decent chiro (McTimoney preferably, very gentle approach but very effective) can make a HUGE difference for the better, even this far down the line.

My first rescue came to me at 5yrs old with issues that I eventually worked out were partly down to pain - chiro found she had a tilted and twisted pelvis and several misalignments along her spine.  Just after the first treatment she was moving much better and it's really helped my other wonky dogs too - Even old Remy, years after he whacked his shoulder and got long term biceps tendonitis from the injury.  She couldn't cure the problem, of course, but straightening him up from his compensations really helped.

If the dog isn't constructed correctly (bad hips, elbows etc.) then 7 isn't too young for arthritis to set in.   I had one, our first Basset, who developed arthritis long before he was 7.   He was sometimes better than others, but he was still stiff on rising, on occasions.   And yes, it was arthritis.

Acupuncture might be worth considering.  And I go for this before I started using supplements to be honest.

My ist GSD ( some 20 yrs ago) started about 4 yr old to do what I called a 'banana' retrieve. He would go out with a curved run to the left and come back curving to the right. we eventually heard about this thing called chiropractic - took him to see a Mctimony guy and found the root of his tail was 'out' so in effect he had a rudder that was set wrong - fixed and got nice straight retrieves

Also my 2nd was always a bit head shy so got him checked and where his skull sat on the spine was out (probably from doing lunatic play with rest of the litter) - he had a permanent head ache - so avoided anyone trying to touch his head.
Poor love, a skull-ache for about 18 months

If you are considering a supplement (glucosamine, chondroitin), make sure you thoroughly the check the quantities in different brands because they differ massively.

My dogs were on Yumove for a while, but then someone suggested Riaflex and I checked that out and it's a much better product with a higher quantity of both - so do compare the amounts and read the small print..

Thank you all for your advice. I have contacted the hydro pool therapy people and also looked into seeing a chiropractor.  The golden paste is working already. His hips are 6/6 and elbows 0 so don't think he's poorly constructed just heavy boned. Have just spotted his first white whisker...he's starting to look distinguished. I think I just mother him more than the girls because he's my shadow so can't even bare to think of anything happening to him.

Both My14 year olds benefited from the Youmove advance and acupuncture to keep them comfitable in their old age

Glucosamine tabs will help lubricate the joints, I use *3 Tesco, 393mg per day fed with eve meal (fed seperate before meal) - my vet approved them long ago, in around 2 to 3 weeks you will probably see improvment on movement as it lubricates the joints - any of the supermarket glucosamine tabs are fine, whichever is nearer.

*I started her on 1 tab per day at 4 or 5 years, she's now 9 weeks short of 13 years.
.

My holistic vet recommended the advance Youmove as it got extra natural anti inflammatory benefits and he can't tolerate the normal,metacam or rimadell, but he can take tramadol for when he overdoes the puppy playing sessions, also another natural tablet he takes is bosweila another anti inflam.he was giving pupp a lesson in indoor frisbee again last nite, so he ll be a bit sore if he didn't have any help with his pain,