Just wondering what experience people have of giving these supplements to their puppies and any benefit that was gained. We have a 3 month old large breed who developed a limp just over 1 week ago. It started suddenly and after taking her to the vet's they seemed to think it was coming from her left hip. She was put on an anti-inflammatory and is due back at the vet's later this week. Of course it is early days but my natural worry is about hip dysplasia, and neither of her parents were hip scored as far as I'm aware (although both v healthy). It could just be a minor strain at this point, as she has a bad habit of jumping up which we are discouraging. Would anyone recommend giving a glucosamine supplement? And has anyone had good experiences with it?

Many thanks.

My Daxi and GSD.are on glaucosamine /chondrotin .The daxi since her back op,and the GSD,basicaly a young dog a year old,we took her to the vet ,she was limping,all the alarm bells start ringing .the vet said she had quite clicky joints .We were given anti inflams, and the vet advised us to put both dogs on Seraquin.Wether they work or not I dont Know,Tilly the Daxi is 6months post op and seems fine.GSD is a mad as ever,limp cleared up quickly.My vet did explain that feeding really good quality food as pups is most important and not to over excercise while they are young.We didnt get theGSD until she was 5months old and she hadn't been fed good quality food .Somebody will probably come on here that has used these suppliments for longer than me and hopefuly be able to answer your question. Good luck.

My second oldest dog (12 ½) is alive only due to Glucosamine with Chondroitin. He has a hip score of 96 so severe HD -but did not show any symptoms until aged 6. He was on Rimadyl from the vet but that eventually stopped working and he wasn't able to get up from laying down, his hindlegs just would not work. Been on the G&C for years now and can go for walks etc, doing fine. Bear in mind if you do use it it takes at least 4-6 weeks before you see any effect.

Got to ask, why did you get a pup from parents that weren't hip scored? As my boy proves dogs can have even severe HD without showing symptoms for years, so scoring breeding dogs really is a must. Have you spoken to the breeder about what's going on now? Could it be a case of your pup growing too fast rather than HD?

it takes at least 4-6 weeks before you see any effect.

Thanks MarrianneB for that as I have just started my 17 year old girl on G&C after reading about them on CD.I thought I was losing her last month when I got up one morning  and found her flat out.She could not stand up and I thought her back legs had gone but vet examined her and said she had arthiritis so put her on Rimadyl.She is back to normal now so I hope the G&C will work for her.

Thanks everyone.

We got the pup from a first-time breeder who admitted the litter was unplanned but they had tried to do everything by the book after they found out their dog was expecting. We went for the puppy basically because she's quite a rare breed and litters are difficult to find (she's a Bouvier). The pedigree looked reasonable without too much in-breeding and both parents are healthy, but yes, if we were buying again in the future I guess we would wait until there was an experienced breeder with hip-scored parents.