Is there enough Glucosomine & Condroitin in Zukes - Peanut Butter Hip Action Treats to be beneficial or do you think additional supplments would be needed?

I have given these to my dogs in the past, but as Shasta just turned 5 last month I'd like to look at putting her on something to do as much preventative maintenance on hip problems as possible. (In addition to watching her weight, etc.)

Thanks!

I'd love to hear an answer to this, as well. I just picked up the PB power treats that Zuke's makes & she loves them. If the Hip treats would be a good supplemental treat, I'd switch to that.

My foster has major problems with both knees (microtears in the tendons and ligaments caused when he was thrown out of a moving car) but is not a candidate for surgery at this time. We've been treating him symptomatically and focusing on controlling the pain and inflammation. He'll be starting his second round of Adequan injections this week to lubricate the joints, and we use Metacam to manage his pain.

Our vet also recommended Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements in his diet. His recommended daily amount was 1500mg of Glucosamine and 1200mg of Chondroitin. His opinion is that any lesser amount is pretty ineffective and ultimately a waste of time. I've yet to find a food or treat that comes anywhere close to that amount, so we just give him human-grade tablets I buy for cheap ($20 for 120 tablets, which lasts four months at tablet pill per day) at Wal-Mart.

I've never heard of Zukes, but when I looked it up, each treat contains 300mg of Glucosamine and 50mg of Chondroitin... meaning that we'd have to give him 5 treats per day to get enough Glucosamine and 24 treats per day to get enough Chondroitin into him. A 1lb bag of Zukes contains about 60 treats and costs about $16... not worth it in my opinion, at least not for my foster dog based on our vet's recommendation.

Is that your vet's recommendation in general for all dogs or is it perhaps a little higher because if his existing issues?

I'm not sure if that's the recommended amount for ALL dogs or just for my foster because of his injuries, but I'm heading to the vet's office today to pick up the Adequan, so I'll ask!

Thank you :)

Breeders Choice Active Care treats have more G and C than Zukes. I started giving those to my girl and she seems to like them. I chose the chews -fewere ingrediants. The analysis says 1100 mg C and 200 mg of G per chew.

http://www.breeders-choice.com/assets/002/5694.jpg

I've never used them, but for what its worth, a guy I work with started giving them to his dog and he stopped limping and seems to be in less pain he said. Now mind you he has a rat terrier mix, so his dog is much smaller but they did work for his dog. He gives his dog one a day and its solved his problems.

On a side note, AFFCO has decided that G&C supplements in food have not been shown to be beneficial so they are requiring food companies to remove all the supplemental G&C, therefore the levels will be going down on your food. AFFCO is allowing naturally occurring G&C levels to be stated on the bag though, so dont be surprised if you see a formula change and/or lower levels of G&C in your dogs food.