German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[Dave1967]

Is anyone using Vitamin C as a food supplement for the purpose of preventing or curing Hip Dysplasia? The web site listed below has an article by Larry Mueller, credited as a reprint from "Outdoor Life", that has some good information on the cause and prevention of Hip Dysplasia.

http://www.truehaus.com/truehaus/
The bottom of the page provides some "click here options". Please check out the VITAMIN C option, and follow with the click option at the end of the article.

I am curious about using Vitamin C as a daily food supplement to prevent Hip Dysplasia and would like to read some more current findings on the subject and have a better understanding of the daily maintenance dosage with any possible side affects that I should look for.

[cheerio]

Yes I do. All my pups get Vitamin C up until 6 months of age. Whether it helps or not I don't know, but I can tell you that I have never produced a dysplastic dog as of yet. Mind you, I never breed unless the parents are rates excellent, and I still produced a male rated good. So perhaps the vitamin has nothing to do with it...

[Illona]

My GWP girl - just under 2 yrs of age - is a rescue, so I don't know her lineage. We got her at approx. 7 mos, and whenever she was running for too long or exercising too hard, she'd end up with some stiffness and crepitance. Very disconcerting for a young girl.

For the past 5 mos I've been feeding her raw and Vit. C is one of her supplements, but even when she was on kibble, I gave her Vit. C regularly. It has made absolutely no difference in this capacity. I had a holistic-vet tell me that she has a weakness in her right hip, so I'm not sure if this is the early signs of dyplasia or not.

She never runs (or even walks, for that matter) on pavement, and the odd time that she has torn around a patch of concrete, the crepitance is even more pronounced the next day.

FWIW
Illona

[cheerio]

I do not believe in any case that vitamin C could cure a dysplasia, since it is a malformation of the hips. In another hand, a weakness in the hip does not mean much and could come from just about anything such as an old injury. Why not have her x-rayed to know exactly what's going on. A good vet now will do the hips x-ray without any sedation and some will even allow you to be there and help. Remember, if your dog is dysplastic, you need to know so that you can avoid certain exercises. Beside, there are now some very successful surgery to relieve the dog from a bad dysplasia.

[Illona]

Thanks for the suggestion, Cheerio. If I requested an x-ray, I know my alopathic vet would let me be there, and not sedate. He didn't sedate Matea when she took a dozen stitches in her front pad, and I held her through the ordeal - not a pretty sight!

Next time I have an appt., I'll suggest we do some X-rays. It's a little disconcerting when it's in such a young dog. She only shows stiffness when she's put herself through some hard running, abut still, she's not even two!

Thanks.
Illona

[Dave1967]

Thanks for your responses. Cheerio can you tell me what dosage you use during the first six months and why you cut it off then. And Illona what dosage are you using as maintenance. I am also curious whether anyone has an opinion about the OTC drugs that contain Ester C and Glucosamine. My vet has a patient, a Lab, that was identified with hip and elbow problems. After concurrence with another area vet the dog was sent to OU for evaluation and surgery. The team at OU felt that both the hips and elbows required surgery, but the owner elected to try Ester C before surgery. The result have been great. The X-ray continues to show the deterioration of the joints, but the dog has returned to normal activity. The dog (approximately 100 pounds) is receiving 1000mg of Ester C and 500 Mg of Glucosamine twice a day as a repair/maintenance drug.

[Anne]

Hi Dave:
Vitamin C is water soluble which means any extra will wash right through them so you can't really overdose them with it.

Too much vitamin C will produce a loose stool however. One way to tell the right dosage for your pet is the "bowel tolerance test." Start with a small amount and feed a little more until you get a loose stool. Then take it back to whatever it was the day before and that is the right amount for your dog.

I'm pretty skeptical of any information I get on nutrition (human or canine) because it is very tough to isolate the causes of health issues or the effects of vitamins and nutrients. I can tell you however, at 15 months Riley had perfect hips. Won't know for sure until he's 24 months but the early returns are positive. If nothing else nutritionist agree the vitamin C won't hurt them so why not?

Anne
_________________
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[cheerio]

The dosage usually used for a dog of the size of a GWP is 250 mg to 500mg in the case of a heavy pup for the purpose of aiding the absorbsion of calcium. Perhaps you can start by that and follow as directed by Ann.
I do stop the vitamin C at 6 months for different reasons:
1- Up until 6 months, puppy utilise a great amount of calcium. By 6 month, he has finished teething, the cartilage of his ears is now well formed and much of his fast growth is over. He therefore no longer need calcium support, unless he suffers from a specific health condition.
2- At 6 months, puppy continue forming its joints and growing in size, but at a much slower rate. Studies have shown that dog fed less protein from 6 months of age, thus allowing the body to grow slower, suffers less structural problems, among which dysplaysia, hips and elbows. This is why it is a good idea to switch puppy to adult food once he reaches 6 month. increasing the body utilisation of calcium through vitamin C would not allow this process.
3- I believe a maintenance dose of anything in a healthy body can lead to habituation with the possible result that the body creates a need for a supplement which, in order to be effective may need to be increased over the years
4- I do not believe in "treating" a normal healthy dog when not necessary.

[Illona]

[cheerio]

I agree with your vet in that yucca (aka tapioca) has been found to be very beneficial to joints.