Preventing joint disease in your dog
Health is a choice; it depends on all the little choices we make daily. Diet, nutrition, activity level, breeding or genetics and emotional state all play significant roles in your dog’s health. Every choice you make effects these influences in small or big ways. No matter how small these influences may be they can add up in multiples to a significant positive or negative result.
The control you have over your companion pet’s health starts from the time you decide on a breed that suits your lifestyle to the food and live nutritional supplements fed daily. A breed that does not fit into your life simply makes for a dog with underlying anxiety and lack of emotional and physical fulfillment. This sets the stage for disease as much as a lack of quality nutrition can.
Some cases of the disease are purely genetic but even most of these can be alleviated in part or in full with proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle and this includes joint disease. Most of us surrender to the misconception that there’s little we can do about treating joint disease and intercepting hip dysplasia. However, nutritional and nutraceutical research has advanced so far today that nutrient-based treatments can offer therapeutic and preventive results that are as powerful, and in many cases, more effective than a drug.
It’s logical that a large breed like a Great Dane will be more vulnerable to hip and joint degeneration than a Chihuahua might be. However, we can use key nutrient-based compounds that are scientifically documented to activate collagen production and keep it active in the hip and other joints of that Great Dane. You can play an active role that reduces the rate of wear and damage that could otherwise progress prematurely.
Supplying chondroitin early in life
Supplying chondroitin, for example, earlier in life rather than later, prompts the chondrocytes in the joint tissues to stay ‘ON’ and work at full potential. These chondrocytes are the worker cells of the cartilage tissue building collagen as it wears to keep joints youthful and functioning. Oxidation and nitric oxide elevation can interfere with the ability for these cells to utilize glucosamine to rebuild worn joint tissue. If these chondrocytes shut down, no amount of supplemental glucosamine will be converted into collagen.
Even small degrees of inactivity can amount to joint recovery rates that are one step behind the daily pace. Crude chondroitin cannot keep these cells in the ‘ON’ position, but supplementation with lower molecular weight chondroitin can. Antioxidant supplements like grape seed extract can join to add to the effects of this chondroitin protecting and preserving these worker cells so that cartilage is maintained even in advanced age. In their functional state, these chondrocytes repair daily keeping up with your pet’s life pace.
Genetic Potential
We all have a built-in genetic potential for the disease just like our pets do. We all also have codes that are designed to maintain health and vigor. The way these genes are expressed or biologically interpreted depends on the chemistry they are bathed in. The foods we eat, the antioxidants we supplement, the lifestyles we engage in, the toxins we allow into our life and the stress we are influenced by all manipulate this chemistry in each of the cells.
Environmental Factors
Today we are exposed to more of the environmental pollution and oxidation than ever before. In order to allow our cells and those of our companion animals to function according to a natural design, we have to meet this incremental oxidation with a higher antioxidant level. Fortunately, our cells and those of our companion’s have the capacity to manufacture antioxidants, but these internally produced antioxidants are not enough to meet the unnaturally elevated environmental assault. In addition, as we and our companion animal’s age, this internal antioxidant production declines to make oral supplementation even more valuable for seniors.
If we remain complacent doing nothing about these internal changes and external forces, inflammation simply increases unchallenged with age. In this vulnerable state joints break down prematurely, those worker cells of the joints – the chondrocytes- slow down, energy is compromised, mobility is restricted and the mind is blanketed by a cloud. Age and the aged state of mind and body are not about a number or time. Age is a state of health that is independent of time.
Prevention
A supplement formulation that includes the right type, quantity and proportion of the extracts of boswellia serrata and grapeseed, bromelain, vitamin C & D, manganese, chondroitin, glucosamine, and MSM can help regulate inflammation and maintain the chondrocyte in the ON position. All this is blended into a delivery system of defatted flax, sunflower and sesame meal will improve nutrient absorption, immune health, and balance hormone function. Add a properly balanced Omega-3 supplement to the daily intake and this inflammatory regulation is further enhanced to improve again on that biological age. Prevention is the best cure; get with the program because your dogs’ health is in your hands.
BioJOINT and BioFATS are products which provide in abundance the nutritional elements that your dog needs to have healthy joints throughout its lifespan. If you want to help your dog prevent this unfortunate and unnecessarily common condition or you want to help your dog to recover and strengthen post-surgery, please contact us for more information about how these supplements can serve your dog’s joint and overall health.