[cally01]

My Rottweiler has severe Hip Dysplasia, when I first rescued her she could barely get up in the mornings was stiff had a difficult time with stairs. Conventional vets advised I get the surgery done and she would have to be on Metacam for the rest of her life (which would have been short had I taken their advise). I found out at that time as well that she has slight elbow dysplasia and calcified deposits on her front legs. One vet called her an orthopedic disaster.

Instead I went natural, I put her on a home prepared diet at that time with no grains (there were no grain free dog foods at that time that I knew of). I gave her nutri aid a glucosamine supplement which contained all the ingredients I look for in a glucosamine supplement. I started giving her yucca root at that time as an anti inflammatory which worked wonders (be very careful with this herb though), bromelin (sp?), fish body oil, vitamin E. I do not have easy access to a chiro or anyone who does acupuncture so I learned acupressure at home and massage.

I am very careful with her exercise keeping it consistent enough to keep good muscle tone yet not too much to over do it. If she does over do it I give her Rhus Tox.

Currently as an anti inflammatory I give her turmeric and ginger root in medicinal amounts. This is working wonders for her! She is on home prepared and at this time she is getting grains such as rice, etc but she is doing better now than ever. She is soon to be 9 years of age...she has good muscle tone in her hip area and does a lot of swimming.

My Vets just tell me to continue doing whatever I am doing as it is working so well.

For one of my Sisters Newf he has very bad arthritis much worse than Athena my Rottie. Even during his show career he had horrible problems. For him he gets the Nutri Aid, fish body oil, vitamin E, rhus tox, and the vet gave my Sister a homeopathic treatment which is working wonders. Every 6 weeks he gets a shot of Cartrophen which is prescribed by our homeopathic vet this works wonders for Dillon and he is doing excellent. There was a time frame when my Sister thought she was going to have to resort to euthanasia as he was in so much pain. With patience, acupressure, homeopathic care, nutri aid etc he has come around 100%. He is soon to be 9 years of age as well.

Sometimes going the natural route you are not going to see quick results, it takes time for it to start working. I'm glad I went completely natural as I know my Rottweiler would be going through liver and probably kidney problems by now if we had used metacam etc. I have not even had to resort to Tylenol etc over the years.

Our older Newf is 12 years of age and had gone through 2 ACL tears. She has no secondary arthritis at all because she has always been given a good glucosamine supplement. She has wonderful mobility in her joints and no stiffness at all. She too gets the turmeric, ginger root etc just as a precaution as well these herbs are good for so many other things...I take them myself as well. :)