[BluesMom]

Hello all… My dog has started stretching excessively. He always does the “bow” (front legs out, bottom in the air) and his joints pop sometimes. Not his hips. I have two questions:

1. What is the deal with excessive stretching? I have done some research and some say he wants to play or it is a calming behavior, but I have read somewhere that stretching all the time can mean he is stiff, but I want to know why he would be stiff. He is 1 1/2 years old. Anyone have any info or links to articles I could look at?

2. What is with the joint popping? It is only when he does that particular stretch. Does joint popping lead to arthritis? I’d appreciate any advice or articles on this as well.

Thanks for all the help. Sometimes I think I am just an over-concerned dog mom, but I just want to make sure he has the best life possible!

[RescueDaneMom]

What kind of dog is he? I have a Great Dane that I rescued at 2 years old. I put him on a joint supplement as soon as I got him. I had to up his dose as he got older when I noticed his joints starting to pop when he got up. The vet just diagnosed him with arthritis (he’s 7.5 now). I tried switching joint supplements once and his joint popping got really bad- the new supplement wasn’t working well. When I switched back to the old supplement the popping stopped. So that was a long way around telling you that it could be a joint problem. He might benefit from a joint supplement (something with glucosamine and chondroitin). I also have a pit bull in the house that does that stretching you are referring to. He does it ALL the time. I thought it was just a personality quirk. He’s 5 yrs old and 70 pounds and his joints never pop.

If you are really worried, you could take him to the vet and have them do an xray to see if there are joint issues going on.

[BluesMom]

Thank you for the advice. What supplement do you use? He is a pit mix… which is strange yours does this all time too!!

[RescueDaneMom]

I have used Dasuquin with MSM for large dogs by Nutramax for years. It works really great for my dogs but it’s expensive. The last time I bought it on Amazon it was around $80 for a bottle of 150 chewable tablets. I was giving my Dane 3/day so it lasted me about a month and half. I have recently switched to buying all of the components in Dasuquin separately from swansonvitamins.com: glucosamine, MSM, chondroitin, and ASU. It costs me around $25/month. I also just ordered Actiflex 4000 from Amazon. It is a joint supplement made for horses. It was recommended by a member on this forum. It will be much more cost effective for me. I’m hoping it will work for him. I’ve tried Liquid Health’s K9 Level 5000 on two separate occasions and it didn’t work for my dogs. I’ve also heard that Springtime Inc makes good joint supplements. I want to try theirs next. Nupro and The Wholistic Pet make powders that you add to the food that have joint supplements in them. I believe that Glucosamine HCl works better than Glucosamine sulfate for my Dane.

Here are some article on joint health and treatments:
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/knowledgeBase/knowledgebasedetail.aspx?articleid=169&SubjectId=13261&SubjectName=Arthritis+%2f+Joint+Support
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/knowledgeBase/knowledgebasedetail.aspx?articleid=46&SubjectId=13261&SubjectName=Arthritis+%2f+Joint+Support

That probably gives you a lot to think about. Every dog is different and some things work better than others. Good luck! I hope you find what works for your pup. 🙂

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