[Sparky BV]

Any advice on when to start feeding a chondroitin glucosamine supplement? And what do you recommend? My boy will be 2 yrs old in a month and I want to make sure he has the best chance possible to avoid any joint issues as he gets older.

When I had prelims done on his hips at 7 1/2 months old the vet told me one of his hips was a little bit off, but due to his age it might close up. I will have his hips done again shortly to see how they are now.

I feed him a frankenprey model diet with lots of bendy bones like turkey necks, duck frames, and chicken feet at night as a bedtime treat. I also feed him raw trachea and gullet.

 

[Magwart]

You might as well just keep feeding natural foods with natural chondroitin to young dogs -- beef tracheas, turkey necks, etc. It's form their bodies are likely to recognize, and the food has other benefits. Your dog is probably already getting a good supply of it in food, if you're including those in the diet.

Before you go the supplementation route, dive into the science. I know of no research that gluc/chon supplementation has a orthopedic protective benefit on healthy, young dogs. If you've got some, post a link to the peer-reviewed journal article please! There are a lot of hucksters citing small, or uncontrolled, non-US studies of weird forms of it, but the best study on it is the GAIT study on humans. It's easy to find with Google. There's some evidence of modest benefit to arthritis in knees in humans in that study, but overall the results were not particularly impressive.

 

[Mary Beth]

These are the supplements I give for the joints:

Liquid Health Naturals K9 Glucosamine I like this because of the aloe which also is good for the skin and digestion. It also has chondroitin.
Nordic Naturals Omega 3 for pets
Turmeric (I make the gold paste recipe here Healing Golden Turmeric Paste Recipe For Your Dog) I don't add the pepper since I read that it can sometimes cause stomach issues. The recipe is in this article: Healing Golden Turmeric Paste Recipe For Your Dog

 

[SolitaryHowl]

When he was still alive, I used to use "Head to Tail Hip & Joint" for my senior Siberian Husky. It worked quite well.