Grooming and housebreaking
When you control your dog’s weight, you help to reduce the pain and swelling associated with dog arthritis. Just like with humans, the key to controlling weight is diet and exercise. But this formula doesn’t work with all dogs, so there’s a natural tendency to look for a magic solution.
There are some food supplements that sometimes work to help control your dog’s weight, but none of them are a sure things. The most commonly used food supplements appear below:
- DHEA (DeHydroEpiAndrosterone)
- Slentrol
- L-Carnitine
- Green tea extract
- Chromium
- Chitisan and other fat absorbing drugs
DHEA (DeHydroEpiAndrosterone)
DHEA has no serious side effects, and it does produce good results in some dogs. When it is effective, DHEA helps to reduce the amount of fat stored in your dog’s body. It also has these additional effects when given in 5-25mg daily doses:
- Promotes muscle building even though its anabolic activity is around 1/50th of traditional anabolic steroids.
- Helps build the immune system and is thought to reduce the possibility of cancer.
- Increases the effects of insulin and helps send nutrients from the blood into the body’s cells which promotes weight loss.
Slentrol
This is a prescription drug. It traps fats in the intestines causing the dog to feel full and eat less. Studies by the manufacturer, Pfizer, indicated a 12% weight loss over 4 months without feeding special dietary foods.
Slentrol is a controversial drug that does not always work, but you may consider using it in these situations:
- If you feed your dog treats.
- Your dog’s metabolism does not promote weight loss.
- Multi-dog households where dogs share common meals.
L-Carnitine
This is an amino acid with properties similar to a vitamin. It promotes fat metabolism and energy production. Studies also indicate that L-Carnitine helps with weight loss and muscle mass maintenance in some dogs.
Green Tea Extract
This is very commonly found in human weight loss products. One of the ingredients is Epigallocatechin gallate (a type of catechin) that has reduced obesity when tested on mice. It works by decreasing energy absorption and increasing fat consumption (0xidation). Don’t buy the human variety as it may contain caffeine.
Chromium
Chromium does not seem to do much to promote weight loss in dogs and is no longer recommended by vets.
Chitisan
Chitisan is made from shellfish and introduces fiber to the body. It is believed to bind fats and keep them from entering the bloodstream, but its effect have not been fully proven,. Like Chromium, Chitsan has fallen out of favor in the last 5 years.
So there you go. There really is no magic bullet for controlling your dog’s weight, but using one of these supplements, along with good old diet and exercise, could help you keep your dog’s weight under control. And that’s important, especially if your dog suffers from dog arthritis.
