Does anyone have any experience with Springtime supplements for horses, cats, and dogs?

http://www.springtimeinc.com/

They have been recommended to me by a bullmastiff breeder who keeps her dogs on them for life. They have a "Joint health" supplement that has glucosamine and chondroitin in it, and a "Fresh Factors" vitamin which has chondroitin in it among other vitamins, and this is what she gives her bullmstiffs - for the main reason that bullmastiffs are such heavy dogs and have growing pains, and this helps her dogs as they grow. She actually triples the dosage until they are about 2 years old, then goes by the dosage on the label.

The reason I am asking is because we need to up the dosage of chondroitin for our 5 month old bullmastiff, and being in Europe the cost for the normal dosage of the chondroitin we are using is about $500 a year. The Springtime brand I could buy in bulk and have my mother send to me, at the cost of about $150 a year.

Also, I have read on here that it is actually better to combine glucosamine and chondroitin together for joint pain. My husband used to take glucosamine for his own joint pain, but now he doesn't have to anymore. We have quite a bit leftover. Is it okay to give them to my dog? And what is the dosage she should get (per 10 lbs)? She weighs 78 lbs at the moment and is still growing...

On a side note we have finished the 10 days of the Previcox, and since it didn't really help her that much, my husband agreed that we can up the dosage of her supplements instead. That is a small victory! (as he's not "into" spending much more money on this dog as we seem to be going to the vet every week as it is.)

thanks! Brenda

To clarify: 1. Your 5-month-old bullmastiff has joint pain? Do you have a diagnosis? Are you talking about Pano, or joint problems? 2. Your goal is to "up" a glucosamine protocol and add chondroitin? 3. What form is your husband's supplement? Glucosamine what? HCL? And is it powder in capsules, or hard pills? How many mg?

I didn't check out the prices on your link yet, but I can tell you that you can often do better buying whatever supplements are in proprietary formulae separately, and you can then also regulate the dosages of each. Proprietary formulae often don't give the relative amounts in the ingredients.

BTW, you know that glucosamine is a joint support, right, and that Pano is not a joint ailment?

Is this pup on daily fish oil and Vitamin E? Pano IS an inflammation-related ailment. And is his weight controlled?

I tried some of their products on my horses and I didn't think they did any good. We finish them off just because of the cost but never re-ordered.

I use Springtime products.
I have an old groin injury (hauling hay when I was pregnant, duuuh) that flairs up periodically. It gets bad enough that it's hard for me to walk. I will take the people joint health for 2-3 days and it clears it up and then I don't have to take it again for another 6-8 months when the pain returns.
I've tried their Tonic Blend (vitamins) and didn't see any benefits.
I have two friends who keep their geriatric dogs on the dog joint health, when they run out for a few days the dogs are both noticeably stiff and sore. Another nervous dog seemed to be calmed by taking the Stress-free Calmplex.
I also put one of my horses on one of the Springtime products after a serious coronet band/hoof injury, she healed in record time with almost no scaring.

 Quote: Debbie Bruce

I use Springtime products.
I have an old groin injury (hauling hay when I was pregnant, duuuh) that flairs up periodically. It gets bad enough that it's hard for me to walk. I will take the people joint health for 2-3 days and it clears it up and then I don't have to take it again for another 6-8 months when the pain returns.
I've tried their Tonic Blend (vitamins) and didn't see any benefits.
I have two friends who keep their geriatric dogs on the dog joint health, when they run out for a few days the dogs are both noticeably stiff and sore.

Yes, they contain some good joint support ingredients.

But Pano isn't a soft-tissue ailment the way joint problems are.

That's very interesting about the groin pull. I have to make a note of that. It totally makes sense, since it's the same kind of tissue, but I hadn't heard of that use. Could I ask you what usually causes a flare-up? Or can you tell?

(I know yours is a people thing, but dogs have the same types of muscle pull injuries that flare up repeatedly.)

If I ride my horse bareback for any length of time or maneuver several full heavy wheel barrow loads, in essence-lateral/squeezing movements.

Well, I just got out my husband's bottle of glucosamine and it was completely empty! He put an empty bottle back in the closet. It was the GNC brand, but now I guess that doesn't matter.

Connie - we've spoken about supplements before. My vet put Star on Virbac Fortiflex (chondroitin) for 30 days and said to take her off of it for 60 days before putting her back on it. About 3 days of coming off of it she was stiff again. The vet gave her Previcox which made her really sick in the beginning so we cut the tablets in half which she could stomach but it didn't seem to do much good with the pain. We put her back on the Fortiflex and doubled the dosage, and it seems to be working again, but it's extremely expensive. We thought that if we could find something in the States that was more cost efficient, that would help my husband stay convinced that she should stay on it.

Star is also on daily fish oil and Vit. E capsules, as well as 250 mg of Vit. C (more than that gives her loose stools).

I've spoken to bullmastiff breeders who keep their dogs on glucosamine and chondroitin for life, as they are heavy dogs and have a "breed" trait of having "growing pains" and joint pain. They are a breed you really have to watch the over exercising with and keep them thin. My bully has extra large parents, so even though she's not fat, she's heavy. The breeder said she has never had a case of hip dysplasia ever in her 20 years of breeding, but that pain during their growing time is "normal".

I don't have a diagnosis of dysplasia, and nobody has mentioned Pano although I am keeping an eye out for it, but since the vet put her on chondroitin in the beginning and it did help, I'm assuming that it helped whatever it was supposed to help, therefore I need to keep her on it. But in reading here it's glucosamine that does the better work, and after having Springtime supplements recommended to me, and they are very economical so I could order them and have them shipped to me, I wondered if anyone had any experience with them.

I just asked about human glucosamine pills because if we had some on the shelf anyway that nobody was using, if I could give it to Star, it would save going out and buying more right at this moment. But never mind that - the bottle was empty.

Oh, sorry ... I admit that I usually read and answer the posts and don't note the names of the humans. LOL

Of course, now I remember your posts about Fortiflex.

And I think that glucosamine is by far the more important partner in the glucosamine-chondroitin supplements.

"Growing pains" (Pano) is not something that glucosamine-chondroitin would address, since it's not a soft-tissue ailment, but your experience of having success with soft-tissue (or joint) supplements might just indicate that he is indeed having joint problems.

I can give you some sources for less expensive supplements, in the capsule (or powder) form, which is so much easier to feed (at least, I find it so).

I can come back this evening and do this. OK?

You want the suggestions to be U.S.-available?

 Quote: Debbie Bruce

If I ride my horse bareback for any length of time or maneuver several full heavy wheel barrow loads, in essence-lateral/squeezing movements.

Ah, I gotcha.

Thanks.

Hi Connie,

Yes, it's 2 in the morning here and I'm going to bed now, so there's no hurry. My husband is going back to the States in October so he could get the supplements then, or I can order them and have them sent to my mother who can ship them to me.

I didn't realize that growing pains is another term for Pano. Pano is not good, but not so bad, either, since they outgrow it.

Thanks for your help, and goodnight! Brenda