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Post by rayjones on Nov 5, 2011 22:16:01 GMT 10
Tom,
I have a dog who chipped a hock slightly the other day,he came back from an earlier cracked stopper bone,does he sound like his bones are prone to injury of is he plain unlucky ? What supplements do you advise for healthy strong bones ?
Cheers
Ray
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Post by Tom Meulman on Nov 6, 2011 15:51:37 GMT 10
Hi Ray,
Unfortunately bone density problems in dogs are not easy to overcome, as in some greyhounds a genetic problem exists that reduces calcium absorption from the gut and a reduction of calcium intake into the bone structure.
The other problem that can occur is with the Para-Thyroid which regulates the amount of calcium in the blood, and does this by adding or removing calcium from the bone structure. Because this is part of the Thyroid gland, problems with the thyroid also affects the function of the Para-Thyroid.
This is exacerbated when greyhounds are placed on a Thyroid Hormone supplement such as Thyroxine as the feedback mechanism which regulates the amount of thyroid hormone in the blood further shuts down thyroid function.
In the end this often results in bone fractures in older dogs of the type normally found in young dogs when they are first exposed to the rigours of running fast around a tight race track.
However no matter how you look at the problem and however it is caused the answer is still the same, and that is ensuring that the calcium/phosphorous requirements of the individual dog are met in the daily diet, and includes enough Vitamin D to assist in the calcium being absorbed.
The ratio between calcium and phosphorous required are around 2.5 calcium to 1 phosphorous, and because DCP is around 2 to 1 it is possibly the cheapest supplement that gets close to these requirements. For the average greyhound on a meat and dry food diet the dose is one heaped teaspoon daily.
Personally to get the requirements a little closer, I always mixed 20% of Calcium Gluconate with the DCP, and while some trainers do not like giving racing greyhounds milk, to increase the calcium in the diet in a form that is easy to absorb, I also added a heaped table spoon of full cream milk powder the the breakfast each morning.
To satisfy the Vitamin D requirements in my honest opinion you can’t go past adding around 5 ml of a good quality Cod Liver oil to the evening meal. Not only does this supply the much needed Vitamin D, but also other fatty acids that are required for good health.
With a greyhound that is likely to have extremely poor bone density as indicated by suffering regular bone fractures, a case certainly exists to use an Anabolic Steroid to increase the uptake of minerals into the bone tissue.
Unfortunately here is Australia all conventional Anabolic Steroids are guaranteed to result in a positive swab due to the fact that most are only slowly excreted, and could still swab positive 2 months after the last injection.
The only one that may negate this type of result is Testosterone Propionate, as it is extremely short acting. However this does require regular injections, and for a greyhound that has poor bone density a 1/2 ml weekly injection for about eight weeks is required to assist in improving bone density.
Cheers,
Tom
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Post by rayjones on Nov 7, 2011 5:31:25 GMT 10
Thanks Tom,very informative as usual ;D
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Post by Tom Meulman on Nov 7, 2011 6:03:12 GMT 10
Thanks Tom,very informative as usual ;D Hi Ray, Yah I know I can't help myself   Just as a follow up on my previous post, the following nutrients: calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, silicon, vitamin D, vitamin K, B6, folic acid, B12 and vitamin C are all recommended in combination for humans suffering low bone density problems. Cheers, Tom |
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Post by robert on Sept 15, 2012 17:26:55 GMT 10
HI at what age are greyhound bones fully set.
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Post by Tom Meulman on Sept 22, 2012 9:42:28 GMT 10
Hi Robert,
Each long bone in the Greyhounds body has a growth plate at each end of the bone, these growth plates contain cartilage cells that are multiplying and producing the protein matrix that becomes bone.
Therefore bones grow in length as the animal ages, due to the growth plates at each end of the bone.
Other bone growth plates lie under areas of major tendon attachments; one example of such a growth plate is where the ligament from the kneecap attaches to the shinbone at an area called the tibial crest.
Growth plates in immature Greyhounds lack the strength of bone and are common fracture sites.
The growth plates continue to produce new bone until the animal is mature, at which time the cartilage cells stop multiplying and all of the growth plate becomes mineralised into bone.
The time of maturation or “closure” varies between different bones, however the maturation time of all of the growth plates is generally completed by 14 to 15 months of age.
Excessive inflammation in the growth plates will lead to a premature closure of some or all of the growth plates and therefore a reduction in the size that the animal will grow to, or in severe instances can lead to bone malformation, such as bowed front legs when the growth plates in the Ulna close prematurely.
Cheers,
Tom
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