Chondroitin for dogs

What is chondroitin?

The micronutrient chondroitin is one of the so-called joint nutrients and is an essential part of the dog’s joint cartilage. The special micronutrient cannot be produced independently by the dog’s organism and must be supplied through the diet. For this reason, the cartilage mass can be undersupplied with chondroitin due to various factors, such as an unbalanced diet of the animals, excessive stress or the natural aging process. In such a case, the articular cartilage can be significantly reduced in its important protective function for the dog’s joints and they wear out over the years.

What is the job of chondroitin?

In the articular cartilage of dogs, the chondroitin has the important task of ensuring both the flexibility of the cartilage cells and their stability against compression effects. The articular cartilage serves as protection for the dogs against joint wear and tear, which arises from the stress effects of the various movement processes. The chondroitin is responsible for the articular cartilage being able to optimally buffer these stress effects, for which the individual cartilage cells must of course be both very flexible and stable.

Should there be an unnoticed underconcentration of chondroitin in the articular cartilage, sooner or later the cartilage cells will no longer be able to withstand this enormous strain and cartilage wear can occur, which in turn causes various degenerative joint diseases in the dogs in the long term – arthrosis is a typical consequence.

How does an undersupply of chondroitin occur?

First and foremost, a healthy diet of the animals plays an important role for an optimal supply of the articular cartilage in dogs, since the dog gets the chondroitin from its food. If the animal is fed very one-sidedly and over the long term with industrial feed of inferior quality, the cartilage cells may be undersupplied with chondroitin. The second very common cause of a chondroitin deficiency is the animals’ natural aging process. With an advanced age of the animals, the concentration of joint nutrients in the cartilage mass decreases and thus the amount of chondroitin in the articular cartilage also gradually decreases.

When should chondroitin be given?

The administration of chondroitin using a special food supplement for dogs like the DOG FIT by PreThis^® JOINTS elements is generally advisable if the dog shows abnormalities in its movements. Because in such a case, the animal is already suffering from joint pain, which can result from cartilage underfunction. By supplying the articular cartilage with a high dose of chondroitin, the cartilage cells can once again carry out their important protective function for the joints, which relieves the joints. Ideally, however, the dog owner does not let things get that far and supplies his dog with the important chondroitin prophylactically at a young age. Joint problems in old age can be avoided in many cases in this way.