You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

The scientific evidence to support the administration of nutritional supplements to pets is often very weak. Best evidence are randomised controlled trials (RCTs)

Diet Restriction Body weight control

Nine papers relating to the relationship between diet restriction and osteoarthritis met the inclusion criteria but these were all generated from the same lifetime study of 48 Labrador retrievers, a breed predisposed to develop OA. Restricting food consumption to 75% of littermate’ s intake delayed the onset of OA after 5 years  (Kealy 1992; Kealy1997) and prevalence was 77% in the control group and only 10% in the restricted intake group (Kealy 2000). Diet restriction delayed OA by up to 5 years (Smith 2006), and at end of life the prevalence of hip OA was 83% in the control group and 50% in the diet-restricted group. Further studies in this cohort of dogs which involved periodic clinical assessment, radiography, and at end of life gross examination and histological examination of the joints showed that food restriction had little influence on the development of OA in the elbow (Huck 2009) but it made a significant difference to severity of OA in the shoulder (Runge 2008), and prevalence and severity of OA in hips (Smith 2012; Smith 2006; Powers 2004). Appearance of radiographic evidence of hip OA was delayed by 6 years in diet-restricted dogs (median 12 years age) compared to the non-restricted group (median 6 years) and the earliest change (circumferential femoral neck osteophyte (CFHO)) appeared at a median age of 3 years in non-restricted and 9 years in the diet-restricted group (Szabo 2007).

Evidence : GOOD -Positive effects for diet restriction

References

Huck JL, Biery DN, Lawler DF et al (2009) A longitudinal study of the influence of lifetime food restriction on development of osteoarthritis in the canine elbow. Vet Surg 38(2): 192-8

Kealy RD, Olsson SE, Monti KL et al (1992) Effects of limited food consumption on the incidence of hip dysplasia in growing dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc 201: 857-863

Kealy RD et al. (1997) Five-year longitudinal study on limited food consumption and development of OA in coxofemoral joints of dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc 210:222-5

Kealy RD, Lawler DF, Ballam JM et al.(2000) Evaluation of the effect of limited food consumption on radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis in dogs. J. Vet Med Assoc 217: 1678- 1680

Powers MY Biery DN, Lawler DF et al (2004) Use of the caudolateral curvilinear osteophyte as an early marker for future development of osteoarthritis associated with hip dysplasia in dogs.JAVMA 2004 225(2):233-7

Runge JJ, Biery DN, Lawler DF et al (2008) The effects of lifetime food restriction on the development of osteoarthritis in the canine shoulder. Veterinary Surgery 37(1): 102-7

Smith GK, Paster ER, Powers MY, et al (2006) Lifelong diet restriction and radiographic evidence of OA of the hip joint in dogs. J Am VetMed Assoc 229:690–693

Smith GK, Lawler DF, Biery DN et al. (2012) Chronology of hip dysplasia development in a cohort of 48 Labrador retrievers followed for life. Veterinary Surgery 41(1):20-33

Szabo SD, Biery DN, Lawler DF et al (2007) Evaluation of circumferential femoral head osteophyte as an early indicator of osteoarthritis characteristic of canine hip dysplasia in dogs JAVMA 2007 231(6):889-92

Updated September 2015