The Best Prevention is Early Prevention Over feeding in younger years causes fat cells to build in your pet. This pattern becomes aggravated by continuing this over feeding in their adult years. As fat cells grow in body they are more difficult to control; and, dangers for pet are that they will likely develop hip dysplasia or other arthritis related problems. In short, we are leading them into a life of pain and discomfort when arthritis is considered.

If this is where you are now, what should you do? We have said this many times before but nature of diet is a factor. (See, other articles in this series) Exercise is critical. When you combine obesity with an arthritis problem in pets, they suffer.

Cutting Down Now This almost certainly means following different food regimens and cutting down quantity of food you are giving your pets. I recommend trying to cut down about 10-20% if you have a pet that has become obese. It is not going to be easy at first; they will beg for food. Just remember, it is in their best interest to resist.

Just watch that diet. Your pet will thank you many times over for doing so. Of course, it may take some time for them to realize that they are winners.

JR Rogers is the owner of Synflex America Inc. makers of Syn-flex, a premium glucosamine arthritis formula for humans and household pets.

So, what should you do? For those who have younger pets, why wait? Do you really need expense of an x-ray to make a decision about this? Of course not.

By nature, pets are playful and active. The eventual consequence is that they will develop joint pain as a result of trauma, aging, or both.

A Simple Solution Be proactive now. As adults, many of us wish we had done more to care for our joints earlier in life. Most of us take vitamins and minerals as supplements and smart consumer is using a liquid glucosamine of highest quality.

The cost of best liquid formulas is low and is given to pets based on body weight. For smaller animals, cost is negligible compared to potential for problems down road. For a pet that weighs 10-20 pounds, we are talking about pennies.

My suggestion is to use a high-quality liquid glucosamine for maintenance early on. As that article indicated, number of pets with hip dysplasia is very high even with no symptoms being displayed. There is no reason to wait until your pet is in pain and suffering.

JR Rogers is the owner of Synflex America Inc. makers of Syn-flex, a premium glucosamine arthritis formula for humans and household pets.