As you may or may not know, Conker has Luxating Patella. I've known about it since he was about 8 months old or so, and I have tried a couple joint things and was generally pleased with them.
Well, the joint slippage has been just an occasional thing for a while, but when I started testing out various kibbles I stopped giving Conker "therapeutic" doses of fish oil (sometimes completely cutting it out) and instead just giving a "maintenance" dose, and I cut any joint things I was giving him at the time as well. With the exception of when he was being stupid about food, Conker has remained a pretty active dog.
So, what's the purpose of this writing?
I have noticed an increase in Conker's knee slippage, especially the right knee. It's bugging me with how frequently they slip, and how they don't go back in right away on their own. I have also noticed him biting at his knees, usually after one of them has slipped. I'm not exactly glad to see this, and I asked around about it, so I am going to restart the joint supplements and increase his fish oil. I will also be doing a few back leg strengthening exercise things to build the muscles up a bit more.
A trend I have noticed is that when Conker is on lower protein foods, he loses muscle mass and gains fat. So, I will either cut out all lower protein (below 30%) foods from the trials or mix meats and eggs into them to boost the protein. I am less concerned about how Conker does on the food (without mixins) and more concerned about his joint health, so I will be "sacrificing" some results because of that.
Which is a bit funny, since I'd feed the food with mixins if he were on it long-term anyways so... Yeah.
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