Rejuvenate side effects in dogs?

[Romper]

Hi, i’ve been a COTH lurker for years due to the wonderful range of knowledge from people on here.

Anyways, i’ve recently had an issue arise with my dog. I figured I would ask here since i’ve learned through experience that you can’t trust someone with blind faith just because they are a vet &/or doctor Seems there are plenty of others that agree! And I know ya’ll will get some of my horse references.

About a month ago I started both my dogs at a new vet (I moved.) They are a male dachshund X australian shepard & a female dachshund X beagle, both 7yrs old. She informed me that my male has a loose patella. Due to this it was suggested I start him on Rejuvenate, 1 pill split half in the morning & half at night. She wants me to be proactive rather then waiting for it to get worse & possibly needing surgery in the future. I’ve never ever noticed a problem & no vet had brought this up before.

Since then he has begun gaining weight. He has been on chicken soul for a while, so we cut back on his food. He’d continued gaining. Figured he might be eating part of the other’s food as she is a new addition, but no, he wasn’t eating any of hers. He goes on a walk 1-2x daily, plays several intense games of fetch during the day, & goes outside often into our fenced in yard.

He just had a vet visit about a week ago & I brought up his weight gain. Per the scale, he’s only gained one pound :eek: For comparison, he looked like a let down TB (not quite racing fit) & now he looks like something Impressive bred. I mean, total beefcake. The vet said that it is most likely the new muscle building from his freer movement. She wasn’t worried since it didn’t seem he gained much.

Even since then, he still looks dramatically different within a week. Now he also has difficulty moving. He reminds my mother & myself of about every other beef up critter; halter QH/body builder/cow in the fact that he is very “stiff”. In the last few days he’s developed a limp after he’s been laying/sitting for a while & favoring the same leg I was told he has a loose patella on. He seems to work out of the limp after walking a bit.

Maybe it’s just coincidence.

I’ve been looking, but can’t seem to find anything on side effects of Rejuvenate regardless of species. Maybe I am just looking in the wrong places or using the wrong terms, but I find it hard to believe when a medication seems to have no side effects. I also realize it could be any one of the different ingredients.

I stopped giving him the stuff a couple of days ago & am giving it a few more days, provided nothing gets worse, while gathering my own research before involving the vet again.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this or if what I described rings a bell in anyone’s head for another issue.

[Kryswyn]

I have no experience with Rejuvenate. I have a lot of experience with vets who want to surgically fix patellas. It is up to YOU to decide if you want to do surgery or not, and you don’t have to decide until it becomes an issue. Luxating patellas are very common in small breed dogs (and your dog is, sadly, proof that ‘hybrid vigor’ is really more of a myth).

I would also stop the Rejuvenate and see how your boy does. Srsly, did you notice a problem with that leg before it was diagnosed?

[Romper]

[QUOTE=Kryswyn;5729170]
I have no experience with Rejuvenate. I have a lot of experience with vets who want to surgically fix patellas. It is up to YOU to decide if you want to do surgery or not, and you don’t have to decide until it becomes an issue. Luxating patellas are very common in small breed dogs (and your dog is, sadly, proof that ‘hybrid vigor’ is really more of a myth).

I would also stop the Rejuvenate and see how your boy does. Srsly, did you notice a problem with that leg before it was diagnosed?[/QUOTE]

She wasn’t jumping immediately to surgery, she brought it up more as something I may need to keep in mind for the future. The glucosamine was in hopes of helping keep it lubed. I was also never told a grade, but if it is there, it’s at least a grade I as i’ve never seen anything to suggest there was something going on.

And yes, I took him off it a couple of days ago.

Oh, the both of them are horrible representations of “hybrid vigor” He is of medium size (but proportionate) & epileptic to boot. The female we recently added is conformed similarly to a sway back ASB

Edited to add, I wonder if there is a chance of OVER lubing? If the leg wasn’t bothering him before we added this stuff, what are the chances of the extra lubricant allowing it to pop out of place more often?

Again, it could just be coincidence.

[Kryswyn]

I wouldn’t think so. The patella luxates because the bone is too shallow to hold the tendon securely. I don’t see what ‘lubing’ the tendon could help, in fact I would think it was counter indicated, but I haven’t spent $100K going to vet school.