What are the benefits of double dosing?

If your pup suffers from joint pain, we would recommend going through a 'loading period' where you give them a double dose for the first four weeks. Read on to find out more about the benefits of double dosing, the science behind it and how it can speed up your pups recovery process.

What are the benefits of double dosing? How does it work? 

While your pet will benefit from the regular suggested daily dose, double dosing can help your pet experience joint relief faster. Most supplements require 6 weeks of consistent, daily use before any effect can be observed. This is because the supplement must establish an effective concentration in the body before it can elicit the desired effect; this is referred to as the “loading period”. 

In the first four weeks of giving your pet Wuffes Advanced Hip and Joint Support, you can give the recommended amount twice daily rather than once to help reduce the length of the loading period and help your pet experience relief sooner. Some pets with severe joint disease will benefit from receiving the recommended dose twice daily indefinitely.

Start by giving your pet the supplement twice daily for 4 weeks and then reduce the amount to once daily. If your pet stays comfortable with no visible increase in symptoms, you can give your pet the supplement once daily as their maintenance dose. If you notice that your pet starts to have an increase in symptoms after reducing the dose to once daily, give your pet the supplement twice daily as their maintenance dose.

Double dosing can reduce the “loading period” and help the product be more effective faster. Furthermore, pets with advanced joint disease often need this increased dosage due to the degeneration that has already occurred in the joints. It is important to note that our joint supplements cannot effectively REVERSE degeneration that has already occurred. It can, however, prevent further degeneration from occurring by giving the body the building blocks to maintain/build on existing cartilage and produce the joint fluid that lubricates the joints. 

What is the science behind it? Does it take time to build up so that results happen faster?

The science is very logical in that quite literally we are offering the body more of the active compounds to absorb initially because the body likely is lacking a healthy concentration of the compounds. This can help the body reach therapeutic levels faster from a depleted state. 

Double dosing is effective in helping your pet reach therapeutic levels faster but that does not necessarily mean that the therapeutic dose will be more effective. Long term double dosing is effective for animals with severe joint disease because they require more of the active ingredients to achieve the desired effect (i.e. the body is not producing glucosamine at a rate necessary to protect the joints). Pets taking the supplement preventatively or pets with mild/early joint disease need less of these compounds (i.e. the body uses less because it already is producing all or most of its glucosamine itself). Therefore these pets will not experience increased efficacy alongside increased dosage. 

There are no studies that explore the increased efficacy of double dosing in joint supplements in pets. This is because the mechanism of action is fairly simple:

Advanced disease -> not producing enough joint protective compounds endogenously -> need to receive more joint protective compounds exogenously -> direct benefit from receiving an increased dose

Mild disease -> producing some joint protective compounds endogenously -> does not need to receive as much joint protective compounds exogenously -> maintenance dose is likely more than sufficient