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  1. #1
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Vitamin/Mineral Supplement ?

    Do any of you give your dogs a general vitamin and mineral supplement, you know, like One-A-Day for dogs, and if so, why? I've wondered this periodically but have not asked the group yet. The article on grain-free food and the recent loss of Satch, who Pete gave Fido-Vite, as least for a time, made me think of it again.

    The reason I ask is that Larky, like many other labs, gets fed less than the recommended amount on the bags or cans of food she eats. She maintains her weight between 70-75 pounds on the amount I feed her. The bag or can of food may say that the daily amount she "should" be eating could be ~50% more than she gets. So, if she's eating less than the recommended amount for her weight, is she also getting less than the needed vitamins and minerals that a dog her size should be consuming each day?

    If you give a vitamin/mineral supplement, is it from experience over the years with many dogs or did your vet, regular or holistic, recommend them, or for some other reason? And if you do give one, what do you use?

  2. #2
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    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    The food I use has a vitamin coating (I think it's a coating) but I figure it loses strength over time...I wanted to supplement that. Like Larky, my two get less than the bag recommends. (Every dog I've had has needed less.)

    I tried Fido-Vite because Pete raved about it...looked like good stuff....my pups didn't think so. (who can vomit the soonest after eating seemed to be a game for them)

    In the past, I'd also tried Nupro (with the Akitas and three out of four Labs...fourth Lab wouldn't eat it).

    I'm on the third container of the Pet MD and satisfied that it's doing something for the pups. At least they're not throwing up.... (common with Danny, especially...their nerves aren't the only sensitive things about them)

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    No I do not and I asked my vet this very question as my dogs also get less than the recommended amounts on the bag (if they did they would be fat as a house lol). My vet said it didn't matter about the vitamins/minerals even though you feed less, but to feed the amount that keeps them lean. Charlie is 10 now and has had no issues. He has always gotten less than the recommended amount on the bag. Bloodwork always comes back great for him.

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  6. #4
    Senior Dog windycanyon's Avatar
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    I give a few different things but mainly MSM/ fish oil/ vit E and some green supplements (can not overdose the B vitamins).
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  8. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Funny, this came up at Oban's Vet appt. on Friday. Same as above, we believe the lean weight amount of vitamin/additive in the food that keeps him lean is sufficient. But we are considering trying home cooking (LOVED raw but it's out) and VEt said some do simply use a human multi vitamin supplement. I have bought Hilary Watson's book on home cooking and will likely use her blends if that route works out for us. Whether it's use is suggested as well for kibble diets I'm not sure.

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  10. #6
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    Perhaps ignore my recommendation

    Back when I started using the vit/min supp I recommended earlier, all of the reviews on Amazon led me to believe there weren't any issues. And I never had issues. I never checked more recent reviews because there wasn't any reason to think things had changed.

    I opened a new bottle yesterday. Neither dog wants to eat them...they leave them in the bottom of their bowls.

    I went into the reviews this morning. Yikes. Lots of dogs don't want to eat them lately and there's some vomiting/diarrhea.

    I might just rely on Tuffy's vit/min product keeping its freshness and not supplement. I never get an old bag and it's used up way before the expiration date. They were doing fine without supp before I started these (since I hadn't found another product they'd accept prior to this). I have confidence in everything else about NutriSource, so why not this?

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  12. #7
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    I give all of mine a fish oil each meal and then a NuVet vitamin.
    NuVet Plus K9 Wafers for Dogs

    We've been trying NuVet's joint supplement on the seniors too, but I think I like Canine Hylasport better for that.

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  14. #8
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Thanks! Lark gets Dasuquin, Vitamin C and Fish oil every day, and Vitamin E a couple times a week since she was 7 months old and limping on a front leg. Her vet suggested those. The limp went away but I continued the supplements.

    I can find the AAFCO recommended vitamin and mineral levels online but aside from a couple of vitamins, you can't tell from the food containers or online what the content of those in the foods actually are. The foods I feed all say they meet AAFCO standards so if a 20 pound dog and an 80 pound dog both need the same amount of, say, Vitamin A, then the AAFCO minimum amount of vitamin A needs to be in the amount the smaller dog is eating. If the 80 pounder is eating more, then the amount he's getting is more than the minimum. Or something like that. OK, I can convince myself of that. Since Lark seems to be healthy, there's no need to give extra vitamins or minerals that will just be peed out or not used but I'll continue to give the supplements I do give for whatever magical powers they may bestow.

  15. #9
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JenC View Post
    I give all of mine a fish oil each meal and then a NuVet vitamin.
    NuVet Plus K9 Wafers for Dogs

    We've been trying NuVet's joint supplement on the seniors too, but I think I like Canine Hylasport better for that.
    Jen you use NuVet? I used that years ago, but it was pricey. What do you think about it? It's all natural I know and people back when I was using it said it was a scam - that people got kickbacks from it? Your thoughts?

    Nancy

  16. #10
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    For a breeder/distributor, it's not that expensive, but then again I am feeding it to way more dogs that the average person. For one dog, a bottle lasts 3 months and for $45 or so that's not too bad. I do like the vitamin product alot and I think I'm seeing benefits but who knows. It's touted as an "immune booster". The "scam" part was that some breeders were putting it in their contracts as something puppy buyers HAD to use or else their contract was null and void. And that's pretty crappy in my opinion. But yes, it's a "distributor" program so if a regular pet person wants it, they have to use a distributor code when they order online. Similar to buying Avon or Posh or Mary Kay.

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