I just got a new puppy a few days ago, and I very much want the best for her health and development. I am read up and the standard diet, excercise and care. I am just wondering if anybody out there uses any supplements or vitamins on their pets.
My folk’s dog had arthritis in his old age, and glucosamine showed a remarkable difference on him. It wasn’t a fancy vet brand, just the stuff you get at the drug store.
Now don’t get me wrong, I won’t be feeding her Alpha Male, or anything designed as an anabolic enhancer. I am thinking more along the lines of EFAs, flax and or fish oil? If anybody has success with this, OR if you know why I shouldn’t, please let me know.
I recently posted a goofy April Fool’s thread about my cat’s weight loss attempt. Although it was all in fun, I really did turn her health around with diet.
She was eating a really high quality dry food, and would not touch anything else. I had to practically starve her into eating other food, even wet cat food, and real meat. Dry food, even good quality stuff, is quite low in real meat.
She’s lost weight, her coat is amazing, her eyes are bright, her energy is a million times higher, her cyst on her head disappeared. No supps. Just a combo of a high quality wet food, minimal dry food, and real meat (raw and cooked beef, chicken, fish) and egg whites (cooked) on a regular basis. She’s ten and looks two - before she looked older then her age. It’s been the most dramatic change I’ve ever witnessed.
I used to work in a nutrition supplement store and we had many customers who regularly bought fish oil capsules for their dog or cat. Along with a good diet, fish oil caps help keep the pet’s coat nice and shiny and can help relieve eczema too.
We also had customers who bought glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM formulas in addition to fish oil caps for pets with arthritis.
Apparently, many dogs just love fish oil and will gobble up the capsules without needing any encouragement.
I give my dogs fish oil and glocosamine/chondroitin. They think they’re treats and always look confused when they see me “eating” their treats. My larger dog had hip problems as a puppy and we put him on glocosamine/chondroitin and now at 1 1/2 his hips are perfectly fine.
Look for a product called 3V Caps. You might be able to get it from your vet, but IME it’s cheaper to order it online. It’s available either in capsules or as a liquid that you can put on the dog’s food.
For dogs, I would research the BARF diet, no joke. It stands for “Bones and Raw Foods.” I swear by it.
Basically the dog’s diet consists of whole chicken carcasses(minus the breast, thigh, leg meat you’ve eaten and the leg bones) and some fruits and veggies that have been blasted in a blender to break the cell walls and make them a bit more digestable.
One of the nice things about it is you have to buy very little if any food specifically for the dogs. I buy a maybe 4 whole chickens a week for myself (cheap and a lot of meat)and the veggies I use are the ones that are getting a little brown… the dogs dont seem to mind. Both my dogs are in excellent condition.
[quote]combatmedic wrote:
I just got a new puppy a few days ago, and I very much want the best for her health and development. I am read up and the standard diet, excercise and care. I am just wondering if anybody out there uses any supplements or vitamins on their pets.
My folk’s dog had arthritis in his old age, and glucosamine showed a remarkable difference on him. It wasn’t a fancy vet brand, just the stuff you get at the drug store.
Now don’t get me wrong, I won’t be feeding her Alpha Male, or anything designed as an anabolic enhancer. I am thinking more along the lines of EFAs, flax and or fish oil? If anybody has success with this, OR if you know why I shouldn’t, please let me know.[/quote]
I just ordered my dog this and she loves it. My sister has been using it for her dogs for a while now and swears by it.
My cats have both been getting Udo’s for Pets since they were kittens. They are both healthy and strong and after 8 years they still behave like they are 6 months old. They still maintain that kitten softness too.
I don’t even think about feeding my dog dog food.
I usually cook extra steak or some fish for him when I’m cooking dinner anway.I usually put some organic flaxseed or fish oil in my dogs food along with one egg yolk(egg yolks are great for their skin) and he eats every last bite of it.
Another thing you guys should try giving your pets(and yourselfs) is sea vegg.
My friend has a dog who is a little old and had bad arthritis.She started puting the sea vegg (along with some fish oil) in her food and the arthritis actually went away.She’s playing in trash cans and acting like a puppy now-which is a good sign.
Okay, gang, thanks for your answers. I appreciate and have started giving her a little of the fish oil already. She is to small for capsules, so I just cut it and squeeze the oil over her food. It was asked, so I have to answer (and brag a little). She is an English Bulldog.
I have a few questions. It was mentioned feeding her raw meat. I imagine beef should be fine, but I am concerned about raw chicken. Is the bacteria that is dangerous to people harmful to dogs? Also, with eggs, do you cook them, how do you cook them, or do you give dogs raw eggs.
Thanks for the answers, and I am working on pictures.
Great advice guys. I just adopted a 5 month puppy (bird dog/hound mix). His coat has flakes so I will definitely get some oil caps. After I mix my eggs and dump them in the pan, I let the cat lick the bowl. Really made his coat shine.
