I was wondering what vitamins you all give to your dogs?

I currently only give them both Omega3 and Glucosamine to Mya for her joints. I"m sure there is more that I should be giving them, but it scares me because I don't know too much about which ingredients I should stay way from.

I looked for another thread on Vitamins, but didn't see one so my bad if it already exsists

There are these two threads that may help:
Dog supplements

In-Diet Supplement..?

In addition to my dogs' normal food I also add:

Nupro Silver with Joint Support daily
MSM once a week
Apple Cider Vinegar 3 times a week
Garlic 3 times a week
And I will soon be giving them Coconut oil once a week too.

Now Glory has joint problems so she gets a bit more than my other two. Main difference for Glory is that she gets MSM twice a week and she also gets Ester C twice a week along with a glucosamine/chondroitin soft chew daily.

I don't add any supplements to Nikolai's diet - are there any that ya'll really think I should be adding? He's about 2 and seems healthy and fine...

I give Ginger Myristin for her joints and hips. It has Cetyl Myristoleate with MSM and Glucosamine in it.

I started it because Ginger would limp after running hard at the dog park and our vet said to try glucosamine and after talking to a few people at my fave pet store, I ended up with Myristin. A couple of weeks of being on the initial dose, she never limped again after running hard or a hiking/snowshoeing. She gets the maintenance dose now every day.

Since her main protein is fish, I think she's OK on Omega-3s. Everyone does compliment how soft her coat is, and her skin seems to be fine too (not dry or itchy as some dogs here can get due to our dry climate).

CoffeeK8 wrote:

I don't add any supplements to Nikolai's diet - are there any that ya'll really think I should be adding? He's about 2 and seems healthy and fine...

If Nikolai is eating a good rotation and is healthy then supplements are not necessary. I prefer to give a general supplement like Nupro or Missing Link more as a precautionary measure to help round out the diet and ensure that they are not missing anything essential from the food that they eat. Actually it was my amazing, holistic vet that got me into supplementing in the first place. It's good for any diet whether you feed raw, canned, kibble, dehydrated, freeze dried, or home cooked, but it's not necessary so you shouldn't feel obligated. I just like the peace of mind from a general supplement at the very least. Missing Link and Nupro both fit the bill quite well, however I personally prefer the ingredients in Nupro more than Missing Link. My old holistic vet highly recommends both regardless of how good a diet the dogs are on. I like that they both come in a powder form that you can easily sprinkle on or mix in the dogs' food. Nupro can be mixed with water to create a tasty gravy which can be good for some picky eaters.

It's really up to you, Kate, if you think you should supplement. Everyone has their own opinion and of course we all respect personal decisions to supplement or not. I would never be without at least Nupro as a general supplement however I wouldn't think less of anyone for not supplementing. It's whatever you choose to do and feel comfortable with.

Thanks, Val!! I'll talk to his vet the next time we're in... we're still struggling to get some weight on him, so maybe once we can do that, we'll start with something like the above. As it is right now, he does get a wide variety of food/nutrition (Wellness Core with some kind of GF canned protein or THK with raw chicken or beef).

I give Vitamin E because the sun does a lot of damage to the coat and the heat/humidity can encourage flaky skin. I also add 4 fish oil pills to their meals daily. It's for their skin/coat as well but high amounts of Omega 3 are known to help with joint and heart health. Seamus has been on that since we got him and the others get the same.

Thanks all! I'm going to look into Nupro Val to see if it's something that I would give them.

Kristina, do you give them the regular fish oil gel tabs? Hmmm, I too should start giving them vitamin E. The heat/humidity is insane in South Florida! Especially now that the summer is starting. Well, spring, but for us that's summer already..LOL!

Yeah I buy the human grade ones. Walgreens always has a buy-one-get-one-free sale every week in their vitamin section. I try to always buy the biggest containers, but you have to look at the back of the bottle to see how much omega 3 there is. Sometimes they do the big value bottles but cut out a lot of the omega 3. They're sneaky! I literally just came home from buying them theirs. It's about 100mg of Omega 3 per 10lbs of body weight. The "theraputic" dosing is double. I feed raw, so I do the double.

I, myself, just give them the pills and the eat them whole. But i'm also highly allergic to fish so there's no way i'm popping them and putting just the oil on their food. Not worth one of my reactions!!! lol

Awesome because I've been getting theirs online when i buy their Heartgard and Frontline, but i'm running out and didn't want to place an order just for that.

They actually eat the pill whole also. I was surprised when, Mya especially, was ok with eating it with her food. What a mess to open it up so thank goodness for that! You're allergic to fish? Ewwww, that sucks!! Are you allergic to all fish?

Pretty much anything and everything that lives in the water! Tuna and Dolphin I can do for the most part. Sometimes I get a little sick. But the others... no way! My whole face swells!

Yet when we fish, i've never had a reaction to grabbing the fish. It's really weird. But I can't stand the smell of seafood anyway so I don't complain!

I give my dog Vitamin E, that's why her fur is very shiny and her skin is always moisturized. Vitamin E deficiency may lead to hair loss and hair brittleness. You must supplement your dog with these to enhance the look of your dog.

SiberianHuskySibhee wrote:

You must supplement your dog with these to enhance the look of your dog.

MUST is a strong word. There are plenty of other supplements out there that can give a dog a soft, healthy coat and skin besides just Vitamin E. Nothing wrong with Vit E supplements but I just think that last bit was a little strong and made it sound like Vit E supplementation is a requirement.

I was wandering SiberianHuskySibhee how do u give the vitamin E in pills or how

I give a variety of supplements but I always give fish oil and vitamin e. fish oil slowly depletes the bodies source of vitamin e and leaves the immune system weakened, so I don't take chances. I squirt both right on the food. Personally, I only use all natural vitamin e, not the synthetic version, I don't see the same results form the synthetic,