Hello everyone, long time member but first time writer. So what brings me and the pack here today is we are trying to figure out if anyone has found a good trustworthy spot to buy in bulk. Be that as it may in good, supplements, or even gear for the pack. Having 5 is great and feeding them raw is a chore all isn’t it’s self but they are living their best life. What I’m looking for is to add in some Omega 3 in their daily intake and wondering if anyone has ever been able to find a good place to get them. Any information would be great full or even ideas on what anyone does to make sure their pack gets more omega 3 in their diet. Well hope you and your huskies are all doing good during these troubling times. Can’t wait to hear what everyone has to say.

Fish oil maybe you could always use human grade. My dog food has added omega3 and omega 6. And then i have shadow on naturvet all in one and that has all th omegas. As for buying in bulk chewy has the all in one things in a bog container but i have had bad luck with chewy. I think the vitamins help shadow but i only give him half of the dose for his weight because of cost. My other 3 are not on the all in one. I feel you about buying in bulk because i have 4 monsters. Where i get my dog food certain brands the 13th bag is free. For me that translates to 2 free bags of dog food at $90 a bag.

Stateline tack sells dog stuff in bulk so does chewy.com i use 1800petmeds for dasuquin

Lostmaniac wrote:

Stateline tack sells dog stuff in bulk so does chewy.com  i use 1800petmeds for dasuquin

Thanks for the new site, I had never heard of the Stateline site till now. Yeah I’ve used Chewy, I get their greenies from them. For anything as you said they aren’t to reliable. Someone else just informed me of Ultra oil skin as a good one also, I may be looking more in to that one as well. Hope your “4 monsters” are doing good. Once again thanks for the good link.

I'm thinking of just using un salted, water pack sardines. Probably going to switch my dog food to diamond naturals light but it's on the low side for protein. Since we're dealing with beginning arthritis now, thinking I want a fish oil supplement in addition to what's in the food and my local Walmart has these

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Season-Brand-Skinless-And-Boneless-Sardines-In-Water-No-Salt-Added-4-25-Oz/39189066

If anyone finds really good bulk omega fatty acids in a refined form I could use them myself.  Dang things are expensive and I don't want to drink straight salmon oil.  We used to go fishing a lot and whatever parts we didn't find useful to eat I'd cut up into portions for the dogs.  Probably not near as good for omega fatty acids as something like salmon but it was free and from clean ponds or rivers.  We don't fish as often now.  I can't find anything more cost effective than salmon oil and chewy.com does have some bulk containers of it but we're currently feeding Fromm kibble instead of raw right now.  Far easier to mix oil and powders into raw than supplement kibble.  

We've just been using these for now https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YST5KZW .  Seriously smelly and a bit expensive compared to plain salmon oil but one of the best price for quality and quantity I found in easy to feed treat form instead of messy scoops of oil.  Aiko loves to run off with her food and spill or smear everything everywhere so she's very helpful when it comes to these things.  We had to get her a dog bowl that she can't pick up.  It resulted in massive squeaking and "rooooo" fits of frustration for several days.  

Bulksupplements.com is good for human grade products that are generally single ingredient but I don't remember what they have for omega fatty acid sources.  They do have hydrolyzed collagen from chicken or beef and beef bone broth in a powder so while it might not work for that particular supplement you can often find some rather random and useful stuff from them for other issues.

amymeme wrote:

I'm thinking of just using un salted, water pack sardines. Probably going to switch my dog food to diamond naturals light but it's on the low side for protein. Since we're dealing with beginning arthritis now, thinking I want a fish oil supplement in addition to what's in the food and my local Walmart has these

"light" foods can actually be worse for weight gain and nearly always are worse for health.  The companies concentrate on ways to reduce the calories but calories by themselves are not what make critters fat.  Especially carnivores.  If you notice with a raw diet the dogs practically never have a weight problem and are generally just fed less if they get a bit heavier than ideal rather than given low calorie alternatives.  Diet kibbles would be the opposite approach of raw since they tend to be filled with low nutrition plant products to try to reduce the calorie count instead of concentrating on healthier fat and protein sources.  It doesn't work nearly as well as improving the source of the calories and has higher odds of reducing overall health, energy, coat condition, and all those things that come with low quality kibbles.  You end up spending more on supplements to make up for the reduced nutrition.  

Diamond naturals light doesn't look to be an exception with things like white rice added in place of animal products in the ingredients list.  It's like swapping out every 4th bowl of your current dog food with a bowl of white rice or equivalent low nutrition grain.  Some people actually do something like that but they use green beans or other veggies with potentially useful vitamins/minerals. It avoids the downsides that something like another carb source would have and avoids adding calories or fats while still making the dog feel full for the day.  It's also usually cheaper to replace some normal kibble with healthy chewables that help provide the supplements you want to add anyway or at least neutral alternatives than to buy diet kibbles.

For joints you want glucosamine, chondroitin, and collagen proteins. Omega fatty acids are good to reduce inflammation that makes them stiff and uncomfortable but they don't actually help much in maintaining cartilage to slow the decline in joint function with age.  As the cartilage and connective tissue breaks down the inflammation will eventually far surpass what omega fatty acids can reduce.  The slower this happens the better.  Raw chicken feet, raw bones with connective tissue, antler chews, marrow only chews, and generally any edible body part made of something other than skin, muscle, or organ helps provide materials for keeping joints and connective tissue healthy.  You can also get refined supplements of course if you can't find a natural source that works for your dog and many of these things are relatively cheap compared to things like omega fatty acids and some other supplements for joint pain.  There's an asian store near us that keeps my over 10 year old akita and shiba supplied with chicken feet.  I also give them dried beef trachea tubes once or twice a week (too expensive for daily) and a mixed collagen protein supplement.  I started feeding those things some years ago and neither have symptoms of joint problems.  I should probably start including the older of our huskies that's around 7 now.

My akita does have a nerve issue in her back that makes her hindlegs weak. If it wasn't for that she insists she's 5 years old instead of closer to 15.  I haven't seen a need to give any of them pain killers or anti inflammatories specifically but my husband had to put her on a leash when outside this winter.  She plows her way through the snow to the back of the yard, wears out her back, and ends up having to be dragged back to the house.  Since she's not actually experiencing much discomfort she just keeps doing it and exacerbating that nerve issue in her spine.  Then along with needing to help her get back into the house she has more incidences of fecal incontinence.

(( edited by AJ to close Amymeme's quote ))

I have three (3) huskys. You might want to try https://alphadogfood.com/product-category/dog-food-2/ (Alpha Dog Food, recommended by a GS breeder/trainer). Alpha sells bulk and has a great following.

I purchase NuVet Vitamins (for the past 5 years). https://www.nuvet.com. My pups LOVE the vitamins.