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Dog Supplements May Not Be Necessary

from: Kyle Besser

If you use a good quality meat meal based dog food, you usually do not have to supplement your dog's ration. In fact, it is very easy to throw the dog nutrition formulation of some of the specialty dog foods out out of balance if you add supplements. Adding a little of this and a little of that is a cultural mentality handed down from the time when dog foods weren't complete and needed supplementation.

Breeders often advocate dog nutrition supplements and many send their clients home with long lists of additives they should use, including vitamins, minerals, dairy products, oils and other potions. These breeders turn a deaf ear to advice from veterinarians or canine nutritionists who suggest a good basic diet and a minimum of supplementation.

Dog food supplements supporters aren't usually thinking along behavioral lines. Since they rarely have difficulty house training their dogs themselves, they don't consider that not everyone is so knowledgeable. Over supplementation can easily produce loose stools and make control difficult for the dog. Coat conditioners, for example, can easily be withheld from the diet until the puppy is house trained. The puppy doesn't need them anyway if it is eating a good quality food. In most breeds the puppy coat has to grow out naturally anyway.

If your breeder or pet store operator gives you a list of supplements, start asking questions. Ask whether these supplements are necessary if you use a high quality dog food. Ask how these supplements will affect your house training progress. Ask if it is necessary to add the supplements right away or can wait until house training is accomplished.

For example, many breeders routinely recommend giving vitamin C even though the jury is still out on the relationship between mega doses of vitamin C and hip dysplasia, which is a congenital ailment that plagues many larger breeds. Whether or not vitamin C helps ward off hip dysplasia is still not known, vitamin C can have a diarrheic effect on many dogs, and this complicates the house training process.

Human food should be avoided as a matter of good behavioral policy, especially during house training. Oils and people foods, especially those high in fat easily "oil up" the intestines and cause stools to "slide out" quite unexpectedly. Dairy products are also dangerous additives and produce runny stools in some dogs. Dog treats that are full of preservatives or dyes, often to make them look more like meat, can also disrupt a dog's digestion and complicate house training.

Good general dog nutrition advice is to stay away from supplements during the house training process. Use minimal or no additives later on. When you use dog nutrition supplements, you run the risk of overdosing and creating problems. Feed a balanced quality dog diet instead to meet your dog nutrition needs.