My GSD pup Brody is doing great! His ears came up as you can see in the pic, then his left one flopped down. I think it's because he is starting his teething phase. He's 14 weeks old now. I realize it will probably go back up, but I thought that some additional vitamin C wouldn't hurt.

Normally I feed raw in combination with Honest Kitchen Love. I mainly go by Lew Olsen's book with some others thrown in for good measure. The pup was on Acana Grasslands coming from the breeder, so I stuck with that (and added in some Orijen for variety) for ease of feeding and plan on transitioning him to raw when his current supply runs out. I do feed him HK Love in the mornings, then he gets his kibble and canned tripe at night.

My question is about the type of Vitamin C supplement. I see that Leerburg sells the Super C by Azmira. That uses calcium carbonate. I know you can get into trouble if you supplement calcium to a diet that is already "balanced", so I certainly don't want to do anything that could do him harm. I know Lew Olsen recommends calcium ascorbate.

Can I add in vitamin C even if it is buffered with calcium carbonate or delivered via calcium ascorbate? Or will either of those be supplementing too much calcium for him?

Here he is last weekend right before his left ear decided to flop:


Thanks!

Off hand, I don't know how much calcium we're talking about.

Do you know how much elemental calcium would be added per day with any of the supplements you mentioned?

Hi Connie...

The calcium ascorbate powder I bought (but haven't given him yet) has the following nutritional information:

Serving size: 1/4 teaspoon
Vitamin C (from calcium ascorbate) 890mg (1,483% daily value)
Calcium (from calcium ascorbate) 100mg (10% daily value)

I know those daily values are for humans. I am just not sure if giving him some of this is ok or if I need to find a vitamin C supplement that he can easily digest without any calcium in it.

Thank you!

bump

(I'll be less rushed tomorrow.)

Well, I had to look up how much C you would give a healthy puppy to see how much calcium would be associated with it (as calcium ascorbate).

I found suggested by several sources about 250 mg of C for 50 pounds of healthy dog. So you would adjust down to the puppy's weight, at 5 mg per pound. Also, to increase absorption and prevent GI upset, split into two doses at least 6 hours apart.

At that rate, the calcium is negligible.

I don't know how you'd devise a way to segregate 15% or so of 1/4 teaspoon, though (just guessing at his weight). I'm thinking it won't form a suspension in water, but I might be wrong.


Also, here's a pretty in-depth article about C for dogs:
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/1_7/features/5309-1.html

Thanks much Connie! I plan on adding it to his food at breakfast and dinner which are 12 hours apart. I'll do the math and then do my best to approximate the correct dosage!

I think those ears are going up no matter what you do, his head just needs to grow to fill out his loose skin a bit to provide more support.
The ones I worry about are creased and folded like a sheltie or collie, or flopped flat like a lab.

Thanks Betty! His left ear still goes up occasionally, but it's down most of the time now. I think his head needs to grow into them too. At the rate he's growing that should be any minute now!

Update: I have been feeding the C in very small amounts. I haven't really noticed any change in his ears. Here is a pic from yesterday. He is now 15 weeks old.

I'm hoping his ears will still go up naturally!

So the day after posting that update, both his ears are up. Figures! They are up real nice for awhile in the mornings, then they kind of flop again in the afternoon/evening except for when he's focused on chasing down a toy or my hands/ankles/anything else that moves.