Quote: Aaron Myracle

.... salmon oil and vitamin E are the only *musts* to supplement dogs with.

So then would you call it THE supplement?

 Quote: Michael_Wise

If only there were a supplement that we could all agree was essential for a dog to have a perfect diet.....

Yeah. Then we could call it THE supplement!

THE supplement, even.

WOW ok, ok i get it i should be feeding my dog omega 3 / 6 - i skimmed the thread will get the details later - and vit. E to process it whatever.

one question - and i do not doubt you guys - but if these "ESSENTIAL" things are so essential how come most evryone i know including greyhound trainers, sport triallers, show people, security guards, hunters, breeders, pet owners...aren't aware of it???

do i just hang around the few ignorant people that don't know, and why aren't their dogs all dead for lack of ESSENTIAL chemicals??? just sayin.

and noone mentioned what these ESSENTIAL things actually do for the dog, and how did wild dogs survive witout them - again i only skimmed.

my ex old lady worked for a major pharmaceutical company and had top quality supplements for free, she never used them and belived they were the greatest con act for a public in the developed world with too much disposable income, of course that does not apply to people with various defiencies THEN the are more valid.

me going to "Duck & Cover" now waiting for big fall-out.

PS noone mentioned quantities of Vit. E / omega etc and when to feed at what age etc - details.

ciao

Peter, in addition to omega-3 fish oil and Vitamin E, I personally supplement with calcium and digestive enzymes. This is because I feed a homemade, cooked diet (yes, I know, not especially popular on this site, but it is covered in the aforementioned book). Calcium supplementation is needed because I am not feeding bones, and I use the author's brand of digestive enzymes because cooking meat does deplete them.

Edited by Cheri Grissom (01/25/2011 09:12 AM)
Edit reason: correct punctuation

 Quote: peter cavallaro

one question - and i do not doubt you guys - but if these "ESSENTIAL" things are so essential how come most evryone i know including greyhound trainers, sport triallers, show people, security guards, hunters, breeders, pet owners...aren't aware of it???

do i just hang around the few ignorant people that don't know, and why aren't their dogs all dead for lack of ESSENTIAL chemicals??? just sayin.

I'll bet many of those dog people you mention do feed their dogs a fish oil supplement. This is not that big a secret. It's the first thing generally offered to dogs that itch, which is a pretty good indication of inflammation.

Nobody or their dog drops dead from nutritional deficiency. Bodies are designed to limp along at a sub-par state for years and years before degenerating. Poor nutrition in dogs is expressed in things like poor skin and haircoat, chronic ear problems, flatulence, enormous piles of soft poop, stool-eating, rotten teeth, fatty tumors, painful joints and overweight...all things that lots of Americans seem to think is "normal" for their dogs.

Whole Dog Journal had a very good review of books about raw feeding recently--which ones are good, which ones are incomplete--and why. "Raw Dog Food" by Carina Beth MacDonald is one that gets their recommendation as a very good starter book about creating a properly balanced raw diet without getting too complicated. (They also like Billinghurst's books, but admit his information is disorganized and sometimes confusing.)

The most recent edition of the magazine has a review of books focused on cooked canine diets (and the shocking lack of calcium in most of them).

I'm a pretty big fan of The Whole Dog Journal and think their advice is the best out there.


http://leerburg.com/970.htm



Edited by Tracy Collins (01/25/2011 10:27 AM)
Edit reason: added link to book

Which ones did they not like, Tracy?

I didn't know there were that many out there.

Heck, even the FDA was forced to admit in 2004 that Omega 3 reduces the risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterol.

WDJ didn't recommend "Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet" --Kymythy R. Schultze

They also didn't love "Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones" --Tom Lonsdale (actually, they rating they give is "Recommended with reservations") because of the whole-prey model that it espouses. Not because it's not a fine way to feed, but because it is impractical for most people and severely limits the types of food most people can feed.

The Billinghurst books were also given a "Recommended with reservations" because of their general disorganization.

"Switching to Raw: A Fresh Food Diet for Dogs That Makes Sense" --Susan K. Johnson also got "Recommended with reservations"

This month's article about cooked diets had way more bombs. There were few of those diet books that it recommended. It seems it's much harder to mess up a raw diet than a cooked one. ;-)