Forgot to add, after you find the dosage for your dog, you can back off by roughly half, I think. May want to check on that.

The high dosage is said to be beneficial in times of stress.

Otherwise, your dog is just peeing out the excess. No reason to stay with the high dose all the time.

Honestly, I still don't know Turbo's maximum dose. I just give it as it is listed for a small dog.

 Quote: nora ferrell

I was thinking more along the line of the vitamin C that I take.

Is it the same or different. Also, if it's the same, is there some kind of mg dosage or something.

Yes, you can give the C you take.

I've seen alot of people here use Ester C. Don't know the difference.

All I know about vitamin C is that it is good for joints. With Turbo's "goofy" joints on his front legs, I wanted to at least try something to prevent them from degrading. And C is a water soluble vitamin, so is super safe and very hard to over do.

I don't know about a mg dosage. I'll look for sumthin' though, unless someone who knows beats me to it.

Ester C is buffered and is supposed to be easier on the stomach and better absorbed.

The common loading dosage is 500 mg for small, 1000-1500 for medium and Giant 2000 + per http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/supplements.html#VITAMIN C
and other sources.

Bear in mind, I would start low and work up. The general practice is to begin low, add more until diarrhea is achieved, then back off to a dosage that doesn't cause diarrhea. That is the optimum dosage. I haven't dosed to diarrhea but I dose to loose stool. Hambone is under 1000 and he weighs 36 pounds so he gets 500 mg of Ester C. Your girl should start, IMO, at 250 buffered C (if you can find it) and work up slowly. Some Vitamin C's that aren't buffered are very hard on the stomach. You don't want that.

One study I read suggested zinc with Ester C is better for the absorption process, but I would google that along with veterinary journal as your search word to make sure my memory is accurate. I don't give zinc with his Ester C, but his Phycox has C and zinc in it, so I think I am covered.

I just started using Ester C for my two dogs because of allergies.
I wanted to see if it helped to make a difference, but really, I have no real way of knowing because I also am giving some other things as well.
It is suggested as a supplement for dogs with allergies, so if figured it would be good to give it a try.
I give 500 mg's in morning meal and 500mg's at evening meal but I want to build them up to what Jo says, around 1500 - 2000 mg's eventually.
So far so good. I found some Ester C at Costco that was a good price, and it has the bioflavonoids, to also help with absorption.

Thanks, for all the advice.

I think I'll try the C.

Do yall supplement every day?

I'll start with the 205mg.

This is true. We add Flex oil to my dog's food sometimes for this reason (Flex oil is also high in Omega 3). For about seven months, we feed my dog deer meat. So, this meat should be close to natural as possible and contain the right nutrients. We also get our beef meat from local butcher who gets them from local farmers who raise their cattle moslty grass fed.

Regarding vitamin E -- I have mixed feelings regarding the effectiveness of supplmenets in general (both in humans and dogs), after reading a very good book called The China Study by Prof. Collin Cambell (I highly recommend it). Dr. Campbell wrote that it is incorrect to assume that nutrients in supplements are processed the same way by our bodies as the same nutrients in the natural products (he gives example). He claims that there is considerable evidance to indicate that taking most supplements is not beneficial and may even have negative effects. He wrote about human biology, but I assume that it applies also to dogs.

Vitamin E is found in most green leefy vegetables, corn, olives and nuts. I give my dog plenty of green leefy veggies.

Simon, venison is great for dogs!
Just keep in mind that feeding nothing but deer meat for seven months means the dog is getting no protein variety.

I'm not sure if you meant that he gets strictly venison for those seven months, but I just wanted to throw the disclaimer out there:

Dogs need a variety of protein sources. There is no SINGLE meat source that a dog could obtain enough variety from.
While venison is incredibly healthy for dogs, one should also feed other meat sources as well.
Lamb, chicken, beef, bison, fish, pork, etc.

(Overfeeding any given protein source is also considered to be a contributing factor in certain protein allergies, right Connie?)

I doubt that I would supplement E if I did not give fish oil.


I do use mixed tocopherols. If I recall, Dr. Campbell discusses d-alpha and dl-alpha E. More important to me is that I would have to throw away a huge amount of evidence supporting the increasing of Omega-3 fats in order to accept his overall premise.

Dr. Campbell is indeed qualified and authoritative, strong ties to PETA and strict vegan protocols notwithstanding, and I do have some anxiety that so much of his underlying premise is so contrary to most of the rest of nutritional science in this century. But it seems to go too far -- to be a little extreme. Still, there is much to learn in the book, IMHO. (Of course, you are talking about one of its topics, which is vitamins in the form of supplements.)

His findings and proposals about the intact micronutrients v. extracts and synthetics, I think are (and have always been) very valid.

However, we have created what is a profoundly flawed diet (IMHO) in North America and elsewhere, in which (IMHO) Omega 3 (and for dogs, long-chain 3s in particular) are drastically missing, and it's a recent development, in anthropological terms.

In order to address this challenge, I do think that marine sources of 3s are critical for dogs, and I do think that this oil supplementation creates a need for more E than is available in even a substantial amount of leafy greens (although I too feed them).

It's a problem. I agree that it's a problem. I think that we can just do what we can to the best of our understanding.


But back to the E supplementation - I believe that it's essential if we give oil supplements, and I do think we are doing well to give oil supplements.

All JMO.

Finally, Dr. Campbell's thesis of animal products being linked to just about every human ailment, with a big focus on coronary heart disease, is inapplicable to canids, who of course do not have the kind of heart disease we have. (Again, I do understand that you are not applying these parts of the book's arguments to dogs; I just wanted to make clear to others that much of this book is applicable to humans only.)

I have been watching reaction to Dr. Campbell's book and I'm astonished (really!) that it has not created more of a reaction. He is so qualified and is setting forth some stuff that goes against a great deal of the most recent and also-authoritative nutrition ideas, but there is relatively little uproar over it.... either pro or con. I have no idea why.

 Quote: Simon Raban

This is true. We add Flex oil to my dog's food sometimes for this reason (Flex oil is also high in Omega 3).

Can you link us to this? I didn't find it with a quick Google search.

Maybe Simon means "flax" oil? I couldn't find "Flex" oil either.