Hi everyone. I'm new to the board and hope to hear some of your opinions please - good or bad! I have a VERY healthy 2 year old Male French Bulldog.

I feed BARF and was thinking of starting to suppliment. Is supplimenting necessary if my dog is so healthy? The "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory.

If I do, it's down to Missing Link or Nupro so far. I did do a search here and found a few mentions of Missing Link but not many about Nupro.

Nupro's web site has me leaning toward their product but the store is highly recommending Missing Link. I was really wanting to know what anyone here has found using either them?

Or would it be advisable to use both and switch back and forth periodically? Sort of a cover all your bases idea. It didn't appear to me that Missing Link had as much in the way of vitamins.

Thanks for any input!

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I feed BARF and was thinking of starting to suppliment. Is supplimenting necessary if my dog is so healthy? ...... If I do, it's down to Missing Link or Nupro so far. ....

Hi, Cindy,

This is kind of hard to give opinions about because the term BARF is a big umbrella that covers many feeding plans. Some people feed RMBs only; some feed RMBs, fish, organ meats, yogurt, eggs and shells, a variety of green vegetables, some ripe fruit, and some pumpkin or squash. And a lot of people are somewhere in between.

I just looked at the ingredients of those two products. They look fine, depending on what you're aiming for with the supplement.

My dogs' food already includes kelp, some organ meats, yogurt (with active cultures), and both fish and distilled fish muscle oil, so there isn't much in Nupro, for example, that they aren't getting already. (I use fish oil rather than flaxseed for Omega-3 EFAs because I've met a couple of dogs with flax allergies, and because fish contains more of the EFAs; this is just a personal thing because of having dogs with allergies and secondary skin/ear infections.)

So you see that it's up to you and a review of your feeding program. For me, fish oil is a must because it's such a good anti-inflammation agent. It might not be quite as vital to, say, a dog who had no allergies to control and ate plenty of other Omega-3 EFA sources.

Here's a short discussion of supplements you might find helpful:
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm#sup

Hi Connie, thanks for writing!

I realize now how really vague it was for me to say "I feed BARF", so my apologizes to everyone. I use two raw brands available here that have meat with crushed bone, organ meat, kelp, yams, alfalfha, apple, mosasses, carrots, kale, garlic and an amino acid suppliment. Plus a few times a week a RM Bone to chew while watching t.v.! (I rotate between the meat sources of chicken, beef & turkey).

Thanks very much for the link on suppliments - excellent info and lots of help. I will let everyone know what we use and if I notice anything once we start. (Although, as it is, I've never had a healthier, happier pet before - feeding raw is amazing! This is the first time I've done it and will never look back)

Thanks again.

Cindy & Batman

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......... For me, fish oil is a must because it's such a good anti-inflammation agent.

Sorry......I forgot to mention that I use Vitamin E, too, because of using the fish oil. The dog's system uses Vitamin E to process oil supplements, so when I add oil supplements I also add mixed E tocopherols.

Even though E is one of the oil-soluble vitamins, I've read that it's safe in pretty high doses. I use about 200 IUs, but I'd use more on a bigger dog. Just MHO, and I'm afraid I don't have a reference at hand for it.