# Dog food and supplements.



## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

I have been doing more research on dog foods, and looking at the best brands, comparing, ect.

So far I have tried, Evo, Wellness Core, Merrick, Evangers, Natures Variety, Halo and Blue Buffalo.

My dog did the BEST on Evo, and Merrick. 
On the dog forums, they praised Evo and things like Orijen, and Innova. But I have found sites that list then as 2 star foods, and on Dog food analysis they are all 6 star foods. The next best thing to Raw.

I am confused, I would assume Evo would be a great dog food, as it is has no bad ingredeints, is mostly meat, grain free, ect. I am hearing mixed reviews all of a sudden.


My dog is currently on Merrick kibble, and he not only likes it but he is doign better on it. No random diarrhea, no loose stools, and he does not smell.
Before this he was on Wellness Core, which although I have heard great things about, he did poorly on.
Also take into account he is a 10 pound Chihuaha with a sensitive stomach.

He has BOTH his back legs with Luxating Patallas, which means his knees dislocate when he walks, so I keep him at the Ideal athletic weight at all times to avoid adding any pressure on his legs, he also gets to swim in the deep bathtub to build muscle mass lol.
So it's pretty essential he be getting the best nutrition he can get.

He also gets Glucosomine/Chondroten tablets daily to hopefully help his bad joints, and he gets raw chicken and organs on occasion a few times a month.
Does anyone have any advice on supplements? I feel those multivitamins are silly if a dog is getting adequate nutrition from it's food

ONE more question lol. I chose to opt out of giving him monthly Flea/Tick treatments because A)they are pure chemicals, and he is a sensitive tiny dog B) He is never exposed to tall grass or dog parks and
BUT last night I found what I thought was a tick and gave him the treatment, are there any negative things that can come of the treatments? Or am I better off giving a flea/tick bath and not giving ANY monthly treatments.
He does get monthly heart worm pills, and if it's better, I will get the ones that also prevent Fleas and ticks.


----------



## Terpsichore (May 28, 2011)

I do not have dogs, but I think that if you feel your dog is getting accurate nutrition, then there is no need to supplement. I only give my cats a supplement because they require an essential mineral, taurine, that breaks down when meat is cooked. If you are worried about vitamins and such, maybe you could occasionally treat him with some veggies.

As for tick and flea treatment, I would consider a few things. If the dog is young, I notice that young animals are more prone to ticks than older animals. When my cat was young, she got ticks daily from being an indoor/outdoor cat. They were always very small and in the worst places, around the eyes and mouth and right next to the base of the whiskers. So naturally she really needed it, but as she got older, she just stopped getting ticks. I would also check how common Lyme disease is in your area. If there have been any recent outbreaks, I would probably go for the treatment. Also, if you have foxes around, you might want to get a treatment that prevents fox mange. If you are in a very urban area, then perhaps it is not necessary. If you are in something like the suburbs, than you will not need to run through grass to get ticks or fleas. I once had three ticks on me in one day, and I was at school, which was in a suburban area.

I assume from how much consideration you are putting into the diet that your dog is fully vaccinated. However, you should be aware that the PARVO vaccine does not always prevent it. There was an outbreak of PARVO when I worked at a shelter during high school, and I do not know if they vaccinated for it, but by the time the cat part of the shelter reopened, there was maybe 1/10 of the cats that were there before the outbreak.

Also, if you do choose to use flea and tick prevention, you could probably use it only during the spring and summer. I noticed that ticks are at their worst in the spring. I think if you want to know about the side effects, I would ask your vet.


----------



## sorraia (Nov 10, 2007)

If the diet is adequate, there should be no need for supplements, under normal circumstances. SOME animals may require supplements for SOME nutrients (such as your dog requiring joint supplements), but a multi-vitamin should not be necessary under normal circumstances with a healthy animal receiving an adequate diet.

As for flea and tick treatments... very controversial believe it or not. I do not regularly treat my cats and dogs. I do not want to over load their system with unnecessary chemicals, especially if they don't need them. Normally a healthy animal's body should be able to defend itself against parasites. This doesn't mean ignore the situation completely, but it may make it unnecessary to use a regular treatment. I keep treatments on hand, in case I need them. Normally I do not. I watch my animals behavior and skin/coat condition. If I notice evidence of parasites (if there are enough that I see them, there is a problem) or my animals' behavior has changed (excessive itching or scratching, my one dog will actually get an allergic reaction to flea bites), I will give them a treatment. Usually one treatment at the beginning of spring or summer is all that's necessary, if needed at all. Part of this depends on weather too, some years favor flea/tick populations more than others.


----------



## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

When feeding a diet that mostly compromises kibble (which for us it has come down to due to the insanely high cost of any fresh meat around where I live, I catch sales when I can but most of it ends up being poultry or pork since beef and fish costs are insane even for us to eat that much of) and only a bit of raw, I supplement human grade bee pollen, fish or organic flax oil, a probiotics with digestive enzymes blend, and Solid Gold Berry Balance. I haven't had any issues with this, and feel it's helpful since it's natural sources of nutrients whereas a good portion of nutrients are cooked or processed out of meat when the kibble is being made.

Personally I'm hesitant to use EVO now that P & G has taken over the company. I'm a huge fan of Nature's Variety Instinct kibble (and their raw too, though it's very expensive here), I've had nothing but good luck with the Instinct (grain free) and it's very high quality and meat-based. Another great meat-based high quality food is Nature's Logic; I'd feed that if I could get it anywhere close to locally, but I can't so I go with other good brands instead.


----------



## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

while i don't know a super lot about dog nutrition, we do have a family aussie cattle dog who is currently being fed orijen puppy formula and she is doing fantastic on it. she was used to being fed purina ) when we got her, and it took her a while to adjust to how rich the orijen is. she had some really nasty farts and diarrhea for about 3 weeks lol


----------

