Guest nicolapez Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 should i give my greyhound any other vitamins than what she gets in her daily food diet? right now she is on royal canin high fiber calorie control for IBD diagnosis shes doin ok now p.s she seems to be shedding profusely is that normal or does it need to be helped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAVED2 Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Dont know the whole story but the shedding could be normal , just brush her , fish oil will help with new coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nicolapez Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Dont know the whole story but the shedding could be normal , just brush her , fish oil will help with new coat. thats what we thought i got some but haven't tryed it yet we have had her for a pretty long time well.....5 1/2 months her hair feels more coarse then some others could she be shedding her track coat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahicks51 Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 A fish oil capsule daily will help; but some greys have naturally coarse coats. If you find it coming out, a "Zoom Groom" will help take out much of the loose fur during shedding. Quote Coco (Maze Cocodrillo) Minerva (Kid's Snipper) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nicolapez Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 A fish oil capsule daily will help; but some greys have naturally coarse coats. If you find it coming out, a "Zoom Groom" will help take out much of the loose fur during shedding. ok thanks we have a "bamboo" brush anyone having the same problems ps can it cause anything? (health) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beautybabe Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 About the coat--we give our boys brewer's yeast with garlic. We get it at the local pet food store--1000 "tasty" chew tabs for about $12.00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandm Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 If she's got IBD and is doing well on her special diet, then I would be very careful about adding any oral supplements like fish oil or brewers yeast to help her coat. The food should be complete and contain everything she needs for adequate nutrition. Probably it is low-fat and that is why her coat is not as smooth as other greyhounds that are fed a higher-fat diet. My greyhound has an extremely sensitive stomach and cannot tolerate much fat. Suprisingly, he tolerates butter better than other processed fats or oils. But the easiest fat to digest, for most dogs, is raw meat fat. Depending on where you live, the excessive shedding may just be seasonal. It is already winter where I live, so we had our seasonal shedding a while back, but if you live in a more moderate climate, she may just be blowing her summer coat -- totally normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nicolapez Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 ok thanks i was curious about the use of brewers yeast and garlic. you are right having the IBD under control is the best thing. well it might just be seasonal but it started geting cold almost two months ago and she was fine for a while and then started shedding she shedded excessively twice now she still shedding ........ a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemandvm Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 If you feed a good food, vitamin supplements are not necessary. The only things I will generally add outside of teh diet are fatty acids and glucosamine. With any vitamin/glucosamine/fatty acid product you have to be careful about the source you are using as the government does nto regulate them the same way they do prescription drugs. Many substances do not have in them what is guaranteed on teh label and when you are dealing with fish oils you have to worry about mercury levels as well. When using Fatty acids I prefer to stick to companies I trust and products like 3v caps or 3v HP caps (made by DVM), Wellactin (made by Nutramaxx) or Nordic Naturals (this is actually where i get the fatty acid supplement I take personally). I would ask your vet if they think adding a fatty acid is worth while or if the IBD would have them recommending against it. Quote Bill Lady Bella and Sky at the bridge "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." -Anabele France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahicks51 Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 Many substances do not have in them what is guaranteed on teh label and when you are dealing with fish oils you have to worry about mercury levels as well. I have not seen any good data to support the idea that fish oil supplements present a reasonable mercury risk. First off, organic mercury is not fat-soluble. Secondly, fish oil these days is often (always?) treated (distilled) to remove what little mercury exists: From a 2005 study: www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/fsis8005.pdf 9 samples of 100 had detectable mercury; detection limits were at 0.0014 mg/kg, or 1.4 parts per billion. The EPA limit for mercury in drinking water is higher than that (2 ppb). The Environmental Defense Fund asked companies how they controlled mercury and PCBs in fish oil supplements: http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=19376 http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=16536 80% replied that they conformed with FDA regulations for mercury, PCBs, and dioxins; the results are given in that second link as to the companies whose products they recommend. Also note from the January 2005 Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, "The levels of polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorines were all below the detectable limit" in OTC fish oil supplements. From the same publication, Measurement of Mercury Levels in Concentrated Over-the-Counter Fish Oil Preparations: Is Fish Oil Healthier Than Fish?, Foran et al. found that "The levels of mercury in the 5 different brands of fish oil ranged from nondetectable (<6 μg/L) to negligible (10–12 μg/L). The mercury content of fish oil was similar to the basal concentration normally found in human blood." If there are studies indicating that currently available product is dangerous, I'd be interested in those numbers as I consume the stuff myself. Quote Coco (Maze Cocodrillo) Minerva (Kid's Snipper) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemandvm Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 In theory, fish oil supplements are thought to be less likely to contain significant levels of mercury then eating real fish... but that doesn't mean that they could not. Clearly if companies are willing to put products on the market that fail to contain what their label says, it wouldn't shock me to find out that a company cut some steps out in trying to save money and COULD allow higher levels of mercury. Again... the government does not regulate these types of products the way that they do prescription drugs. So for me if I am dealing with vitamins, glucosamine, fish oil, etc. I am going to use a company I trust and prefer for them to have research on their own product vs. generic fish oil or generic glucosamine research. Consumber labs does a good job of testing various products and their finding also echoed the lack of mercury toxicity in fish oil caps... but again they only tested 51 products... and there are probably thousands on the market. http://www.consumerlab.com/results/omega3.asp I also take a fish oil product myself... but I did a lot of research before deciding on what product I would use. Just a quick note from a recent vet journal: "Regulation of animal dietary supplements is in "disarray," according to a new report from the National Research Council. Teh report, requested by teh FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, says the growing use of such supplements has raised several concerns, including the safety of specific supplements and approaches to determine their safeness." Quote Bill Lady Bella and Sky at the bridge "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." -Anabele France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tennesseegrey Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 I'm going to start Caesar on Ox-E-Drops. He has Osteosarcoma but it appears to help with many things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest longdogs Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 If you are feeding good food with varied additions, you don't need anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gryhnd3 Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Sorry to hijack this thread, but otherwise was going to create a new one asking about vitamins as well. Today the vet suggested we may want to give our almost 12 year old female a vitamin supplement. This came up because she has lost some weight and I asked if perhaps we should add something to her diet so she might gain a little weight. She has quite a few health issues going on. She has stenosis, bad arthritis (at least in the paws and one toe in particular), and she has broken the same hind leg twice (years ago). The vet said he really would not want to see her gain 5lbs with her joint issues, ie more weight to have to carry around. She currently gets what I feel is a good quality kibble - Fromm's Whitefish & Potato; 6 Springtime Joint Supplement pills daily, 1000mg Fish oil pill 2x daily, and 1 tablet Bee Propolis (got that to try to help with the occasional corns, and it is supposed to have anti-immune, anti-inflammatory, etc. properties). She also gets Adequan shot around every 5 weeks. The vet had noticed her shedding and I guess thought the vitamin might help with that also, but our male is shedding also, so I don't think it's related to any deficiency on her part. What are your thoughts - would a vitamin supplement do anything for her, or same as for the OP, if they are on a good quality dog food, vitamins would not add to that? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemandvm Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 You could certainly increase her fatty acid supplementation. Most of the 1000mg fish oil capsules only contain about 180 of EPA when you look at the label. A dog could take 1 capsule per 10 lbs. of body weight as a good dose. Problem is they get a lot of "extra" stuff taking that many 6-8 capsules per day so I prefer to stick with more concentrated or balanced products like 3V caps, 3V HP caps or Nordic Naturals cod liver oil. There are many other good supplements such as Wellactin but I don't have room to list all the good ones. You just have to be careful not to go out to Sam's and simply shop for the best price on vitamins or supplements b/c they may or may not contain what is reported on teh label. If you want to use a supplement, stick with a company you or your vet trusts and maybe pay a little extra if necessary. Personally... I think vitamin supplements are a waste if the dog is on a good quality kibble. Glucosamine or fatty acids are different, however. Quote Bill Lady Bella and Sky at the bridge "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." -Anabele France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JustLiverTreats Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 everyone here - real kid and fur kids - take a cod liver oil capsule every day....and get this - ALL 3 chew them....even my son - he has been taking the capsules since he was a small kid and doesn't think that the taste is nasty at all - lol...someone gave me a bottle of Arctic Vigor which i will try out eventually i guess.... the dogs also get a probiotic each day for the raw feeding but when those run out i won't give them anymore unless there appear to be issues.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gryhnd3 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Yeah, I do have the bottle of fish oil tablets from Sam's Club. I had also read that it is possible that the oil may help with joints. It really seems like she is beyond repair at this point, but I still try everything just in case it helps her a little bit. I will look for cod liver oil or better quality fish oil pills. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nicolapez Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 ok i have also used 1:halo vitagro dream coat 2:grizzly salmon oil the grizzly brand made her shiny but not very soft and the halo brand makes her soft and i want to stop the grizzly but could i keep her on the halo brand? is it healthy to give it to her on a daily basis (long term) just wondering anything helps thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CarriesMom Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Our vet recomended Safflower Oil, which is pure Vitamin E, instead of using Derma Caps...and much cheaper too! Just a teaspoon daily, and you will notice a huge difference in a week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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