What Kind Of Calcium Supplement Ya'll Use?

[racindog]

I just used up the last bit of heavy metal free good Solid Gold bone meal that I hoarded from years ago when they carried it. They said they quit carrying it because of the difficulty locating it from a healthy source that did not have so many heavy metals etc. stored in the bone. I also used to use dicalcium phospate powder years ago but I really want to make sure the source is reliable and doesn't give me the Chinese version that now floods that market if I have to go that way. So what kind of Ca supplement do you guys use for raw feeding and where do you get it? I don't really raw feed enough bone, very little actually, mostly organ and muscle meat, so I need to supplement the Ca a little. Thanks!

[MaryJane]

I don't raw feed but I do home-made so I supplement with between 1500 to 2500 mg Calcium per day per dog and what I use is the Oyster shell calcium (500mg) from CVS pharamacy. Most human grade calcium has started to include vitamin D - oyster shell is one that doesn't. There is no notation of China sourcing on the bottle.

[Guest Swifthounds]

No calcium supplement here. No need to supplement if you feed a balanced raw diet including 10% edible bone. Dogs do get more than mere calcium from the bone content in their diet and fresh raw bone is far higher quality than any commercially sold bone meal.

[JohnF]

You have to be quite careful as giving too much Calcium can disturb the fine balance of nutrients in the body. It competes with Magnesium for absorption in the intestine and can compromise Zinc metabolism which is involved in new cell growth in conjunction with Vitamin E. Some even argue that it can promote Hip Displasia in puppies. Then there is the danger of Calcium Oxylate stones in the Urinary System. You can give Calcium Citrate to mitigate this, but then it might interfere with Aluminum metabolism. Bone Meal, which has a proper balance of Calcium and Phosphorus, is by far the best choice IMO.

 

I'd only want to give such supplemments if anyalysis showed the dog was short of the mineral, but even then I'd want to know why. For a heavily pregnant or lactatiting bitch it could be more important of course.

 

What does your vet say on this?

[Guest Swifthounds]

I'd only want to give such supplemments if anyalysis showed the dog was short of the mineral, but even then I'd want to know why. For a heavily pregnant or lactatiting bitch it could be more important of course.

 

I'm sure the OP will clarify, but it sounds to me that she isn't feeding another source of calcium, so it wouldn't be supplementing per se. Not that you can't overdo it, but not like supplementing on top of a main source.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Swifthounds

[racindog]

Thanks everybody. I was still searching around and found some nondescript place on the net that still had 200 jars of the old certified heavy metal free Solid Gold! Course the price has gone up accordingly but I'm just glad I could replenish my supply with what I'm used to and don't have to make any switches

[sweetdogs]

I feed bones so I only need to supplement during times of illness. For that I use ground eggshell powder - pure calcium carbonate. 1/2 tsp per pound of meat fed.