Many dog owners feed their dogs with supplements in a bid to maintain the overall health and well-being of their pets. The reason many do this is the number of internet articles that advise folks to do so.
While the intention might be good, it doesn’t mean that the practice is valid and won’t end up being a mistake. Visit https://www.petcarerx.com/ to read about other 10 common mistakes that dog owners make. Many things could go wrong if you feed your dog the wrong kind of supplement. You have to even be sure that your poodle needs it in the first place.
Therefore, in this article, we will look at certain things that you must consider and know before you select any of these health products for your tyke. The information in this article will ensure that you don’t harm your mutt even though your intended to help them.
Without further ado, let’s begin…
Table of Contents
Does your Dog Need Supplements?
The first thing you need to realize about these health items is that they are not food. Hence, your canine buddy will probably do alright without them if they are eating a healthy balanced diet.
Your furry friend will only need its diet supplemented with certain nutrients for the following reasons below. If your dog doesn’t fall into any of the categories below, then it doesn’t need the products.
1. Suspected or Known Nutrient Deficiency
If your four-legged friend is diagnosed with a deficiency via its nutritional status analysis or blood test, you should consider supplementing. Another way a dog might have a certain nutrient deficiency is if the nutrient isn’t continued in its diet. As a pet parent, if you discover that your pet isn’t getting a particular nutrient in its diet, you need to get supplements to balance out the deficiency.
Even if you are feeding your dog commercially made dog food, you shouldn’t just assume that it has all your pet needs. While they might contain the required nutrients, they might not be ideal for your pooch. You can head to the Cheef Botanicals site to find out more about the daily dog-required vitamins intake.
Hence, you shouldn’t trust the labels and ads of those products. Instead, you should speak with a nutritionist who will then help you calculate the optimal level and then ascertain the deficiencies. This way, you can safely administer the supplements to your mutt without any fear.
When supplements are given to compensate and cover for deficiencies, you are bound to see improvement in the general health of your dog.
2. Optimizing Therapeutic Dosages
We do not like it, but dogs get sick too. When this happens, they are given medicines to help them recover. Sometimes, they have to be given supplements as a means of optimizing certain nutrient dosages. This is called therapeutic supplementation. Therapeutic supplementation involves giving your sick dog a high quantity of certain nutrients to enable its body to fight the disease ailing it.
Preventive supplementation is another method used to prevent the disease immediately it starts. This is only possible if the health challenge can be predicted and the product has been proven to be very effective.
As we said, if your dog doesn’t fall into the categories above, you have no business feeding it with supplements. However, if it does, don’t just rush down to the store, read the next section first.
Common Mistakes People Make with Dog Supplements
Before you get a supplement for your dog, consider these mistakes carefully to avoid hurting your furry pal.
1. Over-Supplementing
This mistake is the most common and it refers to giving your mongrel supplements in excess. We know that this isn’t intentional but it is very dangerous all the same.
You could cause your puppies to suffer bone deformities if you over-supplement with calcium and mineral poisonings when you overdose them on some particular minerals.
The most common over-supplementing cases have been recorded to be those nutrients that your dog needs high quantities of such as iron, calcium, zinc, and copper. If these nutrients are missing, your canine could suffer certain health problems. For instance, iron deficiency will cause anemia. Click here to read about how to treat anemia in dogs.
2. Imbalances
There are certain nutrients that you must feed your poodle in a particular ratio to a different nutrient. If you fail to do this, it could lead to harmful imbalances in the body of your pet.
For example, the ratio of calcium to phosphorus in any diet must be around 1:1 & 2:1. Anything above this will lead to an imbalance which can cause rickets in younger growing pups, while older hounds might suffer from osteoporosis.
Hence, you realize how important it is to contact your nutritionist and vet before you start administering supplements to your beloved poodle.
3. Bad Interactions
It is no secret that some supplements contain some medicinal herbs which are very good in themselves but can be harmful when they mix with some types of medications. For instance, Digoxin interacts badly with vitamin E. The presence of vitamin E might cause your pooch to suffer Digitalis overdose even though the amount ingested is normal.
Therefore, if you find herbs listed in the product you want to buy or are buying, you should consult your vet. Find out if they are okay for your canine buddy especially if it is receiving any form of medication.
Conclusion
We know that you are concerned about the general well-being of your dog. However, it doesn’t mean you should just go out there and get any supplement for your pet. There are things you should know before you do so. These things have been discussed in the article above.
