Diets : To supplement or not to supplement ?

I don't show or compete.  But, I give my dogs supplements.  The elder gets Liquid Glucosomine.  And, all of them get extra fish oil daily.  They are on a salmon based, grain free diet  What do you feed?

I'm currently feeding Purina Pro Plan "Performance" to my rottweilers.  Its' been recomended to me by many other breeders. It provides good nutrition and lacks alot of the fillers (meal) found in alot of commercial foods. I do supplement for competions though. I use a multi-vitamin for them regularly. As well , I start a regimine of weight gainers and muscle builders durring workouts about 2 months prior to the shows.

 If I owned Rotties, I'd be supplementing HEAVILY with high quality antioxidants, AND I'd be feeding fresh fruits and veggies (organic only) with their kibble, every single day. A breed so prone to dying of cancer (and so young! Heartbreaking!) can use all the support it can get. I'd probably also give them a joint supplement, and if any of them are super easy keepers, I give a multivitamin. My late JRT ate slightly under half what the bag suggested. I gave her a regular, pet multi (I ordered it from Petmeds, one of the only I found she'd tolerate) along with her kibble, every evening. I did see a difference, adding the vitamin.

Believe me , they're well cared for considering the potential health problems. However , those of us who are carefull breeders take all of the steps in attempt to weed out those issues. Carefull screening of the dogs eyes , heart , hips , and elbows must pass x-rays before we even consider breeding for a potential litter. I also breed for FCI standards. Natural tailed rottweilers only. If your looking for a good multi vitamin , check a link on my my-space page.  www.  myspace. com / bmorerottdog1 . The stuff on the link is great for high energy and performance breeds.

I do not supplement any of my dogs.  Two of them both train for sport/performance and show/have shown.  The GSDs are weaned to a good quality food and to NOT eat a "puppy" formula because I want sloooooow steady growth.  All three of my dogs are healthy with no allergies/sensitivities, no major health issues.  I feed a good quality kibble, table scraps (they lick dishes, I toss them a cracker or piece of cheese here and there, etc), training treats are usually cooked meat or food roll, and occasional raw marrow bones.  I do rotate the kibble "variety" (protein and carb source) with each bag or two. 

Personally, as long as the main food is good and the dogs are healthy, the coat is strong and shiny and doesn't smell, the dogs are active, and well-muscled I see no reason to start adding supplements, vitamins, etc.  If the diet needs more variety and balance, I'd rather achieve that with the food itself and not additional supplements and vitamins.  For example, if the coat is dry or stinky, I'd ask myself what part of the current diet is causing this, rather than start throwing in a coat supplement.  If the dog needs muscle definition, I'll work in more strength exercises and road work, not pour on some supplement that's supposed to increase muscle mass.

I'm kind of there with Liesje on this one about vitamins. I think a good dog food should give him the vitamins and minerals he needs.   But because I do have a Great Dane that I worry about with bloat I supplement with a probiotic.  I also give Vit. C when I feel he is not feeling well....and Milk Thistle when he gets HW prevention or after vaccinations.

I also worry about bloat, but the more I read, the more I believe it's a combination of genetics, and it just happening.  I've heard of dogs bloating on raw, kibble, dry food, moistened food, eating from raised bowls, eating off the ground, exercising too soon before/after, NOT exercising at all before/after, etc etc.  Basically I just never feed a dog more than 2 cups of food at a time, do not feed immediately before or after a long period of exercise, and encourage drinking water with meals.  All of my dogs will belch after they eat which is a good sign that any gas they have is easily coming out.  The rest I leave up to genetics and fate.

Liesje

All of my dogs will belch after they eat which is a good sign that any gas they have is easily coming out. 

OT - but thanks for this.  We have a belcher too, and I have wondered many times if it was a good thing.... but I was always a bit nervous to take her to the vet and say, "help! she belches! is something wrong?"  I'd feel a bit silly, ya know? 

I don't know if it's good that they belch in general, but *if* the dog gets gassy, the belching means that the gas is coming out, rather than bloating.  On another board is someone who's dog was continuously bloating (like every day) and she said if he belched, he wouldn't bloat, but if he didn't belch, he would bloat after that meal.  My dogs all scarf their food pretty fast so I think in my case, the belching is a good sign.

Liesje

I also worry about bloat, but the more I read, the more I believe it's a combination of genetics, and it just happening.

I personally know more Shepherds that went down to bloat then Danes...athough I am on a few Dane forums and you are right....raw fed, kibble fed, raised or non raised bowl....you name it have bloated.  BUT I think one thing is pretty much been decided is that  stress plays a major part of bloat.   

Not sure that belching is a good thing or not but the one good thing about it is that if hey do belch...I suppose that means they are not bloating then..because one sign of bloat is trying but not being able to vomit or belch.   So belching is a good sign. However dogs that belch all the time...not sure that is good. You know Bubblegum never belched that I was aware of...until the last few months of her life....and she ended up with megasophagus not that long after she started belching.    

As far as supplementing....I was looking up something yesterday about food...out of all the things I have been saving over the years.....things in a file cabinet that I might want to go back to... ( but never able to find...lol ) But this is from Linda Arndt...the Great Dane Lady...she sent this to me years ago when I was taking care of Ollie...the Great Dane.  A lady at a Natural Pet Store that was in our neighborhood...talked Mike ( Ollies Dad ) into buying Dog Bloom and probiotics...years ago before many people around here started talking about them. I eventually wrote to Linda for help with him and his allergies.  She wrote back that "you cannot use any vitamins such as Dog Bloom with the super premium products. If you do you are unbalancing his diet and maybe adding to his problems.

Ive always been parinoid about bloat. I guess its probably because I know many dogs who have died from it.
Whatever it is that causes it (size/weight, breed, genetics, etc) Im just not willing to risk it. Bailey doesnt get fed right after exercising hard, and doesnt get to run around for at least an hour after.

Bailey gets supplements, and he is on a BARF diet. He gets salmon oil, and bee pollen because of his allergies. They were horrible, which is why I started trying him out on different supplements to see if they made any difference, and these 2 are the ones that seemed to help.

Hey Liesje . All very valid points in reguards to supplementing and the bloat thing as well. Bloat is a common issue with rottweilers as well and always a concern. Beautifull GSD's by the way. My five yr. old male is a belcher. But I never thought much about it. Figured maybe could use a course on table manners. Ha , Ha . The puppy food thing... I just got a new puppy . It's been a while since I've raised a pup. My five yr. old I got at 22 months. The breeder and I are good friends , he's kind of mentoring me through the stages of building my kennel , breeding and trainging , as well as showing. He has advised me to not use the "large breed" puppy food as it often causes  the bone to grow too fast in these dogs. As I stated before , they're fed the perfomance stage of the Purina Pro Plan dog food. So far so good. I considered strictly  a raw food diet. However , after much research descided against it. Not because I didn't feel that it was a good idea , but more so that there is so much involed in making sure that everything is correct and properly balaced. Alittle to much potential for error for me.

bmorerottdog1

He has advised me to not use the "large breed" puppy food as it often causes  the bone to grow too fast in these dogs.

I might be wrong...but I think that they advise to not feed puppy food to large breed dogs.....but the "puppy food for large breeds" is usually formulated so that they don't grow too quickly. 

I do know that Eagle Pack for large breeds is recommended for the giant breeds such as Danes.....purposely for that.   Not sure how many other companies make puppy food for large breeds....but I have to think that if they do that keeping them from growing too quickly should be their main priority.

Boy do I know what you mean about making sure that everything is correct and properly balanced when feeding raw......because I feel exactly the same in that I want to home cook for Gibson.....but that is what I am afraid of also...especially while he is young and still growing.

bmorerottdog1

 He has advised me to not use the "large breed" puppy food as it often causes  the bone to grow too fast in these dogs.

This is exactly what I was told as well.  My GSD puppy was weaned on to an "all life stages", high quality kibble and also got Innova EVO canned because he was taking Panacur powder for de-worming.  His hips and elbows looked great at 7 months.  Right now he is 17 months old, 24", and 70lbs which is smaller and much lighter than many male GSDs even younger than him, but well within the standard.  I really do not like massive, over-sized dogs.  I like a dog that matures slowly and ends up within the standard so he is athletic and fast.  Even though he might be "small" relative to other male GSDs, many people are scared of him!  He doesn't look or act small!

I also like the idea of raw but don't have enough confidence to do it.  Also I don't have enough freezer space to hold bulk raw food for 3 large dogs and 3 cats.  I've had great luck with a high quality, limited ingredient kibble (with no corn, wheat, soy, or gluten).  The dogs get their "variety" from random table scraps or licking my dishes, and every once in a while I cook them up meat that is getting old or buy them raw marrow bones.  The type of kibble I use has three different formulas so I rotate that as well (chicken/rice, lamb/rice, herring/sweet potato).