Vitamin supplements

Hi Todd,  welcome to I-dog. I also do agility with my guys.  I feed a good quality kibble as well as the occasional raw bone and my guys are doing great on that.  I don't really give them any added vitamins per say, but they do get other types of supplements such as glucosamine for joint health and yucca for our older lab.  Not sure what it is you mean by a "boost" do you mean you want more energy, better coat, etc?  There are usually different supplements that target certain areas although I know that cetain amino acids and oils can be good as well.  I also have a horse that gets a joint supplement and used to be on other oils, etc.  A barn owner explained it best to me by saying that if you feed a good quality food you shouldn't have to give extra supplements in order to get a shiny coat or more energy, etc.  Their balanced diet should provide all that.  This makes sense to me.  (This is assuming the animal doesn't have any special needs).  When my horse began getting a different feed I no longer had to supplement her with anything else except for the joint meds.

Good Luck! 

Dasher,

Thanks for the response.  Similar to what you do, my agility dogs get a daily dose of Cosequin.  I guess what I'm after here is a good quality muti-vitamin that ensures they are getting enough A, C, E, K, etc. as well as the trace minerals.

thanks again,

todd

Have you thought about using a digestive enzyme to increase the absorption of the nutrients already present in the food?   Alot of people (myself included) have found that ProZyme works well.   If you're not interested in upgrading the actual diet, a high quality enzyme supplement will simply maximize the nutritional benefit of the food. 

Christine,

I did a web search and found ProZyme's website.  They are offering free samples so I ordered one.  Thanks for the idea.

One question comes to mind.  Have you noticed any side effects/problems?   I ask this because the enzyme is not broken down by stomach acid.  It looks like a great product and I'm looking forward to trying it.

thanks again,

todd

I have not experienced any negative side effects whatsoever - only positive!  I only use enzymes in very specific situations though, as Slick is raw fed and doesn't need them on a daily basis.  

I have 2 basenjis who are 8 and 9 years old and one malinois who is 2.5ish.  Both basenjis are current agility dogs (one has been consistantly ranked for his breed 5 years running), therapy dogs and have just started rally.  When they were younger they also went coursing.  The malinois will be making her agility debut in June.  A few months ago Clean Run had a two part article on nutrition written by a DVM.  He suggested that dog being fed kibble should get 4 things. 

A multi vitamin
Salmon oil (he suggested Grizzly Salmon Oil)
Glucosamine/Chondrotin Sulfate
Probiotics - fed on occasion (I believe he suggested once a month or 4x a year, I forget.  I do this when we trial, which is at least once a month.)

So I did that with the boys (basenjis).  The Mal gets a multi vitamin and the probiotics.  She has a delicate digestive system and I'm toying with the idea of doing the probiotics more often for her.  When she's older I'll start her on the joint stuff.  The kibble they get is Evo, CA Natural or Canidae.
 
I get vitamins here:
 
[linkhttp://www.onlynaturalpet.com/]http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/[/link]

I read the article in Clean Run too.

I use Salmon Oil and Wholistic Canine Complete Joint Mobility.

http://www.thewholisticpet.com/