Is it safe to give my dog multiple supplements?
Since there are many different types of supplements, you may be wondering if you need to pick which one you think will benefit your dog the most or if you can combine more than one for maximum effect. You do need to check the ingredients of each supplement.
Some vitamins and minerals can cause problems in high doses. While calcium is important for bone growth, for example, too much calcium can cause skeletal problems, especially in large breed puppies. Too much vitamin A comes with the risks of blood vessel damage, dehydration, and joint pain. Too much Vitamin D can cause anorexia, muscle loss, and bone problems. Even so, it takes very high levels of any of each to cause problems.
The biggest takeaway here is that you don’t want to give your dog more than one variety of the same type of supplement. Pick one of each type of supplement and stick with it. It is generally safe to combine different types of supplements, however, such as giving a multivitamin along with omega-3 and glucosamine, as long as ingredients don’t overlap much.
Diagnosis of Vitamin Poisoning in Dogs
If you have witnessed your dog chewing on a bottle and ingesting the vitamins within, take the bottle along with you to the veterinary clinic. Even if your pet is not exhibiting signs of poisoning, it is important to have him seen at the hospital as soon as possible because the absorption of vitamins can be rapid. Symptoms of xylitol poisoning can occur within 30 minutes of ingestion, with severe consequences possible very soon after. Vitamin or mineral toxicity can appear within hours; treatment will have the best outcome with prompt care.
The veterinary team will begin with a physical examination unless your pet is highly symptomatic and needs to have therapy implemented right away. The veterinarian will check your canine companion’s heart rate and pulse, and perform an abdominal palpation to feel for any sensitivity upon touch. She will look for other signs of toxicity such as tremors and agitation, and will take your dog’s temperature and blood pressure. The clinical signs and the empty vitamin bottle may be enough to diagnose the vitamin poisoning but additional tests may be included to verify which vitamin is causing the symptoms, and to see how the vitamin overdose has affected your pet’s health. Blood tests will provide information like cell count, activated clotting time, and blood markers such as albumin and potassium. A urinalysis can be useful to indicate organ function. An electrocardiogram may be done if the veterinarian suspects heart irregularities.
Adding supplements to your pet’s meals can greatly benefit his health. But how much is too much?
Abby is confused. She’s been doing a lot of research on supplements for dogs, and has added quite a few to her own canine’s daily regime. “He takes a multivitamin, plus fish oil, antioxidants, digestive enzymes and glucosamine. I know all these are good, but I sometimes wonder if I’m going overboard and am giving him too much. Is that possible?”
You’ve probably heard or read reports about the dangers of too many supplements, but in fact the phrase “over-supplementation” is misleading. Confusion reigns because those reports fail to disclose all of the facts. Toxic outcomes are possible when any substance is administered incorrectly and in very high doses. Even water can be over-consumed in unreasonable quantities, altering osmolarity in the cells and body to the point of death.
But that’s no reason to limit nutrition the body requires to maintain optimal health. In fact, it’s more likely we and our animals are undernourished than over-supplemented. Research irrefutably demonstrates that supplementation with antioxidants, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals is the best way to ensure the immune system is fully empowered to resist disease and prevent premature aging. In short, supplementation is safe as long as it is complete and properly balanced.
7 Reasons Not to Feed Your Dog Vitamins (Feed This Instead)
Dog and cat owners are always thinking about their pets’ nutrition. That’s because a diet packed with the appropriate amount of essential vitamins and minerals is one of the best and easiest ways to both prevent and combat many medical problems.
So, you might think, what’s the harm in giving my pet one of my multivitamins? If a vitamin is good enough for a human, it should be good enough for a dog or cat, right?
The variation of dietary needs for humans and pets is one reason, and the way each vitamin product is formulated depending on the manufacturer is another.
According to Dr. Susan G. Wynn, a nutrition specialist at BluePearl Georgia Veterinary Specialists and a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition, most commercial pet foods provide dogs and cats with the nutritional balance they need, rendering supplements unnecessary.
Because of this, she says, “most pet multivitamins are designed to contain just a portion of the daily requirement for that species, typically about 20 percent, whereas human supplements can contain 100 percent of the daily requirement.”
This means that consuming a human-grade vitamin can potentially give your pet an unhealthy excess of a particular vitamin or mineral.