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I've started my 9 month old pups on BARF. I want to supplement their diet with Vitamin C. I have read that it should be 100 mg/kg. One of my pups is more than 70 lbs, the other about 50 lbs. By my calculations this means 3500 mg and 2200 mg, respectively. This sounds awfully high to me. Anyone have an opinion?

**I've started my 9 month old pups on BARF. I want to supplement their diet with Vitamin C. I have read that it should be 100 mg/kg. One of my pups is more than 70 lbs, the other about 50 lbs. By my calculations this means 3500 mg and 2200 mg, respectively. This sounds awfully high to me. Anyone have an opinion?**

Start out slowly with the Vitamin C -- to bowel tolerance. To much to fast will loosen the stools. Every couple days or so bump it up a little more until you reach your desired dose.

The good thing about Vitamin C what they don't use they will be passed through their urine. I have a 50lb dog and he gets close to 2000 mg a day. Vitamin C is your friend

Thanks!

I've read that humans are the only mammals that are not capable of creating vitamin C. to me, this suggests that dogs can create it. Apparently we lost that gene somewhere between primates and ourselves. To me this would imply that dogs do not need vitamin C supplemented to their diet. However, since it is nearly impossible to overdoes on it since it is water soluble, it woudn't hurt to add it.

Yes, dogs can synthesize their own Vitamin C. However, there is literature which indicates that there are benefits to having it supplemented in a dog's diet. At this point both of my pups are each getting ~1500 mg either daily or every other day.

1500 mg? Whoa. Humans, who typically weigh at least twice as much as dogs, and who can't synthesize their own vitamin C, only need less than a tenth that amount. The old USRDA daily allowance for C was 60mg, and they raised it to 90mg in 2000 or 2001 for reasons that nobody coudl explain. While vitmain C overdose is highly highly unlikely, too much vitamin C can hinder the absorption of iron and a few other nutrients. Not to mention, it seems like a waste of money to give your dogs more than about 50mg each a day. I'd suggest cutting those pills into quarters and giving them one every other day. Even that would be well above what they likely need, even if you have a great dane, a St. bernard, or even a mastiff.

I make what I call 'slop' for my two dogs which is just a little yogurt, bananas, carrots, peanut butter, and water in a blender. A batch will last about 3-4 days, and I will put one multivitamin in. I really think that that is all they need since they get lots of good stuff in the other foods that they are eating. They eat much healthier than I do.