Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dr. Tobin, back in the 1980s I came across the book "How to Have a Healthier Dog," by Belfield and Zucker, and have used that program with my dogs ever since. It has done great things. Recently I added Omega 3 fish oil for my Standard Poodle with SLO, and wow, what an oomph effect! He is in remission now and his nails are looking better and better.

I was giving him the vitamin program from the book, but a fairly low dose of vitamin C, and way too low a dose of B complex. I went through a close call with bacterial spinal meningitis myself, and that brain damage didn't help me get the vitamins straight. I joined an SLO list on Yahoo, saw the information on niacinamide, checked the bottle labels, and immediately gave him B Complex. It seemed he started improving right then!

But of course all the nails had already been weakened, and he went ahead and lost the last two. It was about 6 months from losing the first to losing the last. Now they are all filled back in, and he is feeling his oats!

What I want to ask you is if there is a more current book on vitamins for dogs? I notice books on herbs, but not vitamins. I expect a current book would recommend Omega 3 fish oils for dogs, along with the other vitamins.

A black Standard Poodle grows a LOT of hair, nonstop. That has to use a lot of nutrients. I really wonder if the toe cancer they sometimes get could be related to SLO (symmetrical lupoid onychodystrophy). I don't think SLO is as uncommon as it is thought to be. And I think it has various causes. We had Worthy's Total T4, Free T4, and TSH values checked at age 3, and the veterinarian said they looked very good. We plan to recheck about every 2 years, to make sure.

And of course he is on the vitamins for good.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

Instead of trying to find just the right mix of vitamins, or herbs, or whatever, the question should be "What is the ideal diet for a dog?". Everyone has their own ideas, but I like to look at the primordial dog and see what he eats. And what is a dog but a wolf that is living in your house? A wolf eats the whole animal that it kills, but since you are not going to feed your dog whole rabbits or such, what can we substitute for practicality? Meat and bone are pretty clear, but brains, which have most of the omega-3 fatty acid is not available, nor is intestine. We can provide the missing nutrients by adding cod liver oil, and plain yogurt. I feed chicken leg quarters, to provide meat and bone, but bake it in order to remove the long bones while still leaving the smaller bones such as the pelvis, backbone and tailbone, which provide calcium. I also give raw beef neck bones when available, or the ends of beef marrow bones, for the dog to chew in order to keep the teeth clean, the jaws strong and the gums healthy. I have found this diet to keep dogs healthy, usually without the need for anything else other than whatever table scraps and leftovers you might have. If you bake as many leg quarters as you can fit into your oven on trays at one time, and then keep them in the refrigerator or freezer, it should only take an hour once a week, and likely cost no more than most dog foods, besides being much better for the dog's health.