What do you supplement your dogs food with - and do you think it works?

[loveyouradvice]

We've just been giving our five year old dachshund Lily's Kitchen kibble for years and haven't been supplementing much.... but recently, having had a dodgy back and crate rest for 8 weeks, we've added a quarter tsp of turmeric on our osteopaths advice. It's an anti- inflammatory and we just add it to his food with a bit of yogurt or fish oil as fat helps absorption.

What do you do for your dog - and do you think it works?

We also add the occasional bit of carrot or mince or green juice or half an egg or chicken bits depending on what we've been cooking... Oh, and some oat bran/linseed if his poo gets hard.

I'm about to add kelp to his diet as we've not been good about looking after his teeth.

My dogs have Plaque-off (kelp) for their teeth, Yumega itchy dog for coats and one has mild allergies & recently started Yumove for the older dogs joints
I get compliments for their teeth & coats from my vet & the vet recommended the Yumove for the older boy . He was not showing pain but had a reluctance to exercise. I would say it took longer than the 6 weeks Yumove claim, but after about 3 months he is definitely perkier.

Happy that's really interesting... going to look into it!

My spaniel has Yumove as well. He pulled a ligament in one of his back legs a year or so ago and was limping a bit on an off. No problems at all now and despite being an older boy he still charges around like a pup!

I have two working cockers who have always had the pet stores own brand working dog kibble but they also have raw meat 3 times a week and a raw meat bone ( marrowbone or knuckle) from the butcher once a week.

They are nearly 11 years old now, teeth and coats are in great condition, weight perfect still and they don’t look or behave their age. One was struggling with a sore back and thigh after longer bouts of exercise. Vet recommended a supplement, gave us key ingredients and sent us to find one. We opted for a vetuk own brand version of yumove. One of them is like a 3 year old again, running, jumping and no aches at all. He appears more comfortable and happy too. His brother had to stop taking it, as it gave him a very bad stomach. He never had his brother’s aches though and still doesn’t.

Young lab with no health problems but the occasional soft poo.

YuMove Young & Active (2 tabs a day crushed onto his breakfast) - an insurance policy really

Pro-Fibre probiotic fibre pellets (a scoop a day) - to help with his poos

Teaspoon of high grade Manuka honey - to help with his poos and to support immunity in cold/wet weather when there seems to be lots of doggy bugs going around in my local area

He also has a smear of enzymatic toothpaste on a dried chicken foot, once a day to help keep his teeth clean.

My Staffy has kibble 5 days a week and sardines in sunflower oil twice a week.

Add turmeric and oats into her sardines as she can have trouble pooing , she's a bugger about drinking. Won't drink anything in doors only from water in the trug outdoors. Which is fine in the summer as back door always open. Have to kick her out in the winter as dosng like the cold, dark or wet !

I'd suggest speaking to your vet as it's illegal for your 'osteopath' to prescribe anything that is clinically effective.

I'd also be cautious of adding too many calories to your dog's diet with supplements. Weight management is really important for daschunds. Having said that, yumove can be helpful, but if he has spinal pain he'll likely need medications that are effective against spinal pain to be prescribed.

We supplemented our dog’s dried food with the occasional pizza crust and leftover pasta.
He supplemented his own diet with whatever he could steal from the worktop.
He lived a long, happy life. Was still going on 5 mile walks the week before he died and I only needed to take him to the vet 4 times in 14 years.
We’re getting a new dog in the new year and I can see myself being completely neurotic about his food 😂

Always check with your vet before you add supplement to their diet.

A particularly important one to be careful one is turmeric. It can interact with other meds, NSAIDs in particular, can potentially cause stomach ulcers and bleeding issues. (Same for people, my mum wasn’t allowed it because she’s already on blood thinnners.). A good quality controlled turmeric supplement, specifically for dogs, given at the right dose shouldn’t cause problems, but golden paste or turmeric powder added by the spoon/half-spoon can vary a lot in terms of quantity and absorption. I do have my own elderly dog on turmeric supplements and it could be owner placebo, but we all felt that after a few weeks of being on it there was an improvement in how stiff he was and a willingness to move more.

One of my favourite supplements is high quality omega 3, from cold water fish. It’s one of the few that also has some decent research suggesting it’s beneficial. It has the added bonus of giving them a beautiful soft, shiny coat.

I also use Riaflex and Green Lipped Mussel for his Osteoarthritis. He’s now been on them a few months and just this week we have seen a big improvement . He’s more fluid in his movement and for the first time in a year, can squat to poo without having his legs tremble and needing to move and drop bits as he goes. He can now squat and poo in one spot and actually look comfortable.

Finally, he’s on Aktivait - on the advice of our vet, as he was starting to show signs of cognitive decline at the start of this year. I was very skeptical about this one, especially as it’s so expensive, but I have to admit it seems to have helped a lot. (Although dealing more effectively with his arthritis pain may also be a big factor in that.)

I’d add the caveat that, whilst we have added the supplements, he is also on NSAIDs from the vet and has been for a few years now. Also, we have been introducing a lot of other changes to his management over this year, based on advice from the Canine Arthritis Management’s website, so it’s more likely to be the combination of holistic changes, rather than any one element.

CAM have a list of common supplements, with advice and explanation of any scientific evidence for each one [https://caninearthritis.co.uk/managing-arthritis/diet-and-nutrition/available-supplements/ [here]].

My lab supplements his food with fox poo. I'd rather he rolled in it instead so I could wash it off.

We had to suffer his eye watering farts that stank the house out. So I started giving him YouDigest probiotics which made a huge difference. I don't know if he's stopped eating the fox poo, or the probiotics are controlling the farts, anyway will carry on giving them to him.

Fascinating thread ... great insights and good info for talking to vet on Monday - I like him enormously but he is very conservative in his approach so it will be interesting to see what he says..... for instance, he didnt believe in osteopathy for dogs and my wee fella has benefitted hugely from the two visits he's had in two years

Jinglepaws do you have a particular omega 3 supplement you would recommend?

@loveyouradvice

Fascinating thread ... great insights and good info for talking to vet on Monday - I like him enormously but he is very conservative in his approach so it will be interesting to see what he says..... for instance, he didnt believe in osteopathy for dogs and my wee fella has benefitted hugely from the two visits he's had in two years

Probably cos there's minimal evidence for osteopathy in humans never mind dogs. I'm surprised than annual visits have such an impact on back pain. What does the osteopath do?

Most vets will focus on evidence-based medicine as that's the most cost effective approach and likely to lead to the best outcomes. It would be unethical to recommend unproven alternatives when animal health and welfare is at stake

I've got 2 spaniels, and they both have Yumove. Our older boy is nearly 8 and was showing signs of joint wear. It took a good few weeks but he's a lot more energetic again now. We give them to the younger one (2) just for insurance really, rather than because she needs them.

They also get a raw carrot most days for their teeth, and the occasional Yak chew as they adore them.

@Getitdonesharpish I started off with these which did seem to help and made a massive difference to his coat. I’ve now moved him onto this salmon oil purely because the first supplement doesn’t state the fish source and I wanted to be sure it was good quality cold-water fish, as per the studies.

I noticed I messed up the link in my previous post, so here it is again. CAM Nutrition and Supplements

Thanks Jinglepaws that’s great.