Anyone have their pet on supplements ?

Have had some of my babies who are now at the Rainbow Bridge on supplements for various reasons, but now have a 4 year old and a 1/1/2 year old Maltese, so I am the one needing supplements to keep up with them:)

Have a pet on a prescription, not supplements. I was wondering if there's a review site for how effective the various supplements are.

Talked to my Vet about supplements. He says if you feed a quality food (we use Science Diet) its a waste of money. I would tend to agree, we don't use any for our Dobermans.

Jayco23FB wrote:
Talked to my Vet about supplements. He says if you feed a quality food (we use Science Diet) its a waste of money. I would tend to agree, we don't use any for our Dobermans.

I would agree that vitamin supplements are not necessary if the diet is adequate...the wees get a 5 star food....but these are supplements that are directed towards specific aliments she has...as a nurse I am aware of MD's advising their patients to take supplements similar to these for the same specific problems...for example...Lutein and Omega-3 are recommended by ophthalmologists for eye health ....Orthopods advise the use of Glucosamine.chondroitin for OA....I just want to make sure the name brand supplements I am using have favorable reports ....

Jayco23FB wrote:
Talked to my Vet about supplements. He says if you feed a quality food (we use Science Diet) its a waste of money. I would tend to agree, we don't use any for our Dobermans.

Any dog food that uses corn or corn meal as a main ingredient is not quality. Much better options are available. Regarding supplements, when our retriever reached about 11 he began to slow down and sometimes limp. We started him on glucosamine from Costco. Within 2-3 weeks he was acting like a puppy again. I think it really added quality to his final 2 1/2 years. Don't waste money on the pet version of any supplements if the human version is available.

Got nothing on those specifically.

The thing is, none of our medical doctors has ever suggested any supplements, except Bud was told to take CoQ10 and Mag-Ox for his heart. I have very serious eye problems and my specialist has never said a word about supplements. You'd think they would, if they felt like it might help.

CA POPPY wrote:
The thing is, none of our medical doctors has ever suggested any supplements, except Bud was told to take CoQ10 and Mag-Ox for his heart. I have very serious eye problems and my specialist has never said a word about supplements. You'd think they would, if they felt like it might help.

It is always wise to follow what your doctor advises ( or advises against ) There are many factors taken into consideration before any med , vitamin or supplements are ordered...you may be taking a broad spec vitamin pill that has many of these supplements in them..or you may be on a medication that a supplement could interact with ...or your MD might just be against taking any type of supplement in general....but as stated, each case is different and it is always good to listen to your own MD...theres no " one shoe fits all " magic in medicine !
I'm sorry to hear of your ocular difficulties, hope you are stable at this time.

The problem with pet supplements (and some human...) is that they are "nutreceuticals" and there is no regulations, testing, etc. to market them. So any company can slap some floor sweepings into a capsule, call it something and market it.

That being said, there definitely are VERY good supplements out there for dogs. Talk to your vet - there are some companies that voluntarily do testing of their products (the Cosequin line) and *generally* any product marketed/sold by vet clinics should be trusted. Not saying you have to buy FROM a vet, but ask what their opinion/experience is. Often you can get the same products through other suppliers.

My opinion on supplements has evolved in the 35 years I've been in practice. I used to be of the opinion that Jayco expressed, basically if you feed a good well balanced diet, supplementation was a waste.

In healthy middle aged animals that's probably still the case, though a good multiple vitamin is pretty cheap insurance for meeting minimum needs.

In the very young and in geriatric patients and those with specific disease conditions supplementation can be very beneficial and tremendously improve quality and probably length of life.

To me the question is not prescription OR OTC supplements, rather what is the best use of what's available to achieve desired results. This might mean only supplements or a combination of many different supplements and prescription meds. Often the progression of osteoarthritis means adding multiple medications to maintain a reasonable quality of life.

Glucosamein/Chondroitin is one of the best supplements for orthopedic conditions. There are so many brands of products that giving recommendations is difficult. We use Nutramax products on Charmin (Cosequin or Dasuquin), and Synovi G3, or Adroitin on Jill. The difference in pet products is that many are flavored for ease of administration and the formulation is a little bit different than human versions. BUT, I agree with Lee that human versions are OK if you can get your dog/cat to take them and you can calculate the correct dose.

I have not seen data on ocular supplements being beneficial for general eye problems we usually encounter in dogs. Lutein is recommended in people to prevent macular degeneration which is not a common problem in dogs. I'd ask the veterinary ophthalmologist you deal with about these supplements.

One other note on nutraceuticals: they are much less regulated by govnt. agencies. Studies have shown that many do not contain the level of medication that the bottles indicate. The higher priced brands don't always indicate better product. The reason we use/recommend the brands we do is that they seem to have more consistent results.

Doug, DVM