calcium requirement - Page 1

need suggestion for the quantity of calcium reqd for pups of say two to three mnths i have mu pups on royal canin food

If you are feeding a good quality food such as Royal Canin then there is no need to supplement with calcium. The correct quantities of calcium are already in the food and any addional calcium will upset the balance of the food and cause you major problems with skelatal developement.

The puppies should be fine without any calcium supplement. I know there are several good foods out there and that some will argue with me, but the Royal Canin is a good food. Again, stay away from a calcium supplement. It is fine to give the puppies a vitamin supplement, but be sure that it has no calcium. The only time that I will suggest or use a small amount of calcium is when they are making their adult teeth. And, I prefer a more natural source such as powdered goat's milk, powdered bone, or unflavoured gelatin. Too much calcium intake will toss the puppie's body chemistry out-of-balance and can contribute to excessive growth rate of the long bones. These are just my opinions and experience. Bob-O

I don't give my dog a calcium supplement but I do give her raw meaty beef bones or chicken (backs & necks) three or four times a week. Any extra calcium she may need comes from the bones and you get the added benefit of natures toothbrush, pearly white teeth.

SchHFan, exactly!! For those of us who feed raw and raise our pups raw as well, this is how they get their calcium.. add a little yogurt or cottage cheese and they are good to go!! They grow slow jsut the way we want them to.....

I have always been told by my vet to not use calcium supplements but to use bone meal...up until a short while ago this is what I have done...but in the past year or so I met a doctor/researcher (human) with a lot of experience with animals and vet medicine...he suggested that I give my dogs at least the ones that I had on bone meal supplements "fresh chicken"...even to my 14 yr old female GSD..she is doing great and all of my dogs seem to be doing very well on the "fresh chicken" (NOT COOKED)...No more supplements of this kind... Good Luck ~Bob~

I start my pups on EsterC at 12 weeks. Check out this article on EsterC.... http://www.workingdogsweb.com/doc0039.htm

The raw bones are an excellent suggestion if the puppy has "enough" teeth to make use of them. Raw chicken with bones is fine-especially the necks. There is calcium plus much cartilage in that part of the chicken body. The only thing that concerns me is the amount of antibiotics and growth hormone (the meat packers swear they only use 1% of what they used ten years ago) fed to chickens by commerical establishments. If you can find true farmyard chickens (yuppies refer to them as free-range) then that is the way to go. The neckbones can be easily crushed by even a young puppy. And before anyone mentions the danger of chicken bones, the "green" uncooked bones do not present a hazard as they do not break into hard splinters as do cooked bones. Cooked bones are an absolute no-no. Bob-O