Supplements.. for a dog being raw fed - Page 1

A co-worker and I were talking about supplements today. She has a mini Aussie that is raw fed.  She read an article on a raw food feeding site that says that all dogs should be supplemented with Glucosamine and Condroitin after 1 year of age. My co-worker and I feel that a healthy dog should not NEED to be supplemented IF the dog is a young adult or adult if fed a balanced raw food diet. However, we do feel that as the dog gets into its senior years that giving Glucosamine and Condroitin is a good idea.

So the question is FOR YOU RAW FEEDERS..... do you feel that all dogs when they turn 1 year old should be supplemented with Glucosamine?

no supplements here, but make sure your diet is well balanced

You can meet those needs with the different foods you feed. Some raw foods are quite high in those nutrients.

No supplements;  are you sure you read it correctly.  My vet told me the latest on glaucosamine/cond. is NOT to use on any dog until at least l year old.  Not to be used on puppies which was news to me. 

Agree with Duke though, be sure raw diet is balanced for a growing puppy which is the latest from Dr. Karen Becker as she stated that they are seeing a lot of muscle/skeletal problems in unbalanced, in appropriate diets,  her terminology is "a bioligically appropriate diet"...  daily, not like I first thought that you need to achieve a good balance once per week, Dr. Becker stresses you need it balanced on a daily basis. 

Thanks for the replies.

NANS.

I did not read the article. A co-worker of mine did... as she feeds raw to her dog. Her Aussie is 17 months or so. He is fed a balanced diet. The co-worker of mine just happened to read this article and then her and I started talking about supplements. Her and I felt that if a COMPLETE diet was fed then there is no need for supplements. But since I do not know alot about a raw diet, I figured I would post it here to see what you raw feeders had to say.

Hi Jyl:  Thanks for your reply and really that is what the article is about.  We used to think just a chicken quarter and a few vegi's was balanced, however if given that daily, that is NOT a balanced raw diet.  So was news to me and have passed along this info as the last thing you want to do for any dog particularly a puppy is not give them the nutrients they need.

So that taken into consideration am passing along the info so people will dig deep and try to balance things for their raw fed animals.  Thx again  Nan