Anyone give their dog supplements?

[ShrekDawg]

You can shave the inside of the tips, but for the hair growing out from down inside the ear canal, you have to pluck them out.  

Ohhh okay. Didn't realize some dogs had a lot of hair growing inside too. That makes sense

 

[User395221]

Ohhh okay. Didn't realize some dogs had a lot of hair growing inside too. That makes sense

Yes, I didn't know either, my previous dogs never had hair growing from inside their ears, just this one.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yes, I didn't know either, my previous dogs never had hair growing from inside their ears, just this one. 

Wow that's weird! Is she an extra hairy breed or just within the same breed this one dog is different? I'm glad mine has short or no hairs under his ears and as far as i know no hairs growing inside either. That must be a huge pain

 

[User395221]

Is she an extra hairy breed

She's a westie, west highland white. I assume other westies have it as well, I don't really know.

 

[ShrekDawg]

She's a westie, west highland white.  I assume other westies have it as well, I don't really know. 

Ahh okay. Well either way westies are adorable

 

[Coursair]

I don't think you need all of those supplements.

I use a probiotic at times with my puppy because she so energetic I want to make sure she's getting on the nutrition she can from her very good food.

If the food has a high enough fat content you should not need to add extra oil. And I definitely don't think you need to add both Coconut and Salmon oil. I think your dog would end up with diarrhea.

I've seen good results with glucosamine and chondroiten. One of my Whippets is almost 10 years old and had been slowing down. I got her some glucosamine and she is doing much better we could see it visible difference within 24 hours !!

I got these at Petsmart. Costco carries some at a good price also.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_2&smid=APC5YFHD51XMF

For ears, I'd use a good cleaner and a drying powder from the vet. I'd pluck the hair out of the ear canal. Use ear powder and only pluck A little at a time. if you continually do it , the ear will build up tolerance and it will stop hurting as much.

Yeast can be from allergies. I avoid feeding foods that feature Corn. Many dogs are allergic to corn plus it is non-digestible.

White dogs with pink skin such as bichons and Westies are more prone to allergies. you may want to get the dog tested to find out what it's allergic to, if this continues. It could be a food allergy, a seasonal/grass allergy or something else.

For food recommendations check out Dog Food Advisor http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

Feed the best quality food that you can afford that works for your dog.


Regards Tina
Coursair Whippets
retired pro groomer

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MeepBeep]

I avoid feeding foods that feature Corn. Many dogs are allergic to corn plus it is non-digestible.

Whole corn is not digestible, but highly processed ground and cooked corn can be very digestible...

There are certainly things that are easier for the dogs body to digest and generally superior nutrition wise, but corn can have it's merits as part of a dog diet even if it's not always the best option...

 

[ShrekDawg]

I don't think you need all of those supplements.

I use a probiotic at times with my puppy because she so energetic I want to make sure she's getting on the nutrition she can from her very good food.

If the food has a high enough fat content you should not need to add extra oil. And I definitely don't think you need to add both Coconut and Salmon oil. I think your dog would end up with diarrhea.

I've seen good results with glucosamine and chondroiten. One of my Whippets is almost 10 years old and had been slowing down. I got her some glucosamine and she is doing much better we could see it visible difference within 24 hours !!

I got these at Petsmart. Costco carries some at a good price also.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_2&smid=APC5YFHD51XMF

For ears, I'd use a good cleaner and a drying powder from the vet. I'd pluck the hair out of the ear canal. Use ear powder and only pluck A little at a time. if you continually do it , the ear will build up tolerance and it will stop hurting as much.

Yeast can be from allergies. I avoid feeding foods that feature Corn. Many dogs are allergic to corn plus it is non-digestible.

White dogs with pink skin such as bichons and Westies are more prone to allergies. you may want to get the dog tested to find out what it's allergic to, if this continues. It could be a food allergy, a seasonal/grass allergy or something else.

For food recommendations check out Dog Food Advisor http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

Feed the best quality food that you can afford that works for your dog.


Regards Tina
Coursair Whippets
retired pro groomer

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow thanks for all the info!! Yeah, I think I kind of went overboard with the supplements but I'd just heard some people recommend them but I think the thing is most people probably give 1 or 2, maybe 3 at most, and not all 6. And I dont know if the liquid glucosamine will be effective so i could have avoided that probably. And/or could have gotten cheaper pills too. I hadn't thought about him gettinf diarrhea from all the oils and he usually hates gravy so this would probably be similar and he may not eat his kibble. So I'd probably have to put it pn a treat which msy be bad so maybe it could be once a week or something. His coats pretty shiny already. The coconut oil i may avoid giving since I got a much larger size for the chickens last time to make suet and he hated it but maybe mixed with something he wouldnt.

But yeah, I'm really hoping the glucosamine helps him.

I'll definitely look into ear cleaner and powder too! Thanks! Not sure he has much or any hair growing deep inside but I'll check and pluck if so.

He used to be on just about every brand since we try to rotate, even Purina Sensitive Systems, Beneful, Rachel Ray, alpo and store brand cans, etc. And the cat Meow Mix dry only until we switched them both to better foods in June and now we rotate brands. Though we don't rotate as many now and mainly stick to two but I'm thinking of adding more back into the rotation. But they're all good brands and I don't think any contain corn anyways and most are grain free including the 2 hes on now but one or two brands aren't.

He actually doesn't really haveany obvious allergies like loosing hair or itching or anything so we're lucky but hadn't realized the ears could be that. Though could it also be from swimming in gross water?

I think I may try going potato or chicken free next. We already feed one brand that is all that but we rotate between brands that have that stuff. I may try keeping him on only this brand.

And he's actually black even though he has the Pyr in him. His mom is Great Pyrenees and his dad is Black Lab. He inherited dad's color (with a big white patch on his chest and teeny bit of white on toes and chin) but Mom's breed characteristics. And Lab lovingness and foood addiction lol anyway maybe that's part of why we've lucked out with allergies? Cause our old dog, a yellow Lab, had some skin isssues and all sorts of problems but back then he wasnt on like the "fancier" Purina stuff like Sensitive Systems. He'd be on Alpo, Kibbles & Bits, Gravy Train, the worst stuff. But my dad was cheap and didnt know better. Thankfully i researched/had stuff suggested and know better for Gator.

Anyhow, thank you.

Whole corn is not digestible, but highly processed ground and cooked corn can be very digestible...

There are certainly things that are easier for the dogs body to digest and generally superior nutrition wise, but corn can have it's merits as part of a dog diet even if it's not always the best option...

That makes sense. I think if i had an otherwise good food and corn was in it i wouldn't think twice necessarily but thankfully most of the foods we switch between don't have it anyway

 

[ShrekDawg]

Forgot to mention what he's on now (and also i love dogfoodadvisor though most of these were suggested by people who had dogs on them) but he's had Earthborn Holistics Primitive Naturals, Merrick, Wellness CORE, Horizon Pulsar, Evolve, Fromm Gold, Zignature, and probably others that I can't remember now. Right now he's on Wellness CORE original and last month was Zignature lamb. This month I got a 4 pound bag of all 7 flavors from Chewy.com a little more expensive than buying a whole bag but wanted to see what he likes. He has had the trout & salmon, turkey, duck, and lamb flavors so the new ones will be Zssential (their multi protein formula), kangaroo, and whitefish. Trout & Salmon was alright, HATED turkey, LOVED lamb and I think duck. We'll see about the other 3. And he's going to have to eat the ones he hates for a few dayss

 

[ShrekDawg]

OH! And he's had Canidae all life stages too as it was suggested by a feed store employee and it sounded good on paper but we found he had lower energy on it. He was also on Pure Balance once which is only at Walmart but actually pretty highly rated on Dog Food Advisor