Too many supplements

[marymrumfelt]

You all are so helpful with your honesty, here is a list of supplements, remembering Max has pancreatitus, sludge in his gall bladder, hypothyroid and allergies. With that said. I give him all organic or good quality supplements. He is a rescue and came to us a mess. Milk thistle, digestive enzymes, probiotic,fish oil. I wanted to add the coconut oil.
Also if I do get vibrant pets do I eliminate any supplements? This poor guy is always getting something!

That's not very many at all. LOL I'd def keep the milk thistle as he's on prescribed medicine and I'd put any dog on milk thistle that was taking any kind of medicine on. I don't know much about the enzymes. Probiotic is 100% needed if he has gut issues or is on any kind of antibiotics or has been as they kill all the gut flora and a huge percentage of illnesses start in the gut so it's the most important part of a body to keep healthy. Fish oil is needed as the animals in his dog food most likely weren't fed grass and the fish oil helps make up for those nutrients. You want to be sure those supplements don't add in a bunch of junk as those components can sometimes cause issues. When I had to buy my dogs meat at the store, we start them back on fish oil. Well, we use cod oil but same gist. I have done probiotics for my fosters but mine have never been (and hopefully won't!) on antibiotics. They get Kefir (home made from raw milk) every once in a while if I'm giving them melatonin or something.

It's a personal choice but I don't go by the whole they don't do any good excuse personally because my dog can't speak to me and tell me oh, mom, this is making my joints hurt less or this is helping my belly when I eat it doesn't hurt as bad or something. Dogs are very good at masking things that bother them so it's not good enough for me to say my dog isn't showing signs of joint pain/tummy pain/etc. But it's all a personal issue. I certainly wouldn't tell someone to do something they feel uncomfortable with. I would research supplements and their benefits and see what you find. Make sure you Google each ingredient as they try to sneak some passed you sometime. The thing with supplements, like everything else, is you have to get high quality ones which can cost some money sometimes. I've found high quality magnesium oil for $8 a bottle but when I first started, I paid $30. So you can find quality ones that are affordable, but sometimes you have to hunt. I don't really trust any supplement I find at Walgreens or Walmart, but that's me personally.

Best of luck for your boy!

 

[Ann]

I don't know anything about coconut oil, but none of the other supplements you're using conflict with each other. If you added Vibrant Pets, you could eliminate the probiotics, and perhaps the digestive enzymes as well, but I'd talk to Lee at VP about that. He is very helpful with advising on other supplements and what VP works well with. He's easy to reach if you just call the number on the website.

I would also definitely keep milk thistle. It's something I give whenever I have a dog on antibiotic or meds. The fish oil will help coat and skin, and Lee may tell you that you don't need that either on Vibrant Pets. I would definitely talk with Lee and see what he recommends.

 

[Lynnel]

I do research all the supplements, as time goes by I find more, such as coconut oil.it will be three years this week that we rescued him and the only physical difference is that he doesn't smell! So he never shows any signs even with finally stabilizing his thyroid. His test were off the charts last month he didn't show one sign of pancreatic issues etc. so it's so hard. I have been thinking of going to vibrant pets but then I have to chose what to take him off and Monday we do more blood work so I want to see those results first and talk to my vet. He is not a lot of help with supplements! He put him on quercetin! Thank you all for you different opinions, it at least gives me other options.

 

[BarbV]

Chiming in here.....

I think if you are going to supplement you either go with something like Vibrant Pets which according to those that use it does everything from soup to nuts (p.s. sorry, guys....I'm skeptical here still on Vibrant Pets. I find it hard to believe that one product can deal with everything from skin conditions to hip/joint condition, effectively).

Or you focus on a couple of areas which are truly problem areas for your dog. If skin/coat condition is a concern than I would recommend Salmon Oil for sure. I'm coming around to Coconut oil myself. We sell it in the store, but I've been hesitant to push it until I heard more.

The neat thing about coconut oil is that it can be used both internally and topically (i.e. on wounds....though getting the dogs not to lick it off would be a problem!)

All to say, I'm really on the fence. With so many good food products out there with all the supplements already added, you would think that additional would not be required except in extreme cases.