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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Vitamin/Supplements Dosages
| Is there anyway to figure out the proper dosages of vitamins and supplements? I cannot seem to find anything. It would be cool if there was some sort of spread sheet. For instance I give Summer who weighs 40 LBS 1tsp Pet Tinic 2x/Day. I also give her 1000mg Milk Thistle 1/Day 1000mg Salmon Body Oil 1/Day I also give her the human dosage of probiotics. I would like to increase her B Vitamins and maybe add Chlorophyll and SAMe...but how much is safe of any of this? I do not want to give her too much. Thank you! Carrie and Summer |
| Carrie DFW |
| Carrie, There is no government standardization for animals nutrition in the same way that there is for humans for daily requirements. The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is an organization that sets standards for the ingredients in dog food. In 1995 they released new Dog Food Nutrient Profiles. You can view them here: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1661&aid=662 This is a guideline for pet food manufacturers. This is not necessarily the absolute requirements that might be determined by a scientific study. That information is available in textbooks used or published by veterinary universities. In general, water soluble vitamins like vit C or the B's are fairly safe even if you give a little too much by mistake. The excess is just lost in the urine. However, fat soluble vitamins like A and D are not safe in excess quantities. The general advice with animals is not to supplement these unless a vet directs you to do so. These vitamins will be stored in the body and there can be too much stored causing symptoms of hypervitaminosis. This can happen in humans as well, so it pays to be cautious about taking these as extra supplements. For Petinic, follow the label instructions for the weight of your dog. I use human vitamins for my dogs because there are greater controls on the quality of the manufacturing for these. I use a good B-50 and a 1,000 Ester-C "like" vitamin. I give each dog 3 fish oil capsules and a lower dosage vit E. My dogs are, at full adult weight, from 85 to 100 lbs. The dosage for milk thistle is solely determined by the purity of the ingredients because it is an herb. Cheap brands have little quality control and the effectiveness of the ingredients may be much less than a quality brand. Old bottles may also have less effectiveness. Thus, I purchased a blend of silymarin (essence of milk thistle) and Sam-E called Denamarin that is made by Nutramax Labs for my dog when he was very ill. It is very expensive, but I felt it was worth it. my best patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Thank you Patrice. |
| Carrie DFW |
This thread was discussed between 05/01/2011 and 07/01/2011
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