Raw feeding and supplements

basically just been asked this question.... well more like told im doing it wrong.

apparently because my dogs are fed a raw diet, and i prepare it myself (so not already made complete) i should be adding supplements and vitamins to my dogs food, otherwise they arent going to grow properly could have problems etc.....

is this true? i would hate for my dogs to have problems because i hadnt been doing it properly?

do any of you supplement your dog's diet with extra vitamins/supplements?

I dont at all
The problem is if you add one thing you depleate another
like if you add fish oil you need more vit e
if you add calcium you have to balance phosphrous

But they are balanced in nature - feeding whole fish has the vit e you need
feeding bones has the calcium and phosphorous in the right balance

a raw diet should have the healthy balance of everything your dog needs

I know its easy to worry - but we all manage to feed ourselves

well i thought this. asbo has been on raw since 8 weeks, and he looks perfectly fine to me.

I have to agree, I don't add anything in the way of supplements, you know your dogs best and I wouldn't worry x-clo-x, sounds like said person is jel of you and should be worrying about what they're feeding.


That's the great thing though, each meal doesn't have to be complete as long as the over-all diet is.

i know. said person doesnt even feed a very good complete diet to their dog!

mine get over the week:

mince: either lamb or turkey (they dont like chicken)
bone 3 times a week
liver and kidney throughout the week
fish twice a week
an egg once a week
and some veg occasionally mixed in
cheese as treats

I was on a course run by Nick Thompson, the holistic vet recently and diet came up, both canine and human. He was asked why we should supplement and he said it is basically because we (humans) have depleted the earth of vital nutrients, which in turn are missing from our crops/ food eaten by animals which in turn are eaten. Basically
supplementing has very little to do with whether a balanced diet is eaten and more to do with poor food quality....so yes, a raw diet should therefore be supplemented.

supplemented with what though?

Allsorts!!!!! Can't remember offhand as it was a sort of aside, the course wasn't on diet! He didnsay that any supplements should be top notch.
He's doing a day on diet soon

Healthy dogs that are fed a wide variety of appropriate foods should have no need of supplements, pills or potions.

Those diets are overly-complicated with lots of stuff dogs don't need. You have to feed exact amounts of this and that with more supplements than one can make sense of.

I know some do supplement and some don't.

IMO supplements are only needed if a varied and complete diet is not fed. As such my dog doesn't get much, he gets some special stuff for his joints as he arthritis and he has some herbs sprinkled over his dinner, but they just claim to help digestion. These are recent additions, cost loads and probably do nothing.
As for myself, my diet consists of random things, what ever I fancy and is easy to get hold of and make. Therefore my diet is far from complete and as such I take multivitamins.
In essence you could presume that I take better care of myself as I take vitamins but don't give my dog any, but after the masses of arguments I have with OH about how I feed the dog far better than us, all my stressing about his diet and never a care for ours you would be completely wrong