On June 29th, Helen Brooks, Whole Hound founder and owner, appeared on “The Balancing Act”, as part of its “My Pet” series. Helen and host Beth Troutman discussed the importance of canine supplementation, as well as the Whole Hound’s “3 Steps Forward” feeding program. Check out the video clip!

Dog Glucosamine is one of the most commonly used canine supplements on the market. In a Glasgow-based study that examined how people supplement their canines, dog glucosamine and its close cousin chondroitin were purchased by more than 10% of dog owners who visited local veterinarian clinics.

There are plenty of happy people offering anecdotal evidence that dog glucosamine works. But does the science back it up?

A recent scientific paper offers some answers. In The Systematic Review of the Management of Canine Osteoarthritis, glucosamine is listed as one of the osteoarthritis supplements that provided "statistically significant or gross improvements." They also gave glucosamine a higher quality rating when combined with other nutraceuticals and minerals such as manganese.

The review also emphasized that more studies (and more objective studies) are needed before anyone reaches a final verdict on dog glucosamine's medical value. The scientists' caution is understandable: research findings to date are somewhat mixed. While some studies show little or no treatment result, others show that glucosamine is highly effective in reducing osteoarthritic symptoms.

Since our own experience with dog glucosamine has been so positive, we find it exciting to read the studies that reflect what we've seen with our own dog and those of our customers.

For instance, a 2007 study published in Veterinary Journal concluded that dogs treated with glucosamine hydrochloride and chondrotin sulphate experienced significantly less pain. The dogs also saw improvement in their ability to bear weight and in the overall severity of their osteoarthritic symptoms.

Another interesting study was completed at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in London. In this case, scientists concluded that dog glucosamine significantly regenerated damaged cartilage on a biochemical level. "The cartilage of the joints operated on was thicker and more hydrated than the control cartilage."

Of course, studies of this sort aren't final scientific proof that giving your dog glucosamine will remove his osteoarthritis. But they do suggest that glucosamine is an option well worth considering when your dog is in pain.

For more information, check out our dog glucosamine product: Osteo Aid.

It's an interesting question.

Minerals, it turns out, are fairly important for dogs. They're basically used as the building blocks of your dog's body.

In other words, your dog is made of minerals: they're a part of most everything in his body, from nerves to bones and blood. And that's at the most visible level. Under a microscope, scientists find those same minerals knit into your dog's DNA and the structure of his cells.

Dog Minerals: Calcium

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in your dog's body: it makes up 2% of your dog's entire body weight. And 95% of that is in her bones. It's also present in the blood and organs. To keep calcium levels finely balanced in each area of the body, the mineral is moved back and forth frequently between bone and tissue.

Dog Minerals: Phosphorus

Phosphorus is the second most abundant mineral in your dog's body. Most of it works as building blocks in the bones and teeth, with the remainder distributed to cells throughout the body. When your dog's body needs to grow or repair tissues, it taps its phosphorus reserves to help out with the process.

Dog Minerals: Magnesium

Magnesium, like calcium and phosphorus, is stored largely in the bones. But it stands out as a building block in your dog's muscles, organs and blood. Magnesium works with calcium to support the contraction and relaxation of your dog's muscles, including her heart. Calcium tenses the muscles; magnesium relaxes them.

Support for Life

With minerals such an integral part of your dog's body and mobility, it's easy to see how their depletion can be a factor in conditions like osteoarthritis. Good diet and quality mineral supplements can help give your dog all the minerals she needs to keep her body in full health as long as naturally possible.

See also: Calcium Health

On the surface, it might seem a little absurd: supplements for dogs? 

The idea can bring to mind images of crystal-gazing new-agers dreamily feeding their chihuahuas little purple pills.

At Whole Hound, we like to think the reality is a little different. Supplements help sick dogs. Sometimes they do a much better job than conventional medicines. And they relieve pain without the side effects often associated with canine meds. 

The idea of supplements for dogs is roughly as crazy as supplements for humans. And the same arguments for and against apply. Some people claim that supplementation isn't necessary if you (or your dog) eat a balanced diet. Others say that even the best of diets can leave nutritional gaps.  

When it comes to their own health, most health-conscious hedge their bets. People give themselves supplements — even if only a good multivitamin. They take supplements even when their diet is packed full of seaweed smoothies and sprouts and organic free-range everything. Because they might still be a little low on this or that nutrient, and a supplement is a good to way help take care of that.  

And so it is with supplements for dogs. Dog food doesn't always do the job of giving your dog everything it needs for top health. One problem is variety: eating the same food every day — no matter how healthy that food is — opens up the likelihood that there will eventually be dietary deficiencies. Another problem is absorption. Just like humans, sometimes dogs just don't do a great job of absorbing one or another particular nutrient.

Supplements for dogs fill in those gaps.

The idea of buying your dog supplements may still seem a little unusual. It may raise a few eyebrows and draw out the odd nay-sayer. But so, once upon a time, did seat-belts, antibiotics and sterilized surgery tools.

When something works, it endures. 

For more information, see our selection of premium supplements for dogs.

In our last blog entry on canine vitamins, we got excited about 8 weeks to a Healthy Dog, a book by Shawn Messonier, D.V.M. that offers some great information on nutritional supplements for dogs. Canine vitamins and minerals top Dr. Messonier's list as the most important canine supplements. Next on his list: digestive enzymes for dogs.

"A second key supplement I recommend for all dogs is enzyme supplements," Dr. Messonier says. "The major function of enzymes is to help digest and absorb food. This is critical for the vital nutrients contained in the food to be absorbed by the body."

In the wild, digestive enzymes would be naturally present in the food an animal eats. But this is not necessarily the case with packaged dog food. As Dr. Messonier points out, many of the enzymes in conventional dog food are destroyed during high-temperature processing. Supplementary digestive enzymes for dogs help counter that.

In creating our blend of digestive enzymes for dogs, we were focused on making all nutrients in food or supplement form more fully bioavailable. As Dr. Messonier points out,

"Studies have shown that supplementation with enzymes results in increased absorption of vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids, including zinc, selenium, vitamin B6, and linoleic acid. When a dog absorbs these nutrients better, his overall nutrition is better, and his health is better."

8 Weeks to a Healthy Dog

Dr. Messionier ends his book with this advice:

"Go forth armed with the information you've learned. You'll have the confidence of knowing that you are truly in control of your pet's health and that you are doing everything possible to keep your dog happy and healthy. Congratulations and good luck!"

Amen to that.

One of the more interesting canine wellness books published in the last ten years is Shawn Messonier, D.V.M.'s book 8 Weeks to a Healthy Dog.

The book includes a comprehensive 8-step strategy for keeping your dog as fit and healthy as possible. The forth step, to which he devotes an entire chapter, is choosing the right canine vitamins and other nutritional supplements.

As an "authority on holistic pet care and integrative medicine", Dr. Messonier is big on keeping your dog off drugs. As part of his overall strategy for preventing and treating canine health problems, he recommends that dog owners consider a range of supplements.

Canine Vitamins in a Traditional Diet: Dr. Messonier's View

In Dr. Messonier's opinion, traditional feeding strategies simply don't cover all the nutritional bases your dog needs for her best health.

He offers four reasons:

1. nutrients in your dog food may be lacking due to poor quality ingredients
2. some nutrients — like digestive enzymes — may be removed during high heat and pressure processing
3. the widest diversity of canine vitamins, minerals and trace elements won't likely be available in an un-supplemented diet
4. nutrients might not reach your dog if she's a fussy eater that sometimes rejects her food

In Dr. Messonier's view, canine vitamins and minerals in supplement form are key to preventing and resolving canine nutritional deficiencies:

"Perhaps the most important supplement you should give your dog is a multivitamin/mineral pill. Giving one to your dog each day is a little bit like buying insurance. It ensures that your dog has at least obtained the essential nutrients each day for optimal health. Your dog's vitamin/mineral pill is his most basic supplement."

Canine Vitamins: Our View

To us at Whole Hound, it's exciting to hear a veterinarian whose thinking is so fully in line with ours. When our own dog, Lakotah, starting having health problems, no dog food on the market made an impact on her health. It was only when we began supplementing her with canine vitamins, glucosamine and other natural products that we saw her bounce back to full mobility. Watching Lakotah's recovery, we were inspired to try to help other dogs by creating quality canine vitamins and mineral supplements. After years of experimentation, the result was Total Health, Total Health Plus, and Calcium Health. These three products offer the highest quality canine vitamins and minerals we could find — in their most bioavailable form.

If your dog has osteoporosis, there's a good chance that your veterinarian has recommended you try out omega 3 fatty acids for their anti-inflammatory effects.

While they haven't been in favour as long as glucosamine and other canine osteoporosis supplements, omega 3 for dogs is gaining credibility with experts as new studies support the supplement's use. 

One such expert is Steven Budsberg, director of clinical research at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. In an interview with DVM magazine, Dr. Budsberg commented on recent studies focused on the effectiveness of omega 3 for dogs:

"We're starting to see some clinical data that supports the use of high omega-3, low omega-6 fatty-acid diets. The concept behind them is that changing the types of polyunsaturated fatty acids that go into the animal changes the lipids in the cell membrane, which actually changes the inflammatory response in the body."

The Spring 2010 issue of Natural Dog summarizes two studies that offer the kind of data Dr. Budsberg describes. Completed at Kansas State University, both studies measured the effectiveness of omega 3 dogs in improving canine osteoporosis.