5 Vitamins Your Dog Needs for a Healthy Life

June 17, 2021

Trying to choose a supplement for your pet or working dog can be an overwhelming experience. There are any number of companies selling and producing nutritional supplements, with Google literally offering millions of suggestions. Instead of taking a generalist approach to finding your ideal canine nutritional supplement, we believe it may be easier and better to first identify why you want a supplement. This will then help you narrow your search down as it may be determined by specific vitamins based on their particular benefits. The following are just five of the many vitamins your dog needs for a healthy life:

1. Vitamin A is something that should be offered to all dogs to help them have a normal and healthy life. It is required for the nervous system, muscular, skin, and coat function. Common symptoms of a Vitamin A deficiency are weakness and deterioration of coat quality. Supplements containing fish liver oil are a good source of Vitamin A
2. Vitamin B is important for dogs but often destroyed by the high heats used when manufacturing conventional feeds such as kibble. Deficiencies are surprisingly common but relatively easy to resolve with supplementation. Vitamin B’s key function is regulating and managing energy and carbohydrate metabolism, so essential for normative digestive function. Weakness and a lack of energy are two common symptoms of a Vitamin B deficiency. Dark green vegetables, fish, and organ meats are good sources of Vitamin B
3. Vitamin C is an antioxidant which also supports dogs’ immune systems. While dogs can naturally synthesise it (unlike humans), it is easily depleted by stress or illness. Colourful vegetables are a good and readily accessible source of Vitamin C for dogs which are often used when manufacturing supplements
4. Vitamin D is required to maintain healthy calcium levels and support bone function. More so than humans, dogs derive their Vitamin D from what they eat rather than direct synthesisation in the sun. Organ meat, fish, eggs, beef, and dairy are all potential dietary sources of Vitamin D
5. Vitamin E is another antioxidant which also supports dogs’ immune systems, muscles, heart health, liver, skin and coat, and nerve cell membranes. Similarly to Vitamin B, it is often destroyed by the dog food manufacturing process leading to surprisingly common deficiency levels. Eggs and oily fish are popular and readily accessible sources of Vitamin E