Supplements for Homemade Diet

Question
QUESTION: I feed Wellness Core kibble/canned in the morning to my 12-year old Brittany and a homemade meal for dinner. How much kelp and calcium should I add to the homemade meal? I currently mix in some Chlorella with the homemade meal. What supplements are critical in balancing a homemade diet?

Thank you,
Darlene


ANSWER: Hi Darlene,
The amount you add to the dinner will depend on your dogs requirements and how much the morning meal contains. That's quite a bit of math,  but if you give me her weight I can at least suggest a ballpark, how much she requires of each (calcium and iodine) per day.

Most of the diets I develop require the following added, although some in very small amounts:

calcium
iodine
zinc
manganese


Sometimes copper if organ meat isnt tolerated, sometimes Vitamin D if fish is a problem; sometimes selenium. I rarely need to add the rest but I sometimes do, as in extra Vitamin E and Bcomplex, to bolster health overall. I tend to use fish body oils, green foods and probiotics, and joint formulas as my mainstay supplements for the healthy dog. Most diets require careful and personalized supplementation. We have a lot more information about this on the yahoogroup:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePossibleCanine-Nutrition.

I hope this helps a little! A big topic, after all.
All the best, Catherine

All the best, Catherine

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks, Catherine.  My dog weighs 45 lbs.

Whenever I feed him cooked turkey, liver, scrambled eggs and no-salt canned mackerel (just to name a few), he gets itchy paws. Any idea why? However, he's fine with Wellness Core, baked cod, bison, sweet potato and veggies. I'm sort of limited on foods I can give because of this.

Thank you,
Darlene


Answer
Your dog needs a minimum of 1250 mgs of calcium per day, and often a little more to ensure absorption.  He needs 285 mcgs iodine as well. You will need to know how much is in the kelp and then figure on at least half this. But this is an estimate, the amount in the CORE needs to be factored in properly.
As for the itching - he likely has either an intolerance or perhaps even an allergy to the foods  you mention. The Core is a good food and as long as you make sure the rest of his meals are correctly balanced, there's no real reason to add liver, mackerel etc.
I hope this helps and perhaps we will see you at the group. There's a large amount of information stored there.

All the best,
Catherine