Question:
I've been making your dog-food recipe coming up on three years. Solid Gold has now quit making the bone meal, and I can't find it anywhere else. I know you mention several other options, but which would you personally prefer? I keep finding calcium tablets plus vitamin D, and that D concerns me -- not sure if it is good for the pups.
We lost our 10-year-old Bichon Frise on April 1 to prostate cancer. He was a castrated male, and it was a true shock. I thought when you get a small dog, they live a lot longer than 10 years.
We are heartbroken. We still have our 2-year-old mixed-breed pup and are spoiling him rotten. He has a terrible anal-gland problem, though. I don't know if you have time to address that, but I wonder if we should consider surgery. His glands release that awful smell at least once a day, and you can tell he doesn't like it, either.
V.V., Brunswick, Md Jun 26, 2011
Answer:
The cheapest source of calcium is from oyster shells, available in tablet form in most drugstores without vitamin D. In the latest version at my website, I list various kinds of calcium supplements, one of the best being calcium citrate, available from GNC with or without vitamin D, small amounts of which will not harm dogs. Giving about 1,000 mg daily per 30 to 40 pounds of body weight in the home-prepared diet should provide an optimal amount of calcium for a healthy dog.
Growing pups, especially of the giant breeds, need ample dietary calcium. But excessive levels can interfere with the uptake of other essential minerals, so a balanced multimineral and multivitamin supplement is advisable.
As I point out in a review at my website, some sources of calcium, like bone meal and oyster shell, can be high in toxic chemicals such as fluoride and lead. These are best avoided.
Sorry to hear about the death of one of your beloved canines. Anal-gland problems often require irrigation under general anesthetic and packing with antibiotics and steroids, coupled with a hypoallergenic or all-natural single-protein (lamb, venison) diet because one expression of food allergy in dogs can be chronic anal gland and/or ear inflammation and infection.
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