Dog parenting is a blessing that offers you the opportunity to enjoy blissful moments with your cherished pet. Being a responsible and caring dog owner, you want to ensure a healthy lifestyle to your beloved pet and must be wondering whether the food you are giving him can meet his demands for essential nutrients or not; you might even Visit familypetnutrition.com to read up on some of the products that are out there for dogs. With the shops full of human multivitamins, you may wonder if dogs can also benefit from supplementation. Just like humans, as they age, canines may also face physical issues, like humans, and need a supplement regimen to be included in their diet depending on their specific health condition. Do dogs need joint supplements? Do we need to give them dietary multivitamins? Well, dogs need supplements, and when supplementing their nutrient intake, you need to get one that contains one or more of the most essential nutrients for dogs.
Essential Vitamins to Ensure a Healthy Lifestyle
Vitamins are equally significant for dogs and humans, and you need to ensure a balanced diet to fulfill this need. To help you out, we are mentioning 7-necessary vitamins for canines so that you can have precise knowledge about how they help maintain balanced nutrition.
These essentials include:
Vitamin A
Have you ever noticed a pup with dull hair and rough skin? It is a sign of a lack of nutrients in his diet. More specifically, it indicates vitamin A deficiency. After digestion, this nutrient is stored in the liver’s fat cells, and the dog’s body uses it when needed. It is a vital element that ensures a healthy coat and supports the dog to grow well. If your pup’s body lacks this nutrient, he may face night blindness. Giving Vitamin A contained diet is a must if your dog is pregnant to ensure normal reproductivity. It also helps muscle growth and neurosurgical improvement in puppies.
Vitamin B
This nutrient’s family plays a very significant role in canines’ health and ensures a strong immune system.
- A deficiency of thiamine in your pooch may slow his carbohydrate metabolism and affects his central nervous activities.
- Vitamin B12, Niacin and Riboflavin act as the coenzymes in some significant biochemical reactions. They play a vital role in protein synthesis and help produce red blood cells.
- Feeding vitamin B, particularly thiamine, keeps the ticks and parasites away from the dog.
- Folic acid takes part in the metabolism in amino acid spurs protein synthesis.
- Vitamin B6 helps keep the nervous system functioning, produce erythrocytes, maintain hormonal balance, and boost his immunity.
Vitamin C
It is a significant antioxidant that boosts cognitive development in your dog and improves his immune system to minimize the chances of diseases like cancer. It limits the harmful free radicals and acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. The pooch’s body needs it to produce neurotransmitters. Moreover, puppies need a significant amount of vitamin C for bone and muscle growth.
Vitamin D
Also called ‘sunshine vitamin,’ it gets generated by the canine body when he comes to exposure to the sun. Vitamin D regulates the body’s calcium level and ensures muscle and bone development. Canine’s nervous system also needs vitamin D to work properly. It manages calcium and phosphorus ingestion from the bowel and regulates its amount in the bones. It also controls how much calcium the kidneys will eliminate. A deficiency of this nutrient may lead your canine to suffer from cancer, congestive heart collapse, and create bone diseases like rickets, osteomalacia, etc. An optimal amount of this nutrient ensures healthy joints, skin, and coat in your dog. But excess of this fat-soluble nutrient can also be fatal and produce intoxication.
Vitamin E
Again, it is a fat-soluble nutrient that acts as an essential antioxidant to preserve the fatty acids and blood cells of your pup. It improves the dog’s immune system by decreasing the damaging free cells and boosts his cardiovascular health by improving blood circulation through the blood vessels and heart. It helps his skin maintain its elasticity and improves his coat condition. Vitamin E is a vital element to boost productivity, delay cognitive age, and combat many diseases.
Vitamin K
It is a fat-soluble element that acts as an activator to spur the process of blood clotting in your canine. The deficiency of this nutrient may cause excess bleeding because of the failure of the fibrin coagulation configuration. Your pet may face hemorrhaging or even death if distinct mouse poisons get ingested into his body. These poisons hinder the nutrient’s activities, and the dog cannot use it for blood coagulation. He may also suffer from infiltrative intestine illness, intrahepatic cholestasis, biliary obstruction, etc.
Choline
It is another essential nutrient to maintain your pup’s healthy lifestyle and a vital part of the cell membrane. It embodies carnitine from the digestive system, supplies enough energy to the liver and brain, and helps them function properly. Choline is also used as a therapeutic element to treat epilepsy in canines and cats. The deficiency of choline may lead your pup to Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD).
You may have to give your dog vitamin supplements if his food fails to fulfill the requirements in distinct conditions. They are the vital building blocks to keep your pup healthy. But before feeding any supplement, you must consult your vet to avoid any potential risk.