Raw feeders - do you give a vitamin?

I have been feeding Steve kibble in the AM and raw at night for a couple months now. We finished his last bag of kibble and he's completely on raw. I bought him a bottle of doggy vitamins because I'm so paranoid that I'm going to mess him up, but I'm guessing they're kind of... superfluous?

Do you guys give vitamins or are you comfortable/confident that you're providing everything your dogs need through their diet?

Am I just being overprotective/paranoid mama?

(Probably.)

No, I don't use a vitamin but I do on occasion use showstopper during major shed sessions.

Some of our raw customers like to add in Missing Link or digestive enzymes. It's certainly beneficial and can't hurt, but you don't have to. Your call!

I don't, I feel pretty confident that it's not needed.
The only thing I'd consider adding would be omega 3s, if fish doesn't go well when we get to that point.

Omega 3 capsules if Steve isn't getting grass-fed meat would be a good idea.

Pet Naturals of Vermont has a really good daily vit, but when I do PMR the only supplement I give is Omega 3 because I can't afford grass fed meats.

He does get a fish oil supplement as well as glucosamine/chondroitin and those I'll continue with regardless.

I used to feed the pit bulls raw. I don't remember stressing out about it this much

I can't find a multivitamin that I like. We sell PetTabs at the clinic but I really don't like the ingredients at all. I did use a multivitamin when Gavroche was eating less than a cup a day because I figured that a dog his size can't possibly be getting everything he needs from such a small amount of food. And when Logan ate chicken and rice early on for diarrhea I put a multivitamin in.

I don't feed full raw but right now I do fish oil, vitamin E, glucosamine, kelp and occasionally digestive enzymes. Logan gets ShowStopper during shedding - he used to be on Seameal but I lik the Showstopper better. When they eventually get switched to raw, I'll probably stick with the same supplements I'm using now.

Izzie gets fish oil occasionally and a Recovery SA joint tablet, sometimes i throw in some Mercola Pro-Biotics.

Fish oil pills and essiac tea are the only other things he gets besides his raw. I keep thinking I should add in a glucosamine pill, then I remember I'd gone off the essiac, add that back in and he limbers back up.

I do salmon oil every night, but that's the only supplement I use.

^^^ Probably, to be honest Teagan gets no suppliments at all. She is on so much variety that I think Im insane and probably one of those crazy raw feeder ladies. Ha ha. Anyways Teagan gets mackeral fish every socond day which through out the weeks equals a meal so Im good for Omega 3's plus I try and give her as much grass fed animals as possible, which also contains alot of Omega 3's. And she gets lots of bones, which contains lots of yummy calcium. IMO if your giving your dog enough variety and organs you should not have to give your dog suppliments. But I feed Prey Model Raw. If I was feeding Pre made raw. I would be feeding suppliments.

I do Wild Salmon oil, Vit E, Fish Oil, grape seed extract and I ran out of glycoflex but I used that too for a while.

Can I ask what you think is missing from a pre-made raw that would require supplementation?

Mainly Omega 3's but to be honest I have never actually looked very hard at Pre-made. I probably would just feed mackeral fish with feeding the pre-made. And switch up what kind of meat I was feeding. Although I guess if it was grass fed animals you would not have to feed suppliments at all. Its the varity thing that slightly thinks you might not be getting all she needs.

Nothing. They eat plenty of game meat and home grown eggs for Omega-3's.

The pre-made formulas are basically like kibble in that they have everything in them that a dog would need for a complete and balanced meal (excluding Primal mixes/grinds, Bravo boneless blends, etc), which is one of the draws of pre-made over PMR do it yourself, you can't screw it up and you don't have to add anything. Obviously, just like kibble feeders, some people want to add things like fish oil, coconut oil, eggs, whatever. But it isn't required.

I add an omega-3, but that's it. I get a bunch of free samples, so I just give them to the dogs. They're fish oil, and I don't eat fish.

I will mix in a raw egg every once in a while.

I worry that I don't give him enough variety. How much is enough? No way he's getting grass-fed meat- I simply can't afford that. How do I know he's getting enough, say, zinc? How do I know that *I* am getting enough zinc for that matter? Why am I obsessing so much over this?

Dont worry, I know I worried in the beginning too and really once you start feeding raw it gets easier.

I think as long as your giving enough organs you should be fine. And just add variety when you can afford it.

In Teagans diet she gets alot of beef, pork, chicken lamb (when I can afford it) chicken and beef hearts, Beef liver, chicken gizzards, Bison (when I can afford it) mackeral fish.

But say If all I could afford was chicken and liver than thats what I would do for a while with out worrying about variety. Its still better than feeding kibble

Steve gets chicken, turkey, pork, and beef heart primarily. Eggs, yogurt, the occasional lamb neck. I should switch to beef liver from chicken livers probably, but I've got a huge stash of chicken liver in the freezer, so I'll switch when that's gone. I worry about not feeding enough red meat, but beef is so expensive. Usually what I can afford is ground, and I know that ground has a high propensity for nasties, but it's what I can afford so I chance it. Canned tripe from time to time.