I was given a letter with some information on the care of my doberman. Anyways this is my FIRST dog EVER so this is all new to me. She is a beautiful $2,000 darling. I was given instructions on feeding her & about vitamin supplements. One of the things was a long informative page on Vitamin C. I was told it was ESSENTIAL to give her 1000 mg's of Vitamin C every day then at 5 months increase it to 1500 mgs of C. Anyways a lot of the "information" seemed like something akin to a snake oil salesman. Anyways just in case I have faithfully been giving her the Vitamin C supplement in additon to 400 IU of E & 8000 IU of A & 400 IU Vitamin D. Anyways can some of you more knowledgable help me out in this? I'm currently feeding her Royal Canin & I'm about to switch over to Innova for pups. She'll be 5 months on July 22. I was told the Vitamin C would help her ears after getting them posted. Well since I last posted her ears (which was only once since I bought her) she's NEVER had any problems with them.
? about Vitamin C & other supplements
- Thread starter ZlatasPop
- Start date
Hi and congrats on your new Doberman. I am the proud owner of 4 dobermans. You may want to check out this website. It has a lot of good advice on doberman supplements. I have a new Blue that we have her on these supplements, It has only been a week so we will see how she does in a month. How tall were the parents and how much did they weigh? I am asking because, at 5 months 27 lbs is a bit small! Remember when giving supplements to check with your vet to ask about the proper dosage for her weight and age. http://www.seattle-attorney.com/storm/sup.html
Thanks for the info. I'll check that link out. Since that 1 time we posted her ears they have NEVER fallen back down. SUPPOSEDLY that is due to the Vit c I give her. Not sure about that but I'm glad regardless. She's a female so maybe that's why she's smaller? I bought her off of Aeolus Dobermans in Pearland Texas. Absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!
Whats posting ears? My next door neighbour said my staffies ears were too floppy and i should superglue them back. I was quite shocked. I didnt think they were floppy at all. Is that what ear posting is? Im not going to do that, doesn't sound right. I'd never heard anything like it, he reconed he used to show dogs and knew what he was talking about. Im a new dog owner, and didnt have a clue, Is that what it is?
Don't know about that but doesn't sound right. Posting is like on my dobie. She already had her ears cut (or whatever the correct word is I'm new as well) & posting is when they put a stick like a popsicle stick & some napkins around it then tape them so they STAY UP. If not they'll droop down. For show dogs that is extremely important. I was told VIt C help with that. not sure if that's true but I continue to give her the C & since we posted them only once they have NEVER gone down. Basically her ears are PERFECT!!!
I"m very proud as this is my first dog EVER & she is a $2K dog so I didn't start out with an inexpesive mutt. I feel obligated since she'll probably never be able to compete as a show dog due to me not knowing squat at least she'll be VERY WELL treated as a PET. She deserves better but that's ALL I can offer her at this point. I just don'g have the heart to sell her or return her. She's mine for life.
I"m very proud as this is my first dog EVER & she is a $2K dog so I didn't start out with an inexpesive mutt. I feel obligated since she'll probably never be able to compete as a show dog due to me not knowing squat at least she'll be VERY WELL treated as a PET. She deserves better but that's ALL I can offer her at this point. I just don'g have the heart to sell her or return her. She's mine for life.
Vitimin C helps but calcium is also a great supplement to help with the ears being cropped and I really feel that if you are feeding a good regular diet be it kibble or your own recipe you sholdn't have to use supplements at all your food should be able to supply all of the supplements your dog may need I will tell you and old recipe that works great for dobes and gives them the calcium to help their ears stand without even posting them 1/2 cup cottage cheese and two raw eggs it helps the coat and gives pleanty of calcium plus because the ears are cartilage and that takes calcium
ZlatasPop, at the risk of hijacking this thread for a moment here - but the fact that you paid $2000 for your dog isn't of any importance at all. genetic disasters from puppy mills are sold for the same amount or more to people who don't know or care enough to investigate where to buy from, and it is possible to get a good quality dog from a responsible breeder for less than that. i've heard people paid $3500 for pet store dobes that later on didn't even conform to the breed standard and i have a friend who paid $800 for a show quality dobe because she couldn't afford more and the breeder wanted the pup to go to a good working/show home.
i know you're a first time owner, so you probably aren't aware of this, but "inexpensive mutt" is a fairly offensive term to many people who might not own "perfect" show quality specimens or not even purebred dogs. that kind of terminology is totally out of place on a forum like this where dog lovers of all kinds hang out.
how much you pay doesn't make your dog. it's what you put into it that counts. and unless you absolutely want a conformation title on a dog, it doesn't matter if it's purebred or not.
now, back to the supplements.
vitamin C has many benefits, and a lack of it in the diet can lead to many problems. however, regardless of that you need to be aware that until the puppy has completed teething the ear cartilage will remain floppy and there is no guarantee the ears will stand up perfectly straight. sometimes it's even just the tips that flop over and need to be supported.
do absolutely not give a growing puppy (especially large breed) any calcium supplement, that's just inviting disaster since it can lead to all kinds of orthopedic problems.
feeding 2 eggs and half a cup of cottage cheese actually supplies more phosphorus than calcium, which means that the body has to draw extra calcium from somewhere else in order to achieve balance, so i question the usefulness.
that's not to say that raw eggs and cottage cheese don't make good additions to a feeding regimen (especially if you only feed commercial food otherwise), but you need to be aware of just what exactly you are feeding and how it affects the diet overall.
i know you're a first time owner, so you probably aren't aware of this, but "inexpensive mutt" is a fairly offensive term to many people who might not own "perfect" show quality specimens or not even purebred dogs. that kind of terminology is totally out of place on a forum like this where dog lovers of all kinds hang out.
how much you pay doesn't make your dog. it's what you put into it that counts. and unless you absolutely want a conformation title on a dog, it doesn't matter if it's purebred or not.
now, back to the supplements.
vitamin C has many benefits, and a lack of it in the diet can lead to many problems. however, regardless of that you need to be aware that until the puppy has completed teething the ear cartilage will remain floppy and there is no guarantee the ears will stand up perfectly straight. sometimes it's even just the tips that flop over and need to be supported.
do absolutely not give a growing puppy (especially large breed) any calcium supplement, that's just inviting disaster since it can lead to all kinds of orthopedic problems.
feeding 2 eggs and half a cup of cottage cheese actually supplies more phosphorus than calcium, which means that the body has to draw extra calcium from somewhere else in order to achieve balance, so i question the usefulness.
that's not to say that raw eggs and cottage cheese don't make good additions to a feeding regimen (especially if you only feed commercial food otherwise), but you need to be aware of just what exactly you are feeding and how it affects the diet overall.
MOrdy sorry about that. My intentions certainly were NOT to offend anyone. My only reason for mentioning the price is that to ME that was a big investment. I did NOT intend to spend that kind of money on a dog only to feed her Purina or Alpo & having tied up in my back yard. As for the "mutt" comments that was meant to mean a NON Pedigreed dog. Perhaps I simply don't know enought about dogs, I've admitted that since I started posting, THATS the REASON I'm here Mordy.
Thanks for the advice on the supplments. Also I HAD heard tha CALCIUM WAS BAD & TO NEVER give it to dogs. I finally bought a bag of Innova today. I'm still giving her the c & the E. Is there anything else you'd recommend at THIS time? She is still growing her teeth (5 months old this 22nd) & her ears are PERFECT at this time. I've had her since June 1 so I guess if they haven't drooped by now they wont. At least I hope so.
Once again sorry about my comments, that was just out of ignorance. I realize EVERYONE hear loves their dog & was not intending to offend anyone.
Thanks for the advice on the supplments. Also I HAD heard tha CALCIUM WAS BAD & TO NEVER give it to dogs. I finally bought a bag of Innova today. I'm still giving her the c & the E. Is there anything else you'd recommend at THIS time? She is still growing her teeth (5 months old this 22nd) & her ears are PERFECT at this time. I've had her since June 1 so I guess if they haven't drooped by now they wont. At least I hope so.
Once again sorry about my comments, that was just out of ignorance. I realize EVERYONE hear loves their dog & was not intending to offend anyone.
ZlatasPop, i definitely understand where you are coming from. 
and i admire you for doing your "homework" on dog ownership so thoroughly, not very many people do that.
calcium supplementation isn't bad in itself, in fact in some cases you have to use a calcium supplement to balance out an otherwise out-of-proportion diet, but recent research has shown that it is not a good idea to give to large and giant breed puppies while they are still growing.
this is a relatively new development, when i got my dane back in 1980, the breeder insisted that we had to feed a mineral supplement with extra calcium until the dog was fully grown. luckily it didn't hurt him and he lived to over 11 years old, but it could have done serious damage.
if i were you, i'd just add a good quality fish oil into your feeding regimen, it's not only good for the immune system, skin and coat, but it also supports brain development.
and i admire you for doing your "homework" on dog ownership so thoroughly, not very many people do that.
calcium supplementation isn't bad in itself, in fact in some cases you have to use a calcium supplement to balance out an otherwise out-of-proportion diet, but recent research has shown that it is not a good idea to give to large and giant breed puppies while they are still growing.
this is a relatively new development, when i got my dane back in 1980, the breeder insisted that we had to feed a mineral supplement with extra calcium until the dog was fully grown. luckily it didn't hurt him and he lived to over 11 years old, but it could have done serious damage.
if i were you, i'd just add a good quality fish oil into your feeding regimen, it's not only good for the immune system, skin and coat, but it also supports brain development.