Does your dog need supplements?

While the right supplements may make your hair shiny, your skin glowing and reduce bloat, for the most part your dog doesn't need the same additions to their diet. If you feed them a complete and balanced dog food, they’ll get all the essential nutrients they need.

If your dog has a specific health condition, they may benefit from supplements. But this should only be determined under the guidance of your vet after thorough examination and diagnosis. Outside of that, most dog supplements are nothing more than brands trying to cash in on a fad. The wrong supplement can even cause harm to your dog if it has an underlying health problem.

You pay for something that won't add much to your dog's life, and that they'll just end up peeing out. 

6 problems with dog supplements

Here are some reasons why you shouldn't waste your precious time or money on the majority of dog supplements. 

1. Many dogs are fussy eaters, so you’ll spend money on supplements that your dog may not even eat.
2. Many supplements have unnecessary fillers so they taste better – good for your dog's taste buds, but not necessarily for their health.
3. Many come as tablets or chewables, so it can be hard to get the safe, effective dosage for supplements.
4. Speaking of dosage, many of these over the counter supplements are low-strength. That means you may need to give your dog more, which increases the cost.
5. Poor labelling is a massive issue in the pet supplement industry. Lack of transparent information about ingredient levels makes it hard to find the right dosage for your pet. 
6. Some of the ingredients aren't sustainable, which isn’t great for the planet.

Help is on the way

Despite the nonsense out there in the world of dog supplements, I believe there's value in them – if they're done right. Over the past two years, I've developed something worthy of our beloved dogs. And they are called…well, you'll just have to wait on that.