Most of us take some type of vitamin at least once in a while, so do dogs need vitamins to be healthy as well?
It may surprise you that the life expectancy for dogs has greatly dropped from where it once was. Take the Golden Retriever for example. In the 1970s the life expectancy for a Golden Retriever was 16 to 17 years, where now their life expectancy has dropped all the way down to 9 to 10 years.
Many believe that some of this is attributed to the food that our dogs eat. Some of you might have considered making your own dog food or maybe you are making your dog food. It is a big job to make homemade dog food, and if you are feeding your dog homemade dog food, your dog could really benefit from receiving daily vitamins. Take a look at the benefits and risks of homemade dog food.
Even dogs that aren’t eating homemade dog food can really benefit from taking a daily vitamin.
Table of Contents
About Dog Food
The restrictions on dog food for what it is required to provide in regard to nutrition is not exactly governed. When dog food starts out being made, there are some healthy ingredients that are in the food (along with many unhealthy ingredients), but the entire structure of the food changes substantially from how it is processed.
It is cooked at such high temperatures in order to get the food into a paste form to eventually form your dog’s kibble. It is a highly processed dog food that has a shelf life of over 2 years without any kind of refrigeration. Do you think what they put in your dog’s food can be good for the body?
There are so many preservatives and after cooking the food, the nutrients and vitamins that were once present are going to be long gone. If you would like more information how dry dog food is made and with what ingredients, you can take a look at this dry dog food article.
What Vitamins Can Do For Your Dog
Dogs should be getting their vitamins from their dog food, but there really aren’t any regulations that after the dog food has been processed and stored for up to 2 years that the vitamins you where hoping they are providing your dog are actually there. That is why it is important for you to make sure your dog’s diet has everything it needs to keep them healthy.
Vitamins can keep your dog’s skin and coat healthy, strength their bones and teeth, gives them overall energy, assist in joint function, boost their immune system and so much more than this. Basically, they can help keep your dog healthier than he would be without the vitamins. As our dogs age, don’t we all wish that they could live a little longer and not struggle so much in their later years?
Recommended Vitamin For Dogs
The vitamin that I recommend you get your dog started on is Petvim. This is an all nature vitamin that has no chemicals, artificial flavors or colors added. After all the preservatives and chemicals that your dog is already getting from their dog food, why would we would to give them more with their vitamins?
By giving your dog this all natural vitamin and mineral daily, you can help ensure they live as long as possible and stay healthy enough to enjoy every day.
What Makes Petvim Special
Petvim is the only all natural, soluble multi vitamin and mineral supplement for dogs. It is created with 7 soluble nutrient rich super foods that include coconut water, Beetroot, Maca, Curcumin Turmeric, Black Pepper, Lucuma and Pink Himalayan Sea Salt. These super foods are packed with natures vitamins and key essential minerals that are often missing in your dog’s daily diet.
Coconut Water – helps skin, coat, brain health and memory function.
Curcumin Turmeric with Black Pepper – for anti-inflammation and pain relief.
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt – for joint mobility.
Beetroot – is loaded with antioxidants, magnesium, iron, Vitamin A, B6, and C for the heart, liver, digestion and cardiovascular system.
Lucuma – for bone health and nerve function.
Maca – helps adapt to change, stress and promotes well-being.
This vegetarian treat formula contains Digestive Enzymes, Niacin and natural Probiotics to promote healthy digestion for dogs that struggle with gas, diarrhea, constipation and bloating.
Soluble Vitamin
Giving your dog Petvim is easy. It is a soluble formula where you simply add a teaspoon to your dog’s water bowl or sprinkle it on their dog food once per day.
All ages can benefit from vitamins.
It dissolves quickly in water and is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to help give your dog the key essentials, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and fluids they need fast.
This water-soluble formula helps ensure rapid absorption, making it up to 9X more effective than ordinary tablets and chews. Water soluble supplements have around a 90% absorption rate compared to tablet supplements being at around 20% absorption rate. That means the vitamin is actually getting into your dog’s system and doing what it is supposed to be doing.
A 150g pouch will last approximately 1 month when given to your dog daily. When Petvim is added to your dog’s water, the water will turn a Beetroot color (kool-aid for dogs).
Changes In Your Dog’s Health Using Petvim
- Boost energy, stamina and vitality
- Balance and support nutrition
- Rehydrate and replace lost cell salts
- Boost the immune system
- Improve blood circulation
- Replace lost minerals, key vitamins and electrolytes
- Assist in the treatment of skin allergies
- Promote a healthy and shiny coat
- Promote mental/brain health and memory function
- Assist in joint function and support
- Promote healthy digestion
- Support healthy bowel function
Summary
I hope from this information you have your answer to “do dogs need vitamins to be healthy.” Dog food has processed out a large portion of the nutrients and vitamins by how it is made in order to shape the food and to give it a long shelf life, that it is no wonder why our dogs are lacking in vitamins and not as healthy as they once were.
Keep your dog healthy in all stages of their life.
Petvim gives you a great option for keeping your dog healthy and living a longer life with fewer medical issues coming along the way. It is grain free and gluten free and your dog will love the taste. It is safe for all breeds, ages and sizes, including puppies. Give it a try for a month and see your dog’s energy levels and overall health increase.
I feel that we already lose our dogs too soon, and the last years of their life can be a bit of a struggle with them physically. I would prefer them to live as long as possible and stay healthy enough to enjoy all of those years.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. You can follow justforyourdog.com on Pinterest, FaceBook or Twitter for all the latest dog updates as they become available.
Some of the links within this post are affiliate links of which I might receive a small compensation from sales of certain items.
Just going by what is deemed safe for humans to consume I can only imagine what is put in dog food. Myself I care for my animals the same I do as my children and so yes I do think it would be important to give a vitamin to our pets. Surprisingly enough though I have never had a Vet suggest this. I currently don’t own a dog but If I did I would certainly be looking into getting some PetVim for him/her. Great information and I hope this word gets out as we want our family pets to live as long as possible.
I have to agree with you, I treat my dog the same way I do my son. I make sure he has everything he needs within his diet and that he gets enough exercise to help keep him healthy. (Besides it makes him happy going for a walk.) I do wish more dog owners would take a look at possibly providing their dog with vitamins. Far too often it seems that we are losing our friends much too young.
Do you recommend Petvim for dogs of all ages, including senior dogs? Seems like a good vitamin to give to your dog though. These days a lot of dogs don’t get proper nutrition, so I do think it’s a good idea to give them vitamins.
I wonder if Petvim would be a good addition to a raw diet?
I do recommend Petvim for senior dogs and dogs of all ages including puppies. If you are feeding your dog a raw diet, it is extremely important that you either add supplements to their diet or vitamins. Raw diets are great from the concept that it isn’t processed or have any preservatives added, but they are missing many of the nutrients that dogs still need. You might consider taking a look at NomNomNow Fresh dog food. This isn’t a raw diet, but is made with human grade fresh food only. They customized the portion size and the supplements for every dog based on their breed, age and activity level.
I think another effect on our dogs’ health comes from feeding them table scraps. We often don’t eat all that great ourselves as a society. When we feed our fatty food to our dogs, it makes them fatty too. I’ve never considered giving vitamins to my dog before. I am mindful of the type of food I buy her though. I don’t trust a lot of the popular brands.
Table scraps are a big problem for our dogs. Not only are we giving them something that probably isn’t that healthy for our dogs, we don’t decrease the amount of dog food that we give our dogs when we are giving them table scraps, which does contribute to our dogs being overweight. Even if you are only feeding your dog their dog food, I do still recommend including some type of vitamin into their diet. As I mentioned above, a lot of the nutritional value that once started in their dog food is cooked out by how they process dog food, leaving a lot less value in the vitamins that they are receiving.
Truth is, most of us usually prepare dog food from what we eat.
We also give left over foods to our dogs. If I may ask, can we program veges into dog food? I know they prefer meats and the likes. But I am thinking that a little vegetable here and there can help improve Vitamin levels.
Thanks for pointing out the Petvim Vitamin. I think it is only fair to treat our dogs with special care by providing all the necessary supplements they need.
Many dogs actually really enjoy vegetables. I had a dog that used to go to the garden every day and pick peas right off the plants to eat and would beg and cry for carrots like I was giving her bacon. If you start you dog early on vegetables early, it is much easier to get them to like them. (Not so different than getting kids to eat them.) If your dog has gotten older and still not joined in on wanting vegetables, I would suggest giving them some vegetables mixed with something else that they enjoy. Maybe a bit of peanut butter on the vegetable and keep decreasing the peanut butter that you put on the vegetable. Good luck getting your dog to eat his veggies.
I think the reason that dogs life expectancy continues to go down is because the dog food you buy at the store is of very low quality, well at least the cheap stuff.
For example my wife spent hours researching which dog foods which should give our dogs, because one of them has allergies and only can have specific ingredients… but doing so also pointed us in the right direction of adding better nutritional value.
I found it interesting that you had a little section where you talked about homemade dog food because my wife also will spend a whole day making some homemade dog food, then we feed our dogs half homemade and half from a bag of dog food!
Back to the main part of the article though is that I know vitamins can be very good for our dog, and even if we do make homemade dog food I’d be interested in giving them vitamins on occasion too.
The PetVim that you recommend, do most dogs like the flavor? or do they treat them more like pills because my dogs have become a master at avoiding eating pills at all cost.
I did see you said add to water? Is this just adding it to their water bowl? And if so it doesn’t make it so they don’t drink?
Sorry for the all the questions, but I’m definitely willing to try these to improve my dogs health even further!
Josh, thanks for reading and for the questions. I am happy to see the research that your wife has done to help provide your dogs with a better diet than the regular processed dog food. It is amazing how much we learn about the quality of their food with some research.
The Pevim is a powder that is added directly to their water bowl. You could sprinkle it on their food if you prefer, but the recommendation is right in their water. My dog loves the taste, and it hasn’t decreased the amount of water that he drinks during the day. I might actually say that it has slightly increased since I started adding it. It is much easier than trying to give your dog pills. I have used the pill pockets before or wrapped them in American cheese. At times they can still shoot out the pill and only eat the disguise for the pill. Petvim makes it easier.
Great job on this review.
Thank you. I am glad you found the information valuable.