The decision to stop selling supplements on my site was made due to the industry having changed to support only the big players making it impossible to continue independepent quality testing and not have overstock or short expiry dates.
At this time clients are asking what they can use to replace those supplements as well as what to use if they need others. Here’s the best I can find as well as explanations to consider.
First, full disclosure: if you’re going to place an order feel free to use my code to receive a discount. I may receive a few points that I can use at iherb as well, but that’s certainly not the point here. http://iherb.com/?rcode=SEG722
Taurine: this product contains rice flour. Mine did not, so this isn’t for you if your dog reacts to rice. Otherwise, it’s a good product. It’s sourced from China as is the case now with all taurine I’ve been able to track.
Kelp: This powder makes it easy to measure in the tiny scoop that’s packed inside the bottle. It’s very small and sometimes sinks down a bit, so don’t worry if you don’t see it right away. It’s in there 🙂
Vitamin B-50 tablets: this product comes as capsules as well, but it’s important to choose tablets. They allow you to cut them into tiny amounts, so you can use them in the same quantity as you were using mine.
Vitamin E 200 IU mixed tocopherols seems to be in stock more often than the 100 IU strength. This product is tolerated well by almsot all dogs. If you need to use the dry version bercause your dog doesn’t tolerate even a smidge of added fat in the regular capsules, this product can work. It’s 400 IU in strength, so adjust accordingly.
Copper in 2 mg strength. This is a good company that I’ve trusted for many years.
Zinc 15 mg by Alora was on my site and not from China, but the same brand may or may not be from there now. I know sourcing was being discussed just before I stopped offering supplements. I’m using this for my own dog and am comfortable with the company at this time.
This Iron 18 mg has been tolerated very well for as many years as I’ve been working with dogs. I’m not changing the brand.
The manganese I used was 15 mg while this one is only 8 mg. This is a tablet rather than a capsule, but it’s free of gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, yeast, sugar, sodium, artificial flavor, sweetener, preservatives and color, and the filler is dicalcium phosphate which supplies a trace of calcium and phosphorus rather than something the dog can be allergic to.
Wild Salmon Oil: This has been impossible to replace. I searched for over one year before having to discontinue, but the sad fact is there’s nothing on the market to compare. I reformulated my own dog’s diet to include more canned sockeye salmon which adds omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D. I suggest you speak to your vet about a pharmaceutical grade oil which many clinics offer now. The glitch is that fish oil will contain vitamin D, but few if any manufacturers test for that, so they say there’s no vit D in it. I’m uncomfortable with that which is why I opted for revising my dog’s diet.
Vitamin D from lanolin is something I’ve used for dogs that don’t tolerate vit D from fish sources.
Calcium carbonate powder by NOW is what I’ve used most often. Calcium citrate provides less elemental calcium per tsp. Which to use depends on the goal of the diet and what a dog tolerates best. The carbonate form has been backordered more often over the years and in those cases I use citrate, but be sure to adjust the amount so the diet continues to provide the correct amount ot elemental calcium.
Magnesium citrate by Allergy Research is as close to my brand as I’ve seen. Nice product in my opinion, and it’s even the same strength (170 mg per capsule)
CoQ10 by NOW in 30 mg strength is the dry version. CoQ10 is best absorbed with fat which is why you’ll also see that version on the market, but since we feed this with food which contains fat (vs swallowing with water as people do), I’ve never found an issue with using the dry. It’s much less expensive as well.
Unlike my product which included rice flour only in the capsule, this product uses rice flour as a filler. That’s fine for dogs that aren’t allergic to rice, but it’s something to be aware of if yours is.