Why Dogs Don’t Need Vitamin C in Their Diet

I used to have a great book by Dr. Linus Pauling that stated that dogs do not make their own Vitamin C. My Afghans receive 500 mgs of Vitamin C daily with no ill effects; in fact they are terribly, terribly healthy!
From what I understand, excess Vitamin C is excreted in the urine, like excess Vitamin B, and does not build up in the body to toxic levels. The last statement is from my veterinarian.

The title has to be taken with caution. Though dogs do make their own vitamin C, in older dogs this process slows down and they can indeed become deficient. A sure sign would be open sores that do not heal. So, dogs over 10 certainly can use extra C, and for even older dogs, like 13 and up must get C supplements. Use a natural C that includes flavonoids and other components of C besides ascorbic acid.

Vitamin C is the essential vitamin and help keep you healthy during other situations that challenge your immune system.For buying the best healthcare supplements and products pleas visit the link and know more.

My little westie poo has quite a few warts on his body I have read that some vitamin c supplement would be good for him is this true as I am a new dog owner ?

Notanidiot-

Well, that is not very nice. Neither would be me pointing out that dogs make “THEIR” own vitamin C, not “THERE” own, and the first “guys” should be ‘s-the blog belonging to the guy.

Sorry, but my dog absolutely loved oranges and tangerines.  She would actually pick the low hanging ones off the tree.  She lived to be 17.5.  My current dogs love mandarin oranges and I put lemon in their water.

I don’t know if it is helpful to them or not which is why I found this site.  But they do like citrus.

I don’t think calcium, magnesium and potassium were involved – but that’s a good point, I wonder if it would have made a difference in the results. Basically (what I got from it) is that they were trying to reproduce the observations of Dr. Belfield which showed high doses of vitamin C prevented orthopedic conditions. I know Dr. Belfield ascorbic acid only – he actually markets a liquid ascorbic acid supplement to give to newborns through droppers.

This is the link to the study:

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=949&page=38

Hereditary orthopedic conditions — opps, completely different from heart disease…

I agree, the connection between orthopedic issues and vitamin C is a bit questionable??

The real reason I’m posting — I used to get HORRIBLE canker sores — 20 or 30 at one time.  They were triggered by soda pops..  The ONLY thing that would make them go away, once triggered, was a B12 shot. 

Love you dear! I was just about to say, “well that’s way cool of her!! And my critters could use IV C! Wish my vet would consider it. Then I was going to nudge the other thing… LOL

Its actually pretty amazing what nutrients can do..   Let food be thy medicine

We know that taurine deficiency in cats causes a form of heart disease.  Also in certain dog breeds.

We know that a vitamin e deficiency can cause “beriberi” of the heart (heart paralysis —- aka congestive heart failure) in humans and dogs.

Vitamin C has been shown to lower the risk of coronary heart disease.  “). In multivariate models adjusting for age, smoking, and a variety of other coronary risk factors, vitamin C supplement use was associated with a significantly lower risk of CHD (RR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.86).”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12875759

Oh I agree with you, I believe that vitamin c is important for many reasons and supplementation is beneficial. The part I’m iffy about though is Dr. Belfields claim that supplementation with vitamin c can eliminate a genetically transmitted disease (CHD) in every instance. I mean I know antioxidants are powerful, but I have a hard time believing that vitamin c could trump genes in every case. Maybe though, I haven’t read into it too much I just recalled reading some stuff by written by him a few times. But it seems like if it was that simple all breeders would just supplement with vitamin c..

Meow Mix has at least two ingredients that are known to be contaminated with the euthanasia drug pentobarbital.  Like your cats, they are finding now that pento is not as effective at euthanizing animals due to the long term exposure from poor quality foods.  The FDA has info on their website and there has been news reports..

Not vaccinating your Meow Mix fed cats actually did more good then harm..  They KNOW that rabies, as an example, CAUSES kidney disease.  They also believe that at least one of the feline vaccines cause kidney disease.  http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/insight/2004/fall2004/cats.htm

And you are absolutely right about things pets are exposed to in our homes (Sandy and Toxed are great sources of info on this).  The Environmental Group states that our pets “Average levels of many chemicals were substantially higher in pets than is typical for people, with 2.4 times higher levels of stain- and grease-proof coatings (perfluorochemicals) in dogs, 23 times more fire retardants (PBDEs) in cats, and more than 5 times the amounts of mercury, compared to average levels in people found in national studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and EWG (Figure).”  http://www.ewg.org/reports/pets

Our pets need all the whole food nutrition we can provide them. 

Hi Hound Dog Mom,
It’s actually more substantial than a “theory.” It’s well documented fact that vitamin C recharges spent glutathione and is critical for the GSH cycle, manufacturing more and in the methylation cycle. Glutathione is necessary for hundreds of biologic functions including tissue repair and cell wall strength. It’s critical in protein synthesis for connective tissue. Supplementing with C aides the body, under chemical assault, to execute the functions in a more effective way. Without sufficient glutathione the tissue integrity is weakened. Just sayin’.

An interesting theory about vitamin c is that hip dysplasia and other othopedic diseases are caused by lack of vitamin c. According to Dr. Belfield, the nutritional standards established by the NRC and AAFCO aren’t sufficient to allow for dogs to synthesize the optimal amount of collagen. Dr. Belfield has reported he observed no hip dysplasia in puppies at risk when they were supplemented with vitamin c from birth to 18 months of age and he even reports cats that test positive for leukemia and display no symptoms can become negative through supplementation with high doses of vitamin c. His theories are a little controversial in the veterinary community and I’m not sure if I buy them, but it’s interesting none the less. I supplement my dogs with a vitamin c powder that also contains citrus bioflavanoids daily, I figure being that vitamin c is water soluble it can’t hurt.

Hi CindyIngram,

There’s no known need for vitamin C in a dog’s diet- not even for gum health. That’s because unlike humans, a dog is able to internally manufacture all the vitamin C the animal needs.

As a matter of fact, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) doesn’t even set a minimum amount of vitamin C in its puppy or adult dog food nutrient profiles.

Hope this helps.

I hear what you are saying.  I’ve noticed it with our family cats as well.  For God’s Sake our cats pre 1990 ate Meow Mix  – period – rarely got their updated vaccinations and lived to 23 – yup 23!!! Fine and dandy until their kidneys gave out.  In fact, TWO of them had to receive TWO shots to make their hearts stop beating when euthenized!!!  Meanwhile, my post 1990′s family on the “good stuff” has had early kidney failure, diabetes, allergies, gum disease, etc., etc., etc.  Look, ANY TIME people are involved where MONEY is to be made – WHO KNOWS what can happen.  I’ve seen it in the human pharmaceutical industry first hand.  That would be my first instinct.  Beyond that – maybe some correlation with something humans are innocently exposing them to at home. ???  Or maybe even something in the gene pool that has carried on because of human efforts to rescue them??? 

i8ok,

I actually gave the Wholistic Canine Complete supplement with joint support to my dogs for awhile. They did fine on it. When you gave the link the first time I didn’t notice it was the same supplement I have used (wasn’t reading closely enough). All the vitamins are in whole food form and derived from kelp, bee pollen, flax and ester c (plus some added probiotics) so I wouldn’t worry too much about overdosing. I really like this company actually, I’ve used some of their other supplements too. Another company to look into would be Carnivora. I am currently using their Earth Greens supplement (Carnivora.ca). It’s another company with whole foods supplements. Also, here’s some more information on hydrolized whitefish: http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Proper-Nutrition-Seacure-for-Pets/114001.aspx

Thanks Shawna. I am still researching the details.

I wonder if WHITEFISH PROTEIN (as appears on the new ingredient list) is also hydrologized.

The list of nutrients is described as provided from whole food form. No synthetics. I was curious about the fluoride and aluminum, too. But I figured they had to list everything that appeared on a lab analysis.

When you click on the link http://wholisticcaninecomplete.com, you can then select Wholistic Canine Complete™ for more details easier-to-read.

Thanks hounddogmom. I found more information on the company website which lists the ingredient label for the fish ingredient as whitefish protein, instead of hydrolized whitefish. Perhaps they have updated the label. 
Also, there is detail about nutrients provided from this supplement and I’ve copied these here. It seems like few ingredients providing all of these nutrients. And claims to be in whole food form. Not synthetic. Is flaxseed good for dogs?http://wholisticcaninecomplete.com/ Wholistic Canine Complete provides (whole food form): Calcium                       Chlorine                      Potassium                   Magnesium                Nitrogen                       Sodium                        Phosphorus    Sulphur                         Aluminum                 Boron                           Cadmium                        Cobalt                            Chromium                    CopperFluoride                          Iron                             Iodine   Magnesium                   Manganese                 Molybdenum                 Lead                          Selenium  Sodium                Tin                             Zinc                            Vitamin A – carotenoidVitamin A – beta carotene Thiamin – B1Riboflavin – B2Niacin – B3Vitamin B6Vitamin B12Vit CVit DVit EBiotinVitamin Kpantothenic acidEster C All 21 Amino Acids including:       Alanine                       Lysine                         Arginine                       Methionine                    Aspartic Acid               Phenylalanine              Cystine                          Proline                           Glycine                         Serine                          Glutamic Acid              Threonine                    Histidine                        Tryptophan                   Isoleucine Taurine              Tyrosine                       Leucine                         Valine                           omega 3 fatty acids (linolenic acid)omega 6 fatty acids( linoleic acid) Choline Digestive enzymesProbiotics

I am curious if anyone has knowledge of, or an opinion about, this canine supplement which I found on http://www.wholepetmarket.com 

Questions: What is HYDROLYZED whitefish? What is STABILIZED flaxseed?
 
Wholistic Canine Complete
All-in-one pet supplement containing a proprietary blend of certified organic, human-grade ingredients to support the health and longevity of your pets.Ingredients: Organic Ascophylum nodosum (kelp), Organic, stabilized flaxseed, Hydrolyzed whitefish, Calcium ascorbate (Vitamin C*), Organic garlic, Lecithin, Dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation product,  Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation product, Dried Aspergillus niger fermentation product, Dried Trichoderma reesei fermentation product, Dried Rhizopus oryzae fermentation extract product, Dried Ananas comosus fermentation product, Dried Carica papaya fermentation extract product, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum. *as Ester-C®

All my dogs over the years have liked C loaded fruits like blueberries, cranberries, blackberries. They’ll eat the blackberries off the vines themselves.

Best advice regarding Vitamin C and dog food is here   http://www.wdcusick.com/013.html

The answer above, asserting that no studies with Vitamin C have been done on dogs and that any knowledge is anecdotal, is simply not true.  A quick review of veterinary and animal physiology journals (anyone can do this) shows that at least since the 1930s, researchers have periodically done clinical studies using Vitamin C, including one during the Cold War that showed that irradiated dogs given Vitamin C experienced a survival rate of about five times the control group (awful, yes, to expose dogs to radiation for the test, but my point is that this was 1949, and they gave Vitamin C to dogs) [see Field and Rekers, "Vitamin C and Flavonoids in Dogs," 1949].  Plus many other tests over the years.  Some have shown positive results for one symptom or another, some have shown no result.  But that animal physiologists have done work in this area seems beyond dispute.   

Great story about Merg.

All dogs are different. We had a dog that could eat anything and the next 2 could not.

I have seen British people giving CHOCOLATE to their dogs on TV. Can British dogs tolerate chocolate and not American dogs? Not that I would ever give our dog chocolate.

I also read a book that a VET. wrote about his encounters with different cats and dogs. He would give a vitamin shot to help them recover from whatever. What was that vitamin shot and why don’t our vets have it?

In the real world of country living, every dog I have had has eaten veggies of his/her own accord. We always have a garden, and sometimes keeping the dog OUT of the garden is the biggest problem.

For example, years ago we had a puppy come out of the woods and he seized a cucumber out of my wife’s hand. Mergatroyd, a black and tan hound/husky mix, stayed and lived with us for the next 13 years. He ate peas off the vine, but didn’t like the little round things in them (we told guests that he would shuck them into a colander, “Would you like more?). He dug carrots, ate tomatoes off the vine, gnawed on broc and BrSp stems, loved the cooked skins from winter squash and nearly anything else in the compost pile, especially lobster and shrimp shells, and would steal our vegetarian pizza in a heartbeat. (It got so bad that we had to tie him up when we had pizza.) He ate loaves of bread that our neighbor put out for the raccoons, occasionally ate woodchucks, squirrels, and the odd chipmunk if they happened too close to the property. He also ate cooked beans, both soy and navy, but only liked chili when it had pinto beans, not kidney, in it. Brown rice, chocolate chip cookies stolen from any child who happened to be walking with it in her hand. He also thought that other animal feces, especially horse apples was a great desert, something he often found on our nightly walk. One he didn’t like to eat was porcupine, however the incredibly foully stinking stuff was great for rolling in to hide his own smell. And BTW, the vet said that horse apples are good, actually better, for the dog, because they are predigested, and that works great in the short alimentary tract of a dog.

All in all, Mergatroyd was a slightly discriminating omnivore, and the vet called him healthy all his life. He also warned us when Merg was a puppy that he was not the kind of dog you would want for a pet. This was sort of true, and for many years we spent long hours searching for him, but he was lovable anyway, and when he howled in his baritone version of a husky howl along with our neighbor’s huskies, people from a half mile away would call us to tell us to stop mistreating him. (Once in the city, as he moaned about being left in the car, a parking attendant searched up and down the street looking for the sound. When I came back to the car I told the attendant that that was my dog making that sound. She said, “Oh my God, I thought that was the new fire engine!” Whatever others said, it always tugged at our hearts, and was a sure way to get someone to let him come in, lay by the woodstove, and watch TV until bedtime when he went back to his house.

In summation, all I can observe from his life and the other dogs we have had is that dogs are scavengers, and as such will eat anything that seems to them to have food value. And they know to eat grass to make themselves throw up when they get a piece of bone stuck in their stomachs. When one allows them to live their life the way they want, they seem to know well how to do it. So allow your dog to tell you what it wants, but one thing for sure, stop feeding it junk food and table scraps, these are not found in the wild. And allow your dog to take you for a walk each day. You’ll find it is their greatest gift to you along with their love and loyalty.

My rescue dalmatian, presently 10 years old has been eating all fruits including oranges all his life, 9 with me . Bulcio ha been on Kirkland lamb formula most of his life and now receives senior K food.
He at his age is very active and playful, although he takes longer “beauty naps”. The only food he will not eat are mushrooms .

My dog enjoys a piece of orange whenever we have one. Can this be harmful to an small shitzu cross?