Most dog foods contain only a portion of the vitamins and minerals needed by your dog’s body. For active dogs, dogs under stress, and sick dogs, the vitamins and minerals in their dog food are not sufficient in keeping their body working in top condition.

The following are the common vitamins and minerals found in most vitamin supplements. Knowing how each vitamin affects your dog’s body helps you to identify the specific items that your dog needs in his daily diet. Many of these vitamins share a common function in the body. Receiving the proper balance of each vitamin and mineral ensures their effectiveness in performing their roles. If your dog receives an insufficient or excessive amount of one vitamin or mineral, it can affect the usefulness of the other vitamins and minerals in the body.

One of the main reasons you should give your dog a pill containing all necessary vitamins and minerals is the importance that they are in an absorbable form. If the vitamin or mineral is not absorbable then all the benefits and nutrients are not received. Plus, if one or two vitamins are not absorbed, the insufficiency of those vitamins or minerals can disturb the effectiveness of the other vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals can greatly improve your dog’s health, so long as they are correct amounts are properly absorbed by the body. Never give your dog a human vitamin as the human body has very different requirements and thus vitamins designed specifically for a dogs body are the only type that should ever be given to your dog.

Vitamins:

* A – component of visual proteins, development of skin cells, spermatogenesis–related to sperm production, immune function, bone resorption–removal of destroyed portions of bone.
* C – important in formation and maintenance of bones and joints; cleans toxins from blood and tissues.
* B6 – helps with metabolism of proteins, usage of minerals, and production of red blood cells.
* B12 – prevents nerve damage, and increases fertility and absorption of food.
* D – helps in the absorption of phosphorus and calcium used to strengthen bones, insulin synthesis, and immune function.
* E – beneficial for the circulatory system, strengthens the immune system, and oxygenates blood.
* K – involved in clotting proteins; a factor in osteocalcin (a bone protein).
* Niacin(B3) – component of the enzymes used for cellular respiration (production of metabolites) and anabolic reactions (fatty acid synthesis), the hydrogen donor/acceptor in energy releasing (dehydrogenase) reactions.
* Riboflavin (B2) – essential in growth, development of muscles, and improving fur.
* Thiamin (B1) – converts glucose to energy for use by the body, helps the nervous system, and is a cofactor in the TCA cycle (converts proteins, carbohydrates, and fats into usable energy).

Minerals

* Calcium – extremely important mineral; used for bone formation, blood clotting, muscle contraction, and nerve impulse transmissions.
* Chloride and Sodium – maintains balance between fluids inside and outside of individual cells; chloride helps produce the stomach acid used for protein breakdown; sodium transfers nutrients to cells and removes waste.
* Copper – helps in forming collagen, absorbing iron, developing red blood cells, developing hair pigment, heart function, cellular respiration, connective tissue development, bone formation, myelin (substance that insulates the neurons) formation, and immune function.
* Iodine – regulates the thyroid gland and production of thyroid hormones.
* Iron – forms hemoglobin (along with copper and protein) in red blood cells.
* Magnesium – assists in absorption and use of vitamins, bone growth, protein production, bone and intracellular fluid production, neuromuscular transmission, and fat and carbohydrate metabolism.
* Manganese – helps in the use of proteins and carbohydrates, reproduction, and enzymes that manufacture energy and fatty acids.
* Phosphorus – needed for muscle contraction, transmission of nerve impulses, acid base balance, and osmotic balance
* Potassium – found in cells to improve functioning of muscles, nerves, and enzymes, and maintain a proper balance of fluids in body.
* Zinc – activator of 200 known enzymes (such as nucleic acid metabolism, protein synthesis, carbohydrate metabolism), skin and wound healing, immune response, fetal development, and growth rate.
* Boron – regulates parathyroid hormone, influences the metabolism of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and choloecalciferol
* Chromium – potentates insulin action to help improve glucose tolerance