How to determine if a dog is calcium deficient? What are the symptoms? Puppies have double rows of teeth, bad leg shape, forelimbs splayed outward or inward, and when standing, the toes are spread apart, like duck webs. I can't stand straight, I don't like to exercise, and the color of my nose becomes lighter. Calcium deficiency in adult dogs generally manifests as irritability, hot flashes, easy fractures, laziness, and easy fractures. These are the symptoms of calcium deficiency. The initial symptoms include loss of appetite, indigestion, heterophilia, gradual weight loss, and slow growth. The final symptoms are swelling and deformation of joints, resulting in O-shaped legs or X-legs, lameness, or lying on the ground. Generally, in this case, calcium supplement alone is not enough. Vitamin supplements are also required. If there is a lack of vitamins, calcium cannot be absorbed better. Just like us humans, once dogs are deficient in calcium, their health will also be greatly threatened. Generally speaking, if calcium supplementation is insufficient in young dogs, they may develop rib valgus and deformation of the wrist and elbow joints of the forelimbs. Small dogs are prone to "O"-shaped legs, while large and medium-sized dogs may suffer severe deformation of the forelimbs. If not detected in time and treated improperly, it may cause permanent paw splay or lameness. Calcium deficiency in adult dogs generally manifests as irritability, hot flashes, easy fractures, and laziness. The symptoms are somewhat similar to humans. Because dogs of different breeds, ages, diets and even living habits have completely different calcium needs. Dogs cannot speak, and they cannot express on their own some physical discomfort caused by calcium deficiency or excessive calcium supplementation - so it is even more important to scientifically supplement calcium for dogs. You must not blindly supplement calcium for your dog just to show your love. In the end, you will only end up spending more money and your dog will suffer! Dogs of different breeds and sizes require different calcium supplement methods at different ages. But no matter what size the dog is, there is no need to supplement calcium during lactation, because they can obtain a large amount of calcium from breast milk. After the puppies are weaned, mini dogs and small dogs fed puppy dog ??food do not need to supplement calcium, because puppy food will contain an appropriate amount of calcium. However, large and medium-sized dogs should pay attention to appropriate calcium supplementation at this time. Because the larger the dog is, the faster it grows and the greater its demand for calcium. The calcium contained in general puppy food is difficult to meet their growth needs. If you are feeding your dog homemade food, you should pay more attention to giving them calcium supplements in time. In addition, if your dog eats animal liver or meat as its main food for a long time, it should also supplement calcium in an appropriate amount. Because this kind of food not only contains very low calcium, but also contains high concentrations of vitamin A, dogs' long-term intake of high concentrations of vitamin A can inhibit calcium absorption. Therefore, you should immediately change the habit of feeding the liver for a long time and replenish it with calcium in time. 2 to 3 months of age is an important period for the formation of intervertebral discs in puppies. If there is a calcium deficiency at this time, some breeds prone to intervertebral disc disease, such as Pekingese, Shih Tzu, Pug, Poodle, etc., will develop the disease in adulthood. Causes lifelong pain. When puppies grow to 4-6 months old, the deciduous teeth in the mouth begin to fall out, and the permanent teeth begin to grow. If there is a lack of calcium at this time, the deciduous teeth will not fall out, the permanent teeth will grow slowly, the enamel layer will be thin, and the structure will not be strong. It is easy to have double rows of teeth or uneven permanent teeth. These dogs are prone to diseases such as bad breath and gingivitis in adulthood, which directly affects their life span. Once dogs enter adulthood, dogs fed dog food do not need separate calcium supplements. Because during this period, the growth and development of the dog's bones and other organs has basically stopped, and the demand for calcium is very small. If they are breeding male dogs and pregnant and lactating female dogs, they still need to supplement a large amount of calcium, because semen, embryonic dogs and milk will cause a large amount of calcium to be lost from the body - if it cannot be replenished in time, the body's calcium will be used Calcium in the body causes osteoporosis. Postpartum lactating bitches may suffer from acute postpartum calcium deficiency due to low blood calcium concentration. The symptoms include twitching of the limbs, stiffness of the whole body, body temperature that can rise above 40°C, and even cause coma and death. When large dogs reach the age of 8, they enter their old age. Due to endocrine and other reasons, dogs in the old age have reduced calcium intake and increased calcium loss. At this time, small dogs should be fed senior dog food, otherwise they should be artificially supplemented with calcium while maintaining a certain amount of exercise. Otherwise, it will cause osteoporosis and increase the incidence of bone spurs and fractures. As for the correct method of calcium supplementation, in addition to taking some dog-specific calcium powder according to dosage, you can also eat some foods such as dairy products and cartilage, and reduce the intake of foods rich in vitamin A such as liver, which is also beneficial to calcium supplementation. Replenish. Of course, if your dog already has symptoms of calcium deficiency, medication will be needed. It is recommended to choose some calcium carbonate and calcium lactate that are not too expensive, and at the same time inject vitamin D3, take oral vitamin D2, and vitamin D3 pills. Of course, if conditions permit, you can also choose some imported brands of calcium for pets, because these products are more professional in comparison. As for the specific amount of calcium supplement, it depends on the breed, size, age and calcium deficiency of the dog. It is best to go to the animal hospital to listen to the advice of a professional veterinarian. Calcium supplementation for dogs is different from that for humans. Few people know how much calcium dogs need, and the result is either too little or too much. Especially when dog owners want to do something particularly good, the result is often the opposite. In fact, too little or too much calcium intake is bad for dogs, and will cause bone diseases. If the dog already has bone problems, the condition will be aggravated. Medium and large dogs, in particular, are particularly sensitive to calcium intake.
Excessive intake of calcium is very common. Feeding finished dog food to dogs while adding mineral feed containing a lot of calcium can easily cause this situation. Complete feed or puppy feed contains enough calcium. If you feed your dog such feed normally and there is not too much other meat, there is no need to add additional mineral feed and similar products. Let me give you an example: a 3-month-old puppy, say about 10 kilograms, will grow to more than 30 kilograms in the future, so the current daily calcium intake required is about 8-10 grams. Then this puppy needs about 400 grams of feed every day. The calcium content of about 0.35% per 100 grams is enough to fully meet the dog's needs. For example, if two spoons of nutritional tablets are added to this, the intake is already 16 grams, and the calcium is much more than the dog needs. At the same time, the phosphorus intake does not increase proportionally, so This causes an imbalance in the calcium-phosphorus ratio. In large and medium-sized dogs, this can cause many skeletal problems. Different from this, calcium deficiency often occurs when the feed is prepared by oneself. Most feeds without bones do not contain enough calcium, especially for medium and large dog breeds. The same applies to dairy products. Dog parents often think that just like people, a few milligrams of calcium in a mouthful of milk or a calcium tablet is already very useful - but this view is actually very wrong. It takes about 15 years for a baby to reach 60 kilograms, and less than a year for a really large dog. Therefore, if you want to supplement calcium in this way, of course, calcium deficiency will easily occur. Blindly supplementing calcium, spending money and suffering, modern dog parents have usually established a correct concept, which is to feed their dogs special dog food and canned dogs. In fact, there are many nutrition experts in these professional companies. After their preparation, the calcium content in dog food or canned food is enough to meet the needs of ordinary adult dogs. However, in the traditional concept, dogs should be raised fat and strong. Now that golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers are very popular, many dog ??parents will buy some nutritional supplements, especially calcium powder, for their dogs at any cost. Dogs grow big and strong - but no one knows that this has caused a serious nutritional burden on the dog. For dogs that eat a normal diet and live a normal life, excessive calcium intake all year round may also cause various orthopedic-related diseases, such as hip joint dysplasia, segmented chondritis, hypertrophic chondrodysplasia and Deformation of the radius or ulna of the forelimb, etc.; in addition, there are non-orthopedic related diseases such as stones, calcinosis cutis, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, etc. There is an experiment conducted on dogs to screen for structural hip dysplasia. When it is found that dogs that have taken large doses of calcium powder for a long time, the onset of the disease is earlier and more severe. Because calcium can promote bone growth, it cannot promote muscle to follow the rapid growth. Therefore, when the bones grow rapidly, the muscles cannot keep up and will pull the femoral head out of the joint socket, causing structural changes in the hip joint. In this case, when the dog is exercising, due to abnormal hip joint structure, normal orthopedic mechanics will change, causing increased stress on the bones, loosening of the hip joint, shallowing of the glenoid fossa, and flattening of the femoral head. The normal physiological response of animals is to stabilize joints and repair damaged cartilage and subchondral bone to produce bones near joints called bone spurs - the so-called degenerative arthritis. Once a dog develops degenerative arthritis, it will never return to normal. In addition, dogs that have been taking large doses of calcium powder for a long time can see calcium deposits on their ribs during chest X-ray examinations - this phenomenon is generally only seen in older dogs or dogs with chronic kidney disease. . Calcium supplementation is needed for some specific dogs, such as stray dogs with an unbalanced diet, sick dogs with calcium loss from their bones due to disease, elderly dogs, pregnant female dogs, etc. As long as it is a normal adult dog eating canned dog food, calcium powder should not be added at will, so as not to spend too much money and the dog will suffer.