Best Vitamins for puppies?

[sharon]

Hi. Would anyone recommend a good vitamin for my 10-weeks old pup? I'm presently giving him Nutri-Cal and he seems to be doing well with it but being syrup in form, i just feel it might be too sweet, causing him to have a liking for his urine. Does that make sense?

[RWDVM]

Dear Ruth:

I will sometimes recommend Nutrical for toy breed puppies that are not eating well due to the stress of the experiencing their new home. The reason for this is that, when not eating adequate amounts, toy breed puppies have a higher tendency to get hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Barring this unique situation, vitamin supplementation should not be necessary if a puppy is being fed a good quality growth food. My favorite growth puppy foods are Eukanuba and Hill's Science Diet. If budget only permits supermarket brands, I recommend Purina.

Best of luck to you. If you are interested, please visit my veterinary advice and health management web site at the web address listed below.

Sincerely,

Roger L. Welton, DVM
Veterinarian, book author, webmaster http://www.askdvm.com

[sharon]

Thanks RWDVM! I'm presently feeding my pup Eukanuba and he's been eating so much! I guess the vitamins have also helped in his appetite. So now that you've mentioned it, do you think i should stop giving him his nutrical vitamins since i kinda think he's already overweight for his kind. Hes a shih tzu 10weeks old at 2.5kilograms, is that normal? also, would you think his vitamins could be a reason why he continually licks his urine off himself? I'm thinking maybe the vitamins have meade his urine sweet? does that make sense? Thanks for any tip or suggestion.