When it comes to your dog’s health, there are a lot of things to keep track of. Luckily, it is usually pretty easy to tell whether or not your dog needs a vitamin E supplement. Of course, your veterinarian may be the one to notice that this is a problem, even though you may have noticed symptoms beforehand, but is your job as a responsible pet owner to pay attention to symptoms and report to your veterinarian when your dog is acting out of the ordinary or exhibiting signs that there may be something wrong. Luckily, treating vitamin E deficiency for dogs is a fairly simple process that just requires a vitamin E supplement that you can get in lots of different places. Let’s take a look at the symptoms and consequences of a vitamin E deficiency in your dog.

Vitamin E in Your Dog’s Diet

Your dog already may be getting enough vitamin E already from their diet. That’s because it is naturally found in ingredients in most of the commercial dog foods out there. This is especially true in pet foods that have leafy green vegetables, pet foods that incorporate plant oils including coconut, olive oil and hemp oil; and pet foods that already have vitamin E added as a supplement to them. You will have to check the label to find out for sure if these pet foods contain vitamin E or if your dog is getting enough. There will usually be a chart that shows you the daily recommended allowance of vitamin E and how much your dog should be getting. If you are not feeding your dog enough of that food to reach the recommended amount, then you may have to consider a vitamin E supplement. But what if you are feeding your dog a nonstandard diet? That’s where adding in supplements like calcium and vitamin E are necessary. When you are feeding your dog a nonstandard diet, you may not be giving them all of the nutrients that they need. In fact, the latest craze among pet owners is to give their dog a paleo diet. This paleo diet is supposed to mimic the food that they had when they were roaming around in the wild before they were domesticated. However, people fail to take things into account; such as the fact that chewing up bones from their kills would give them the calcium that they need. The same goes for supplements like vitamin E.

How to Tell if Your Dog Needs a Vitamin E Supplement

The way to tell if your dog needs a vitamin E supplement is simply by paying attention to their symptoms. Vitamin E has an overall benefit, particularly for the hormonal and immune systems. So reproductive and immune system weakness is a clue. Dull coat and eyes point to multiple deficiencies, including vitamin E. Although vitamin E is an essential vitamin, your dog may not need a supplement in order to get the vitamin E that they need. If they are getting it from their balanced diet, then giving them vitamin E is not recommended. The decision whether or not your dog is experiencing symptoms that are indicative of a vitamin E deficiency is best left with your vet. However, that does not mean that you are not responsible for identifying those symptoms and letting your veterinarian know that your dog is having them. Most good quality pet food will already have enough vitamin E in them. You do not have to worry about adding a vitamin E supplement in these cases.

Are Vitamin E Supplements Safe?

What about safety? Are vitamin E supplements safe? That’s a question that is difficult to answer because the response really is it depends on where you get them. Your veterinarian may make recommendations on where to buy vitamin E supplements or which brands to get. You can be fairly certain that these supplements are perfectly safe and give your dog the vitamin E that they need. But your veterinarian may not make any recommendation it all, and in that case you needed choose their own source. Buying online is always the preferred way to save money, but you have to do your research carefully because not every supplement out there for dogs is going to contain the vitamin E or other nutrient that it says it does.

Where to Find Vitamin E Supplements for Dogs

Once you have determined that your dog actually needs a vitamin E supplement, then you have to decide where to get it from. As mentioned, you can ask your veterinarian for recommendations on where to get a vitamin E supplement. A vitamin E supplement for dogs is easy to find online, but just because the website is listed on the first page of Google does not mean that it is a legitimate source of a life-saving supplement to your dog needs. You need to do your own independent research, read reviews and make sure that you are getting a supplement that you can be certain of. Be sure to check out Vitality Science’s premier fish oil supplement, Vital Pet Lipids.