Nutritional Analysis of Huggy Bear's Home Made Dog Food Part 1

Happy Huggy Bear

I make home made dog food for Huggy, so I wanted to make sure that Huggy gets all of the vitamins and minerals nutritional requirements a dog his size needs, but when you search on the Internet, I could not find reliable information on the Recommended Daily Dose of vitamins and minerals.  Most Internet articles always say be sure your dog gets the proper amount of this and that, but they never specify what is the proper amount, and the information source seems sketchy.  I am kind of a skeptic, so that kind of information tells me nothing, and it's completely useless, like this article:

http://www.hartz.com/Dogs/Nutrition/a_dogs_daily_diet.aspx

This article link below is probably the best one that I could find, but unfortunately, it does not list the weight of the dog for the recommended dose so that you can extrapolate the amount that is appropriate for your dog:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1046

So, I decided to get the multi-vitamin supplement from the vet that Huggy has been seeing.  You can only get it from a vet, so that put my skeptical mind at ease somewhat.  Here's the label for the multi-vitamin RxVitamins for PETS:

Vet Recommended Vitamin Supplement

RxVitamins for PETS Professional Veterinary Formulas Label of Contents:
Daily Serving for a 25-50 lb dog:
Calcium - 75 mg
Magnesium - 5 mg
Iron - 250 mcg
Potassium - 400 mcg
Zinc - 1.5 mg
Manganese - 1 mg
Copper - 5 mcg
Chromium - 5 mcg
Selenium - 5 mcg
Vitamin A - 500 IU
Beta Carotene - 500 IU
Vitamin C - 30 mg
Vitamin D - 75 IU
Vitamin E - 15 IU
Vitamin B-1 - 5 mg
Vitamin B-2 - 5 mg
Pantothenic Acid - 5 mg
Niacinamide - 3 mg
Vitamin B-6 - 5 mg
Vitamin B-12 - 3 mg
Folic Acid - 5 mg
Biotin - 3 mg
Spirulina - 50 mg
Milk Thistle - 25 mg
Kelp - 60 mcg

Aside from the Spirulina, Milk Thistle, and Kelp, I think it's safe to say that the daily recommended dose for everything listed on the bottle is a realistic baseline for vitamins and minerals nutritional requirements for a dog.  Again, this stems from the fact that my vet recommended this.  I am sure that not everyone agrees with the assumption that everything your vet does or recommends is good for your pet, but I am sticking with my vet as the most reliable source of information for this case because the Internet didn't provide me with any answers that satisfied me completely.  

So, extrapolating, if you have a small dog under 25 lbs, maybe half of the amount of listed requirements is good enough to keep your dog healthy, and for dogs 50 lbs and up, twice the amount is good enough.  I am just guessing here, but from a human standpoint, and a scientific point of view, dosage is calculated proportionally based on a person's weight, so I figured that the same principles applied to dogs.

Now, the next question is, what is the nutritional content of Huggy's home made dog food?  I will be discussing that in my next post.