Calcium, ears, and pasterns... ???????

[poohbearsmom]

While having a long conversation with a breeder friend of mine, we got on the topic of calcium, and supplementation.

She has, for quite some time, done a lot of studying regarding calcium in dogs' diets. The discussion turned to ears (the flyaway variety), and she is convinced that *one* of the reasons there is a direct correlation between teething (in addition to ear size, thickness of leather and set), and flyaway ears is that the teeth are consuming so much calcium, that the rest of the body isn't able to utilize it sufficiently.

She also remarked about teething being a time in a pup's life that the pasterns can "fall" or weaken, and gives the calcium (or lack thereof) as the reason.

This was a very thought provoking conversation that I had. So much so, that when Attila started teething, and his ears did funky things, in addition to the multiple massages daily, I started adding extra yogurt and cottage cheese to his meals. His ears calmed down within days, although his left ear has it's moments...lol He still has his canines and molars pushing through, so, I will continue the additional supplementation through his teething, as all appears to be going very well.....He's growing by leaps and bounds right now, but at a very normal rate for his age.

I am aware that too much calcium is not a good thing, and being a relative novice in the nutrition game, I'm not even sure if the forms of calcium I'm giving him are being absorbed properly, or if I'm just pacifying myself by doing these things.....

Any thoughts on this topic?

Looking forward to your replies....
Elisabeth

[Carina43]

I don't have any answers, but I agree it's something that many people with larger dogs would like to see more about.

It's been the topic of discussion on a few raw feeding lists (I feed raw.) I brought it up once when Cooper was first d/xed with elbow dysplasia - since in raw feeding calcium intake is pretty unregulated, I wondered whether some raw fed pups can actually get too much. People who have raised litters for years loudly disputed my notion (I was rocking the boat!) saying they have seen fewer joint problems with their litters.

Then again, with (from what I've read) over 60% of all Rottweilers have dysplastic elbows, though many of those are asymptomatic - someone who fed Canidae or some other genrally recognised quality food wouldn't think of "blaming" diet for it...

OTOH, Coop has beautiful teeth, ears, and nice straight pasterns. My two rescues have flyaway ears and Dutch has very cow-hocked back legs, who knows how they were fed growing up - not well, I'm guessing.

I'd be interested in any other thoughts or research your friend has come up with.

[lblax]

i belive that the ears and other developemant (unless you are severly overfeeding or malnutritioned) is all a matter of the genes.

[LynnS]

I am always interested in the wide range of opinions on how to prevent fly away ears and what causes them (besides the obvious reasons). Personally I am beginning to think it's mostly genetic. Bella has a high ear set even though they are the correct size and very thick. They are never tight against her head - and although she carries them correctly some times, they definately fly away at other times...at 9 mnths I am doubtful that this will change....I dont think calcium would have made much difference but who knows.

[CarolineS]

I don't know how much you're feeding in the way of extra cottage cheese and yogurt, so it's hard to say if it's contributing significantly to the diet or not. Three ounces of cottage cheese has about 52 mg of calcium and three ounces of yogurt has about 103. If you are feeding, say, about 1/4 cup of each per day, it probably isn't making much difference in the grand scheme of things. A growing dog requires 320 mg of calcium per kg of body weight, so if you do the math, you'll see that an extra couple of hundred mgs won't have much impact.

The calcium from dairy products is very well absorbed by dogs as long as no allergies are present. Calcium does not stand alone though, there are interactions between lots of minerals that have a direct affect on how much of it is absorbed. You need a degree in nutrition or nutrition software to figure it out exactly.

With young pups, you're right, you do have to be very careful how much calcium is fed. There have been numerous studies done that show that oversupplementation with calcium in young pups can lead to bone abnormalities. With adult dogs, this is not a problem as they have the capability to excrete excess calcium.

[poohbearsmom]

i belive that the ears and other developemant (unless you are severly overfeeding or malnutritioned) is all a matter of the genes.

Well, I believe that genetics play the largest role, but, I also believe that environment can play a key part..... For instance, a friend of mine sold a pup to a man, man kept pup in a crate too small, and underfed her (so, yes, malnutrition did play a part in this to some degree) - her pasterns were SO weak, and she was terribly undersized by the time my friend realized what was happening and repoed her pup. In a case like this, I believe lack of nutrition, and the small crate were the reason for her pasterns turning out the way they did, and I don't think that genetics was at play at all here. All this happened between the age of 8weeks and 8 months, so teething occurred during this time....

Anyway, like I said in my OP, the discussion I had was intriguing, and, perhaps the modest supplementation I've done is more for my own good than my pup's...lol

Keep it coming...

Elisabeth