Confused about Calcium

[Barneys mom]

After loads of research I just recently started homecooking for my 9month boxer, Barney. I have been adding about 1/2tsp of eggshells that I dry out and grind to a powder into each of his meals. However, I am now confused as I have been reading too much calcium is bad for a puppy. At 9 months and 55lbs (he's going to be big, his dad is 88lbs and his mother is 55lbs) and he is still growing, will this amount of calcium hurt his growth? I should also mention that per our vet's instruction we give him 1 tab of Nature's Way "Alive" once every other day (every other day becasue it has iron/copper in it)and this contains 83mg of calcium. Is this too much calcium for him? His meals are about 75% meat/5% organ/15%veggies/5%grain plus a small scoop of non fat plain yogurt + salmon oil and vitamin E.

 

[gmacleod]

I'd be wary of adding a supplement that contains calcium to a puppy. In fact, I wouldn't give one at all. Supplements are for compensating for inadequate diets or other conditions. They're not something that should be given just as a matter of course. If you do want to continue to give it though, then you should adjust the amount of calcium given in the diet accordingly.

Regards the food, however - there are two requirements around calcium in the diet. One is that it must be balanced with the amount of phosphorus (within the range of about 1.2 - 2:1). And the second is in the overall amount of calcium (from all sources), which for a growing puppy should not be in excess of 1.5% of the total diet. A rough rule of thumb when feeding a homecooked or raw diet is that you'd give about 1tsp of crushed eggshell (near straight calcium) per 500g (about 1lb) of meat.

 

[Barneys mom]

Thank you! I thought it was a lot, especially because I know that too much calcium hinders growth in puppies. But my vet is also a nutritionist (not a very good one apparently) so I figured he knew what he was talking about. I will just do the eggshells going forward.

I guess I'm just a little worried that he won't be getting enough of the vitamins/minerals that he needs when I am homecooking!