Dr. Harvey’s Natural Multi-Vitamin and Mineral Complement for Canine (7 Ounces)

Yorkie with severe intestinal issues loves it. Use sparingly–spirulina can cause diarrhea. I want a sampler pack.
I emailed Dr. Harvey’s website, (he’s a dentist, by the way), to get the full list of ingredients of this product, to make sure my Yorkie isn’t allergic to any of them. I received basically an automated email with their phone number. No answers. I was so desperate for a natural herbal product that I took a chance, anyhow, despite their lack of transparency. (Perhaps it’s to protect their proprietary recipe, like Coca-Cola?) The chance paid off. My Yorkie girl loves this stuff. I tried a taste myself before giving it to her, and it’s yummy–very greeny with a garlicy flavor. I like seeing the little bits of crushed mushrooms, roots, and leaves. So pleased to see real natural ingredients. I now sprinkle this over every meal for her, just to add some nutrition and greens–which she was desperately lacking due to numerous food allergies. (No, I don’t use as much as they say because through trial and error I already know that too much spirulina will give her diarrhea. I’m guessing others are getting diarrhea for the same reason.) I’m still trying to get her weight stabilized on a home-cooked diet based on Dr. Judy Morgan’s cookbooks–a must-have for dogs with severe intestinal issues and food sensitivities. Thanks to Dr. Judy Morgan, (an actual vet by the way), my little girl no longer trembles, hides, or vomits after meals–and has no more mucousy stools. It’s been a tremendous relief, and she’s been social with us again because she feels so much better. (Now if I can just ease more natural healthy fats into her diet without another pancreatitis attack, and get her weight up, we’re golden.)Keep in mind that my little 5 lb. Yorkie was starved for nutrients after a pancreatitis attack, inflamed bowels, countless food allergies, vomiting up every expensive best-quality organic dog food I could buy, and numerous vet bills, so she probably would’ve eaten dirt had I put it on her plate. She’s also extremely sensitive to liver and organ meats–so that rules out most liver-flavored doggy vitamins I’ve spent big $$$ on. But now she’s eating better than I am with home-cooked white fish and veggie stews, with these green vitamins added in. She loves these natural plant-based vitamins and will even eat the green powder if I sprinkle it on her plate by itself when forget to add it to her dinner. (I tried to take a picture of her doing this to prove it but she was moving too fast and it’s blurry.)Side note for anyone with similar digestive issues: I give her an herbal remedy of slippery elm powder (Gastro Elm Plus) to coat her inflamed GI tract with every snack or meal. This looks like it will be for life. She gets probiotics and a gas remedy with every meal. And she gets these whole herbal vitamins stirred into each meal, 3-4 x daily. She’s a different dog, but I’m still trying to get her back up to 6 lbs.In summary, I’m using this as supplemental nutrition 1/8 – 1/2 tsp into each home-cooked meal but not as a primary vitamin–I’m still searching for other supplements appropriate for her allergies. She loves it, I tasted it and thought it was good. Not all dogs will like this stuff–they usually crave what their body needs. If they don’t like this supplement, they may like another one of Dr. Harvey’s supplements. (Dr. Harvey needs to come up with a sampler packet for under $10. I think they’d make more sales and have happier customers.)–Yo, Dr. Harvey, how about a sampler packet for under $10? You have a sale right here.

Clean ingredients, my dogs love it
My dogs have a sensitive stomach and other supplements gave them bloating, nausea or diarrhea. I don’t give them the full scoop, it’s too much for them but I love the ingredients and my dogs love the taste. Along with our other health routines I believe this supplement has helped them to be more active and overall healthier. Being able to measure the amount I give them makes it easy. Quality product and it stays in our dog pantry.

Seems to be a good product
As I cook for my dog I want to make sure he has a balanced nutrition that’s why I add a scoop of doctor Harvey’s multivitamin/minerals to each meal. I like the fact that it’s all natural plants and herbs . As with most supplements it’s hard to measure the effectiveness accurately, however at five years old Monty is very active, his coat is shiny. So the combination of fresh food and this supplement seem to work nicely.

A Medical Caution!!
In the info on the product, Dr Harvey’s states: “Provides optimal vitamin & mineral support when paired with a whole-food base food, such as Dr Harvey’s Paradigm or Canine Health.” That tells you that it’s incomplete without a whole food base to go with the MVM for home feeding. There is no vitamin C, D or K in it. More importantly, I just started feeding my senior dog the equivalent of this MVM that Dr. Harvey’s calls “Golden Years,” which is oriented towards “older” dogs. In reality, that’s 7-8yo and up, but they don’t make that very clear on their herbal MVM products. I called the company in February, before I changed over and ordered “GY” for my 14-year-old Pug. I was encouraged to use it with one of their whole food bases such as Raw Vibrance or Paradigm, and was told the same about their original MVM (reviewed here). My original question was whether or not either MVM was complete without a whole food base. I had been using this original herbal MVM for at least two years, and was trying to determine whether I should switch to the Golden Years version. The representative said no (in February), that their herbal MVMs were not complete without one of their base foods. So I purchased Raw Vibrance. Then, when I called last week (mid-July), I was told these herbal MVMs do NOT need to be combined with the base food, and that they are sufficient on their own. And that if you’re using one of their whole food bases, you don’t need to add their herbal multivitamin & mineral supplement also. But what really concerns me, is that there is a Caution on the back of the “Golden Years” herbal MVM supplement that states long-term use can intensify or cause hyper-cortisol symptoms, including hypertension, which vets normally never check. My dog was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease in late June. All of the terrible symptoms are due to high cortisol. Quite clearly, that herbal MVM (GY) worsened my dog’s Cushing’s symptoms between March and July, so I absolutely discontinued it when I read that “Caution” again last week. When I called the company and asked whether this original herbal MVM would also exacerbate Cushing’s symptoms, or high cortisol (not just the Golden Years version), they said “it probably would but we don’t put the caution on it because Cushing’s is mostly diagnosed in older dogs.” So they’re assuming only dogs under seven are using this original MVM, and that dogs under seven won’t get Cushing’s or other cortisol related disorders, and potentially be harmed by their herbal MVM. That age-related info is no longer true in 2023, and never was. Veterinary technology has just improved diagnosis. Dogs of any age can get Cushing’s etc as it can be genetic. Any pet parent who has not had experience with Cushing’s disease, or anything related to the adrenals producing too much cortisol, or too little (Addison’s), would not even know what that “Caution” meant. It can take well over a year to get a proper Cushing’s diagnosis, while you don’t know what is wrong with your dog–whether it might be hypothyroidism or diabetes or Cushing’s or what. My dog was still in the exam process when I first called them about the MVM products in February. When I read the Caution, I did not understand that it could exacerbate “Cushing’s” symptoms. But I clearly recognized that it did last week, after several months of experience with rapidly worsening Cushing’s high cortisol symptoms, and learning that the MVM can also cause hypertension, one of the dangerous symptoms of high cortisol, and which the product cautions it can cause. Now, 6 days later, after discontinuing the GY version, my dog’s Cushing’s medication decreased his cortisol to a dangerously low level–due to the effect of discontinuing the GY, which had been increasing his cortisol. This is exactly why it’s unsafe to give herbal supplements to our pets without an integrative or holistic vet involved, especially one like this that does not state how much of each herb is in the product.

The products is a very fine powder that can be mixed into food . Especially great for picky eaters. Seeing results after just one week!

Note: raw fed dogs have a higher tolerance for “no go” ingredients such as garlic, which were traditionally thought to be bad for dogs. Mine loves this product and tolerates it well. It’s also reduced the amount of dirt she eats (usually indicating mineral deficiency). I use one scoop as an occasional supplement, not daily.I hate the reviews saying “ThIs WiLl PoIsOn YoUr DoG”… 1. it’s such a small amount of garlic, which is good for health and 2. If your dog doesn’t tolerate this, it’s likely due to their current (kibble) diet, which is full of fillets and make dogs more prone to allergies and sensitivities.So don’t blame the product. Obviously if it was harming dogs, this company wouldn’t be in business.

This powder looks unappetizing (it’s green) and apparently smells and tastes unappetizing. Neither of my dogs would touch any food I put this stuff on. Total waste of money.