[Mickey S]

What works for some does not work for all…I have 5 dogs, 3 being terriers, a lab and a poodle. I bought dinovite because my youngest terrier had allergies pretty bad, I took him off the food he was on and put him on taste of the wild. I switched all my dogs to this food and they love it! I was skeptical on buying the dinovite because of the price, but I had a friend who has 10 border collies and she swears by this stuff. Told me stories of how much it helped her dogs skin issues, even a neighbors dog. So I decided to just get it to help with my dogs immune systems. Well that was a huge mistake, and had I found this site before I bought it I never would have give it to them! My lab, who can eat anything and has never had any issues started itching and biting herself about 2 weeks after we started giving it to her. I thought maybe it was from the thunder storms and her nerves, so I didn’t really think much of it and just stayed with her during those times. (I have a flexible work schedule). She was fine, then I noticed it was getting worse, and she was almost eating herself. I took her to the vet and she has a bad skin yeast infection! The next week I noticed one of my terriers was licking his rear end, and non stop. I looked and his anal glad had ruptured!!! I immediately took him to the vet and they gave him antibiotics! I have since taken them off the dinovite, and they have begun to heal. But I will NEVER recommend this product to anyone. All of my dogs are very happy now that this is over with and I noticed an improvement with the two who had severe problems with it almost immediately, No itching no licking no biting. But the vet bills are insane. Hundreds of dollars wasted because I thought buying this crap was going to help them, actually made everything worse, and now I’m in debt because of it. I only wish I would have known about this site and the honest reviews. I find it funny that it’s not just my dogs who have had these issues. And just like everyone else said. Dinovite doesn’t care a bit!

[Wayne L]

Mine experience with Dinovite is to long and painful to type here.
I will simply say they lied, continue lying, do not return phone calls or emails (If they do not have a canned response). My credit card company is attempting to handel and if I could I would sue. If I can I will. It did not harm but did not help.
NO HELP FOR MY DOGS JUST MORE EXPENSE AND VET BILLS!
AS OF TODAY NO REFUND!
BE WARNED!

[Kimberly W]

Hi all,

I have a puppy-mill Boston Terrier female named Lexie. I got her at 1 year old and she was in bad shape – demodex mange being one of the issues. We got rid of the mange, but she itches almost constantly still ….. especially mid-back and butt. Her tail has a spot where she’s rubbed all the hair off and now it’s like a callous there. I’ve tried all different proteins (even ground raw venison!) and grain-free foods, allergic injections, prednisone ….. even trying an immuno-therapy serum for common Florida allergens. She’s currently on Apoquel at $2 per DAY ….. it does help, but she still itches. I liked the idea of the Dinovite supplement + the raw diet they promote and switched her over VERY slowly. My first box of Dinovite lasted over 60 days. Lexie has a very touchy tummy and I didn’t want her to get sick. She seemed to do okay with the supplement and the diet, but we noticed that only the Apoquel made her scratch less. And by no means did the scratching stop ….. :/

So, into the 2nd box of Dinovite, Lexie started spitting up after eating. This had happened all along, but just once in awhile – now she was doing it after almost every meal. And it wasn’t RIGHT AFTER she ate, it was hours afterwards. Like we were sleeping at 3am and she’d vomit in the bed with us. And it was always GREEN. Like she was just spitting up just the Dinovite. We weaned her back onto the white fish based kibble she’d been on (that we were sure didn’t make her sick) and just put the Dinovite in that – thinking we’d eliminate the chance that it was the raw food. She STILL would vomit only green stuff.

I’m at my wits end here. I hate thinking she’s miserable. We have really tried a ton of stuff, but I think something in the Dinovite is making her sick. I’m wondering if all the time she was on the raw diet, it was moving the toxins from the crappy food she was fed (before I got her) OUT of her body and then, the grain (sorghum) in the Dinovite finally made her sick????

I wish I could post a picture – she looks SO good – hair is all grown in from where the demodex had her bald, so glossy she shines in the sun ….. everyone comments on how beautiful she is ….. but she itches. Almost all the time. Doesn’t lick her paws and her skin doesn’t smell at all, her ears are pretty pink inside ….. no yeast that I can see manifesting itself on her body anywhere. When I scratch her back where you can obviously tell it itches the MOST, there is some dandruff that comes out. She has no fleas and I’ve washed her with DermaBenss shampoo – as suggested by my vet – for the flaking skin ….. but when that didn’t work, I used a soap-free emu oil shampoo that’s FOR DRY SKIN and that didn’t help either.

This is what a meal looks like for Lexie:

1/2 cup of white fish based kibble – NO GRAINS (no corn, wheat or soy)
3 pumps of Yummy Chummies salmon oil
baked sweet potato or canned pumpkin
2 capsules of food enzymes (opened and sprinkled on the food)
Drs. Foster and Smith adult vitamin
vitamin E capsule – 400IU
***Also, before bed, I’m giving Lexie 2 capsules of bifidophilus, to help repopulate the good bacteria in her intestines.***
***We only use one kind of treats – Yummy Chummies Grain Free treats made with 95% salmon + potato and pea flour.***

The food we are using scores a 3.5 star on the food advisory list and I’m willing to buy her a 5 star food, but am not sure that food is her only issue. Does anyone have ANY suggestions for me? I’d be very grateful for any ideas that I haven’t already explored. Another supplement? A different shampoo? Anything I haven’t thought of or don’t know how to look for? I’ve even wondered if the itching is just a HABIT and maybe she doesn’t know how to stop ….. :/

Thanks for any thoughts!!!!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Kimberly W.

[Valerie H]

I am shocked by the hysteria and Questions I have read in this forum. Ask your Veterinarian and take his or her advise. They have the degree and believe him or her. Would you ask a bunch of strangers what to do with your sick child… or would you take the child to a trusted pediatrician and do exactly what they tell you to?

[Tammy A]

I’ve read all the comments and am amazed at how judgemental some of the comments are when expressing dissatisfaction for Dinovite. I wasn’t going to leave a comment, but decided I would because there may be someone who has experienced the same issues I had with Dinovite. I have two Cairn Terriers and there’s nothing I would not do for my babies.

After much research, my husband and I decided to start feeding our dogs the cooked homemade dog food recipe on the Dinovite website. Things were going great for three weeks, then the intestinal problems started. Both dogs had stools covered with mucus and then diarrhea. Since the only changes were in the diet, we started backtracking. We stopped putting Dinovite in the food, and their stools started to get back to normal. We knew we shouldn’t continue to feed the homemade food without supplements, do we started researching dog foods.

After a 24 hour fast, we started feeding our dogs Wellness Core. They love it, and everything is back to normal. Thank goodness!

So, Dinovite may work for many of you, but it did not work for me.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Tammy A.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Tammy A.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Tammy A.

[Tammy A]

I was going to apologize for the typos, and just discovered the edit button. Posting from my phone isn’t a good idea!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 3 months ago by Tammy A.

[Patti S]

I realize this thread is two years old, but this info might still be helpful to somebody:

Read This Before Getting Dinovite For Your Dog!

[Marie C]

I like DinoVite!! I’ve been using it for my terrier mix younger dog (she’s about 8 months old) for a couple of months. She smelled cheesy when I adopted her. She had flea allergy dermatitis and who knows what else but vet said not yeast. She was always itching and chewing her feet. Now she doesn’t smell cheesy and she never itches. I put my 4 year-old lab on it and my 14 year old chow-Shepard mix on it. All are tolerating it well. :0)

[tommy t]

Customer service and quality of product has diminished as they have grown in recognition. At first, I didn’t have any issues with paying more than you should if the product worked. The last couple of orders however, the product has been sent after the expiration date. When I called their “poor” customer service, they tried to tell me the shipment I received was made only 3 days earlier. The date on the bottle of lick o chops was 01 2015 350. She tried to telling me it was the “chicken fat” causing the product to stay in a gelled state. The powder product actually stunk when I opened it. Tried returning it, they refused to accept it. After 3 years of using their product, I am currently looking at an alternative due to these issues. I hope you do not experience the same problems I had and their neglect for concern when they were contacted. I feel they will self destruct if they don’t change their customer service and ensure their products are safe and not expired. The last agent told me none of their products expire, it had to be me. This was after being a loyal customer of theirs for over 3 years. While I never review products or services, I had to make the exception on this one. Hope this helps. tbt

[Cindy L]

Tommy T:

I wanted to address this mainly because of the date. What you are looking at is NOT an expiration date. It’s a Julian date and reflects the production date. The numbers are this:
01 is the batch that was produced that day. 2015 is the year it was produced. 350 is the day of the year that the product was produced. So what you received was produced in our first batch on Dec. 16, 2015.

What you were told about LickOchops is absolutely correct. In fact, we just did a video addressing this because the product gets very “jelly” in cold weather and is very watery in warm or hot weather, so your concern/question is common. This is why we sell this in a bottle (easy for liquid) and in a tube (easy for the “gel” in cool weather). We don’t add any emulsifiers or artificial, unneeded ingredients to keep this from happening. The ingredients are each there for a specific nutritional reason.

We do tell folks not to worry about Dinovite expiring because, being a small company, we make small batches of products and sell them very quickly. And we encourage all customers to purchase what is needed for 90 days/3 months. So, your products won’t expire, they will get used.

We also tell folks that Dinovite for Dogs has a shelf life of about a year if kept in a cool, dry place. It’s a whole food supplement, so think about it like food. You buy it fresh and eat it. Don’t leave it laying around in heat or humidity. We don’t add any artificial preservatives, colors, flavorings, etc.

All of our products are made at our single facility in Crittenden, KY from ingredients from the USA. Our facility is inspected by the FDA and our products are tested regularly by the state of KY. We’ve been doing the same thing, the same way since 2001.

I’d be happy to address your concerns personally if you would like to contact me at [email protected] with ATTN: Cindy in the subject line. We value our customers and truly care about your pets.

Blessings,
Cindy Lukacevic
Owner
Dinovite Inc.
http://www.dinovite.com
859-428-1000
[email protected] ATTN: Cindy

• This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Cindy L.

[Joanne C]

Any updates on this? My dog has extremely dry scaly skin condition. Has been to vet at least 3 times, received different type of medicines and still has it? above replies are old, any new customers try it? Comments?

[alexis w]

my dog refused to eat the food after i put dinovite on it and when i gave her the lickochops she gagged and choked on it, i didnt even think to check the expiration dates on it! i just sent it back for a refund. now i am using Nupro supplement, seems to be much higher quality

[CarolAMFT]

I’ve been using Dinovite for a couple of years and have seen no improvement in my dog’s conditions. She sheds, has a dull coat, scratches, chews her paws and has smelly yeasty ears. Nothing has improved without my Vet’s intervention. I kept thinking it might just take time.

I also started out with their Raw Food diet and Maggie developed crystals in her urine. The vet thought it could be from too much calcium from the egg shells. She also felt the diet was too high in protein and suggested I run it through the http://www.BalanceIt.com program that determines if the homemade diet you are feeding your dog or cat meets all the nutritional requirements. Because of Maggie’s yeast, I decided to substitute Quinoa, which is lower glycemic and higher in protein than the brown rice they suggest.

I also switched to a cooked diet, after my vet also discouraged the use of raw foods, saying that domestic dogs and cats no longer have the digestive tract that their wild carnivore ancestors had. Even wild carnivores seldom, if ever, eat food that has rotted. I also read the AMVA Raw Food Diet warning: https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Raw-Pet-Foods-and-the-AVMA-Policy-FAQ.aspx

Finally, Maggie now has liver disease, which I wonder isn’t either due to her diet or the Dinovite itself. It may be something else entirely, but I have an appointment with UC Davis in July for a second opinion, so hope to find out more. I’ll let you know if they find anything that might be associated with the Dinovite.

[theBCnut]

Unfortunately, it is entirely possible that your dog’s itching and yeast problems are due to ingredients in the Dinovite. Both flax and alfalfa are known for food sensitivity issues.

[Sherri G]

I’m so glad I scrolled all the way through this thread to see it is still active.

We have a 5 1/2 year old English Bulldog. After MANY, MANY, MANY food changes, the only food that he can tolerate without diarrhea is Hill’s canned z/d. He was diagnosed with PLE (Protein Losing Enteropathy) a year ago but has been stable (as in no diarrhea, & mostly stable lab results) since starting the z/d. Trust me, we tried all diets with guidance from our vet! Through the course of diagnosing him with PLE, Oliver was on Prednisone and Metronidazole for a year and a half — at times being on 10mgs of Pred during diarrhea flares. He has FINALLY been weened off of the Pred (such an evil, nasty drug) and is also off Metronidazole. He is currently on Budesonide to keep his bowels in check.

5 months ago, Oliver (who never had any skin issues at all which is a rarity in the bulldog world) began scratching a few areas around his neck. It started with 2 small areas being itchy and then hair loss began. After many skin scrapings (which literally showed nothing), puncture biopsies were done. The pathologist diagnosed him with Mural Folliculitis, Granulomatous and stated she felt this was “drug related” but didn’t know which drug caused it — something our vet disagrees with. Our vet feels his skin issues are directly related to his poor absorption of nutrients due to his PLE. While we weren’t sure who was correct, we agreed more with our vet– as I have Crohn’s disease and know firsthand the link between the gut/immune system/nutrition and how it can affect hair, skin, etc.

BUT I still held out hope that once coming off of both Pred and Metronidazole, the itchiness would stop. It hasn’t. We’ve been told his fur will probably never grow back and we don’t care about that. We just want Oliver to be comfortable and as healthy as he can be. He isn’t itchy all of the time. It comes and goes– and we use Neo Predef to stop instances of itchiness and 1 Benadryl if it’s particularly bad. (He’s only had 1 Benadryl in the last 10 days.)

I was trying to research his skin condition and there isn’t much info available since vets consider it “rare”. When researching, I did stumble upon Dinovite and I have ordered it but haven’t received it yet. Now, however, I found this thread in the meantime and I’m on the fence about giving it to him. I feel the responses on here are thoroughly mixed. Some were helped by it, some were not.

I am also ordering Missing Link since I’ve now found that after ordering Dinovite. I’m not sure what to do, as we definitely can’t risk Oliver getting diarrhea as a side effect because that wouldn’t be good given his PLE.

So, does anyone have any opinions on Dinovite vs. Missing Link?
Thanks in advance!

[theBCnut]

My advice would be to try one, then later try the other, so if something helps, you know which one it is. Start with only a quarter or less of the recommended amount and take a week or so to get up to the full amount. Back off on the amount at anytime when you see a stool change. I haven’t tried Missing Link, but DinOvite helped me get my dog off of foods that were doing him damage and on to a good healthy homemade diet. I didn’t stick with DinOvite though. I just used it to round out my dogs diet until I learned enough to make good homemade.

[Sherri G]

Thank you so much for the reply, theBCnut!
Since my post yesterday, I have been on a long journey of research. I am actually taking Oliver on Tuesday to be tested for a zinc deficiency. Given his PLE and bowel issues, everything I am reading sounds so inline with him having a zinc deficiency, in regards to his skin. He is due for a re-testing of his B12 level so we might as well check zinc also.

I should be receiving my order of Missing Link today or tomorrow and will bring it to the vet’s before starting him on it. I just want to give this cute, little guy some relief!

[Helen C]

My elderly chihuahua is a picky eater, won’t take pills, and hates the taste of fish. That pretty much eliminates about 99% of all dog dietary supplements. It’s very frustrating. That said, Dinovite he *will* eat! Tiny amounts sprinkled on his food. So far so good. But after just 2 days, he developed diarrhea. I think the probiotics were a little much for him. So I backed it off, will wait a week, and try again at a lower (much lower) dose.

If someone knows a better supplement for a tiny dog (4 pounds) with eating issues, let me know! I’m particularly eager to get him supplemented with B vitamins. The only liquid supplement I’ve found for the three B’s I’m looking for (B12, B6, Folic Acid) was human and had xylitol in it. NO GO!

So … if anyone has suggestions please let me know.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Helen C.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Helen C.

[anonymously]

Why does the dog need supplements?

I would take the dog to a vet, has he had a senior workup? Labs, exam etc. If not, that is where I would start. Get him diagnosed and then evaluate the treatment options presented.
Supplements are not medication.

[anonymously]

http://skeptvet.com/Blog/category/herbs-and-supplements/ http://skeptvet.com/Blog/category/nutrition/
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=probiotics
Nothing being sold at the above sites, no supplements, no t-shirts, no membership fees, no books, nothing.

[Dharlee]

Just found this site and wanted to say, my dog has had digestive issues all his life. I got him at about 10 months. He’d been abandoned. He had a stomach full of garbage and tended to throw up most diets. Fast forward ten years and now he also has severe skin issues. The vet insists he is not yeasty but I’m not sure. He stinks and itches constantly, seems to keep a skin infection. He’s been on all the sensitive skin foods I can think of, and recently was given Royal Canin Ultimino. I was shocked to read those ingredients!

I ordered the Dynovite for him and got it yesterday. I am making the food for him tomorrow and switching him slowly over. I hope he can tolerate it and that it will help him over time. He means everything to me.

[anonymous]

DinoVite is a scam. Bad side effects have been noted.

For best results see what your vet offers in the way of treatment or better yet, ask for a referral to a veterinary dermatologist for testing/diagnosis/treatment.

See my posts /forums/search/environmental+allergies/

[Mary C]

To those who are understandably upset about having to pay return shipping and not getting refunded for the shipping they’ve paid: I haven’t seen any product on any site that refunds initial shipping costs or pays for return shipping. That’s almost unheard of and not a realistic expectation. HOWEVER, that said, the reluctance to refund is inexcusable and does not speak well for the company.

If you have paid by credit card and kept a printed record of when you ordered, you can dispute the charge on your card. It may take awhile, but I have never failed to receive a refund on my card for a legitimate product return. If you have a record of your efforts to return (emails, phone date/results, etc.) the bank will refund and the company has no choice unless they can proved your claim is unreasonable.

Having read most of the posts here, I am not going to order Dinovite due to my 2-1/2 yr old Bishon/Shih Tzu mix’s history of digestive upsets. The problems I’m trying to stop are ear itching and butt scooting.

Thanks to everyone for their input. My husband, a PhD in chemistry, loved the comments on Dihydrogen Minoxide, aka H2O/water. That was priceless. And I’m glad someone explained diatomacious earth, a food grade harmless insecticide (except to the insects) which can be added to animal food and is good for them. In fact, it’s in many people-food boxes for various reasons and by various names (anti-caking agent usually). I’ve used it for years. The form used in pool filters is NOT food grade and will not work as an insecticide.

[Mary C]

I hate typos that aren’t corrected: I misspelled “monoxide” and “diatomaceous”. Wish everyone would take a few seconds to proofread what they are going to post. I did, but not carefully enough!

Thanks again.

[Author]

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