[DieselJunki]

(Apparently I can’t post in the Supplements section as I’ve tried twice now and it won’t show up)

Do you feed one or both?

http://probiotics.mercola.com/probiotics-for-pets.html
The probiotic I’ve been looking at.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/digestive-enzymes-for-pet.aspx
The digestive enzymes I’ve been looking at.

[mlp576]

I have been using a whole food supplement and my dogs have been doing amazing. There moods are calmer yet they seem to have more energy. The coat looks amazing and my oldest is getting up the stairs easier. http://www.friendsfurlife.rockyandbella.com I totally recommend it. I use Pedigree maintenance however surviving and thriving are 2 different things all together.

[DieselJunki]

mlp576 are you a spammer? Because I’ve seen you’ve posted the exact same thing on like 5 different threads.

[InkedMarie]

I’ve been using the Mercola probiotics and digestive enzymes for the last three weeks.

[Mom2Cavs]

mlp576….it’s interesting to me that you would use this “highly touted” probiotic/whole food supplement but use Pedigree as your food…hmm. I have used lots of different brands of pre/probiotics/enzymes. Some that I like (and I feel worked for my dogs) are:
1. Mercola Probiotics. Their enzymes not so well as they are animal enzymes, which seem to make my dogs have loose stool.
2. Total Biotics and Total Zymes.
3. Naturvet Probiotics and Enzymes with Prebiotics.
4. Holistic Select Solutions.
5. Ark Naturals Gentle Digest – pre/probiotics only. No enzymes.
6. Fresh Digest/Optagest. My favorite product. These have worked the best for my dogs. They contain prebiotics/plant enzymes.
7. Vetri-Science vetri-mega probiotics
8. Geneflora
9. Animal Essentials

[Hound Dog Mom]

I feed raw green tripe and kefir for my dogs’ enzymes and probiotics. 🙂

But I like Jan and Marie’s suggestions as well.

[Mom2Cavs]

Thanks, HDM….I’m not sure I could “stomach” raw tripe LOL!…..couldn’t resist hahaha. I haven’t tried kefir yet, but I’ll look into it. It’s just very easy for me to add the powder stuff when I’m adding in Lucy’s SP Renal and the Fresh Digest is working great and a bottle lasts a long time with my dogs.

[DieselJunki]

I have posted this in 2 sections. It didn’t post so I tried again in another place and it didn’t work either. Well come to find out it thought I was spam and when they let my posts go it of course posted in 2 different places. So if you see this topic somewhere else that’s why. Whoopsies!

The green tripe in the can actually isn’t so bad! It does have an odor to it but it really isn’t horrible. Moose loves it, won’t eat his food without a spoonful and some warm water.

Thanks for all the suggestions Mom2Cavs. I think I’ll try the Mercola first and if I find it is giving loose stools try a different one.

I have not been able to locate Kefir except of course online but maybe when I go to TN they will have it there somewhere.

[NectarMom]

I have been using Mercola Probiotics and Enzymes for about 3 weeks and all 4 of my dogs are doing fantastic on them. I even ordered from Mercola the probiotics and enzymes for us and great products. My husband loved it so much he had me order more just the other day.

[mlp576]

The Spark product I mentioned is an 8 in one and could possibly save you money I don’t know what you are spending. However, as long as your dogs are doing good that is all that matters 🙂

[mlp576]

No I am not a spammer, there were issues members mentioned just like ppl suggest dog food I was only suggesting a supplement. My mom and grandma use it on there dogs too and they are on a fixed income so it has been a blessing for them and there dogs. I won’t post anymore about it however I dealt with many of the issues over the years that ppl are having problems with and hate to see an owner worry let alone an animal suffer.

[mlp576]

Mom2Cavs Yes I use pedigree on acct until recently I was uniformed about all the digestive products etc. I just started using them and got so excited about not only being informed but doing something great for my dogs. Animal lovers? My Goodness I hope you don’t treat your pets like you do other ppl. It is not even my site and I don’t benefit from it. I am a transporter for non profit animal rescues and this product donates to them that is the reason in the beginning I started using it. Digest that and have a good life you women are pit bulls in here.

[InkedMarie]

no, we are not pit bulls here but we do love them. I think it’s great that Pedigree does alot for animals but their food is not a good food. The ingredients are not good. If you are on a budget, we can certainly give you ideas for budget friendly dog foods with good ingredients.

[Mom2Cavs]

I agree with Marie. Pedigree may donate food, and while that is a good thing, it doesn’t make it a good food. There are lots of budget friendly foods that have better ingredients. I feel that if you can afford the supplement you can afford a better food. mlp576, your post wasn’t clear about why you were using Pedigree and you made it sound like you were very knowledgable about dog nutrition, so I was just wondering why someone who is knowledgable would feed Pedigree and then use a supplement like the one you mentioned. I did look it up and it sounds interesting. I’m glad you’re learning. We all started somewhere.

[DieselJunki]

mlp576 We are not pit bulls but when you post the same exact thing in 7 different topics people start to ask questions. There have been spammers here before promoting their products just like that. It raised some suspicions that’s all.

My apologize if it was rude of me to ask.

[BryanV21]

Donating is a great thing, but a lot of the time it’s being done for the wrong reasons. I don’t believe Pedigree donates out of the goodness of their hearts, but they are doing it in order to get publicity so they can sell more food.

[NectarMom]

The Westminister Dog Show promotes Pedigree. My sister raises Doxxies and feeds Pedigree. I have never fed Pedigree and never will. Doing your research on this site for one will help you recognize what ingredients are being used in some foods. If more people did extensive research on foods they are feeding their canine and feline family member then most wouldn’t suffer from the health issues they have, being some just plain cannot be helped because they are inherited.

[Hound Dog Mom]

On the topic of probiotics. Was just looking through some supplements and came across this: http://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-probiotics-dr-stephen-langers-ultimate-15-strain-probiotic-fos-60-veg-caps . It’s a 15-strain probiotic with pre-biotics marketed for humans. I know Mercola’s probiotic is considered by many to be the gold standard – this has one more strain and is a whole lot cheaper. $0.12 per dose for a large dog versus $0.90 per dose for a large dog of the Mercola. I personally haven’t tried it out (yet, I might) but it would be worth a try for those that are more budget conscious.

[InkedMarie]

I saved that link, HDM. I’m one of the budget conscious people.
How do you know how much of a human probiotic to give dogs? I have two that are 30lbs each and the other is 24lbs

[Hound Dog Mom]

I use a lot of Wysong’s human supplements for both myself and my dogs – they have a dosing chart on their website for using human supplements for animals and the general guidelines are: dogs >60 lbs. get the human dose, dogs 36-60 lbs. get 3/4 the human dose, dogs 10-36 lbs. get 1/2 the human dose and dogs under 10 lbs. get 1/4 the human dose. With something like a probiotic which isn’t toxic in large doses, you don’t have to stress about getting the dose exactly right either. For dogs the size of yours you could give each 1/2 capsule per day or 1 whole capsule every other day.

[Hound Dog Mom]

BTW – was doing more browsing last night and came across this on the same site which may also be of interest:

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-ultra-soil-based-organisms-90-caps

Contains 15 strains of soil-derived microorganisms, 5 enzymes, whole foods and a sea water-derived trace nutrient complex – only $9.99 for 90 capsules.

[InkedMarie]

thanks, HDM!

[weezerweeks]

I started giving my dog the mercola digestive enzyme and his stools are getting loose. I was wondering if it is because its animal based dr. becker says these are better than plant based but I’m thinking about switching to prozyme which is a plant based one.She also suggested giving it 2 hours after eating on a small piece of food. I’m going to give mine with the food. Do u think this will be okay? so which is better animal or plant based?

[theBCnut]

In general, animal based is better, but that doesn’t mean it will be better for your individual dog. I mix them in my dogs food too, but giving them before or after a meal will get the most out of them. However giving with food, even a small amount, would negate a lot of that.

[crazy4cats]

Hi-
I checked out the probiotic that HDM recommended at Swanson’s. Wow, what a great price! However, I notice that it does not contain enterococcus faecium. On the dogaware site, it states that this is an important strain for dogs. But looks like the human supplements do not include it. Does anyone think that this is an issue? Are they still as helpful for dogs without it?

[theBCnut]

I don’t worry about it, but I do rotate probiotics as well as everything else. Dogs also get some probiotics from eating stuff off the ground as well. If you are having a problem, I might worry more about making sure about what specific probiotics are in there, but generally speaking, if you keep the gut a healthy place for a variety of probiotics then life will put them there and they will multiply on their own. Since they do compete with bad bugs, adding more regularly is for the immune boost, and adding the greatest variety possible is best, but their is no way to make sure you get them all. They haven’t even necessarily identified them all yet.

[pugmomsandy]

I’ll need to go back and read her article, but I thought Dr Becker said use the enzymes with food for digestion, but use in between meals as proteolytic enzymes to help the body (like you would use Wobynzym between meals).

[theBCnut]

Enzymes, not probiotics.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Proteolytic just means that the enzymes are protein digesting enzymes (proteolysis is the process of breaking proteins down into polypeptides or amino acids). When proteolytic enzymes are fed with meals they aid in protein digestion and when they are fed between meals (i.e. Wobenzym, Medizym, etc.) they have a systemic effect – mainly combating inflammation. Systemic enzyme supplements also have an enteric coating to ensure that they aren’t digested prior to reaching the small intestine (which is why the packaging warns against chewing or crushing the tablets).

• This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[puppylove]

We’ve used both probiotics and enzymes, from this link, though I think it directs to another store when you purchase:
http://probioticsfordogs.com

[labber]

We’ve used Probiotic Miracle for our dogs and cats with good results keeping stools firmed up.

[shamrockmommy]

I just started using Wholistic Pet DigestAll and it’s working well. It’s just the enzymes. For probiotics I do plain Greek yogurt.

It really helps with digestion, that’s for sure.

[theBCnut]

Look for kefir near the yogurt. Yogurt only has 2 or 3 different strains of probiotics, kefir has 10.

[Mom2Cavs]

Wholistic Pet has Digest All Plus, which is what I’ve been using. It has pre/probiotics and enzymes. I really like their products. Their salmon oil is great, too.

[pmsuperstar84]

Can I freeze the Kefir into small bite sized pieces and eve maybe mix them with a little peanut butter to make them more treat-like? I have a yorkie mix and Kefir is only sold in huge bottles and I don’t want it to go bad before I use it all. Suggestions? Thoughts?

Also, is there a sister site for cat food? I have a cat with IBD and would like to get away from prescription diet food.

[theBCnut]

I’ve been told that freezing kefir is fine, though I haven’t tried it yet.

[pitbullmomma]

I use Optagest, which I love and it works really well for both my dogs and my wallet. The Optagest is a plant based enzyme and seems to really help my guys out, especially when transitioning foods. If I had the money, I’d definitely go with Herbsmith MicroFlora, very good product and a really, really great company.

[Mom2Cavs]

I also use and love Fresh Digest (same as Optagest) and Herbsmith MicroFlora. Use them often with success.

[labber]

We’ve been using Probiotic Miracle for some time now and its improved the stool firmness and even the smell. Mercola was not an option for us as it just seemed like an overboard formula and too expensive to sustain daily use. One canister of PM lasts us 6 mos, worth the $35.

[puppylove]

couldn’t help but notice this… yes we’ve been on PM and its counterpart, EM, for a long time… great stuff. Nusentia all the way I tell everyone at the dog park lol

[Author]

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