advise with enzymes

[silvia]

Dear all

following suggestions by a few posts and discussions, we tried the Mercola enzymes. Oberon had again  some episodes of bad eating and poor stomach, and I am convinced they can really help.. BUT: Oberon cant even get close to anything with that power on the top! Is sooo bitter.. I tried even to put it on a slice of ham, cheese and nothing works: the taste is so bad that he can smell it from 100Km and he just runs away with a very sad face..

I am wondering: how other people do? To be honest I tried myself ; )  and the taste is really bad, I have to agree... I am not sure why the company cant make them a bit more flavored , being for animals..

Anyway, suggestions on how to make a stubborn setter eating something that he considers disgusting and potentially poisoning are welcome : ) 

cheers

silvia

 

[silvia]

power = powder  (ops; )

[Howard Glansfield]

Could you make it into a liquid and syringe it down? Probably get more over you than down Oberon!

Good luck!

[Finding_Beau]

This is only my personal opinion, Sylvia, but has proven to be correct with Hobson. I believe one needs to be careful giving powdered enzymes and powdered probiotics to dogs. I believe it is preferable to give these nutrients in high quality organic food. Fortunately there is a small family business located where we live. I have spoken to the owner who has had serious skin problems herself. This is a link to their website http://www.organicpaws.com.au. The Organic Green Tripe and the Organic Powerhouse are natural digestive enzymes and probiotics. Possibly there may be a business similar to this where you live? 

I am not impressed with Mercola.

I hope you can sort something out for Oberon very soon.

Best Wishes from Susan, Hobson and Misty xxxx

[silvia]

Thanks both!!! Clever idea Howard, he will hate me but I can try ; )

Susan: yes, the raw food looks very similar to what Oberon has normally, and I know that green tripe is great for digestion.

the problem is that Oberon is a bit sensitive and -not often thanks God, but maybe once a year- has these flares of colytis or bad stomach during which he refuses the normal food, only meat/chicken works. In this case I thought I can supplement with the enzymes.. but let's see what happens and if I can at least give him some ; )

so far the powder is scattered all around the kitchen while he shakes a slice of ham to get rid of it (before to eat the ham eventually ;)

thanks a lot!!!

s

 

[Finding_Beau]

All those silly human beings who think Setters are stupid!!! 

Oberon reminds me of Hobson.

Every dog is different and what works for one can do the exact opposite for another. I hope you are able to assess the powder by being able to get this into Oberon's mouth!! Good Luck!!

Best Wishes from Susan xxx

[Sue Paterson]

I always say they don't read the same books!!

Hope Oberon does take his supplements. I'd be interested to know how it all goes as Steo, his brother, also has flair ups of 'colitis' and he too goes off his food...usually just breakfast though.

Good luck:)

[Fran Griffin]

These enzymes saved Tally's life, and she has just celebrated her 12th birthday. I mix them into her raw food. She doesn't know they are there. Barkey gets them too and hasn't seen a vet for gut problems in 3 years now :-)

[Fran Griffin]

The other one's to try in the UK are Pet Plus.  I used these whilst the Mercola enzymes were out of stock.

[silvia]

Dear Fran  thanks very much and sorry for the late reply!!!! Unfortunately meanwhile we have given up, the taste is really bad for Oberon, and, anyway,  he is very well  at the moment with his stomach etc,  so it wasnt  worth in the end..such a pity since they are so expensive, and also I am pretty sure they may help to prevent things and keep the general health over a long term!!

Regarding petplus, i used them in the past but i didnt noticed any visible difference.. but again, maybe I used them for a too short time, or maybe is because Oberon is quite well generally and he didnt needed .. His episodes of `bad stomach` happen - thanks God- very rarely, say once per year or less, so i would say he is just a particularly sensitive dog, but not a worrying case -  i hope..

I am glad they worked soooo well for Tally!!! It was/is a just an impressive successful story!!

and thanks for your advise!!

Sue: how interesting! I hope the case of Steo is similar to Oberon: something is upsetting him from time to time, but he is not a worrying case.. Oberon gets better with raw food (natural instinct or nutriment) or steamed meat. strangely, we need to avoid some brands of raw food, they  are not good for him, as the nature menu one. I am wondering if there is a particular ingredient to which they are sensitive, but I never investigated too much..(just avoided them ; )

[Fran Griffin]

Another aspect to Tally's condition. I changed her food to another company's raw which they all loved. Suddenly, despite the enzymes Tally started showing symptoms of dysbiosis yet again. She became very poorly and I was about to take her to the vet thinking the end was about to come.  I then had that little inner voice nagging me "the food - it's the food". I changed her back to her previous brand Nutriment, and she has sprung back BIG time.  For a 12 year old dog going off looking for squirrels is pretty impressive. So what was the problem with the food.  In a nutshell it's not minced down to slop as it Nutriment. Because it was courser she was finding it harder to digest.  As she has got leaky gut, the sloppier the food the easier it is for her stomach to absorb the nutrients.  I cannot absorb green vegetables and had to take folic acid tablets otherwise I got into real difficulties. I now juice my greens and no longer require the tablets.  If your dog does suffer leaky gut/dysbiosis, then the sloppier the food the better. Those who criticised me in the past for feeding my dogs raw food, saying dry is best. I think this is absolute proof that had Tally been fed dry (which is much harder on the digestive system due to being dehydrated, de-natured and no natural enzymes. There is no way she would have made it to where she is now.  It is true. It's not "you are what you eat"  it is "you are what you absorb".

[silvia]

i completely agree Fran with your conclusions, and how interesting... we regularly use natural instinct and nutriment and i believe the difference is amazing. since Obi is picky, every few months or so the raw meat is not interesting so we just steam exactly the same food few minutes in the microwave (and for him is a different dinner ; ) and still it works fine. or, we interval with steamed minced beef or chicken breasts and is ok, He eats a good 1kg per day, so he's definitely in perfect shape. I like the fact that raw or half steamed meat gives him good muscles but his not fat at all, just lean. anyway, if we try the nature menu brand, either raw or, when we travel, in a tin, in two days he has running stools. I guess some companies use different ingredients, even in the raw food, and definitely he is sensitive to something used by nature menu which may be present in either the tinned or the raw packets.

i know nature menu is a very popular brand, and many dogs are doing well with this, so i thought he's just him and i just avoid it.. but is very interesting your suggestion about the way in which the food is processed. maybe the nature menu is just too coarse.. is a matter of trial and error with our reds, so i'm happy you sorted the cause !!!! thanks a lot and a hug to Tanny!!  Love and best of luck for her squirrel hunting : ) (oberon try all the time, but they run on the threes so he's hopeless in catching them- something i am not sad about ; )

[silvia]

ah , another bit of info: after the last period of bad stomach, when i posted, we reintroduced all flavours of NI or nutriment one by one but avoiding those with lamb. I wanted to see if there was a particular meat that makes him upset.. Before my post, just to make his dinner more varied, I introduced lamb as a treat from time to time, and at some point he had a flare of colytis.. I suspect it was too rich for him, now i am not ordering those with lamb anymore and he's doing very very well.. he's very well with chicken, chicken and tripe, tripe, duck, beef, the occasional salmon but then i tried again lamb once and he got some bad stomach for a day.. maybe, although Obi is very active and runs a good 6h per day,  is the digestive system that cant tolerate something so rich !!

ahh trial and errors, but at least those reds are so sensitive that they are good in telling us what they cant have ; )

i also eat  veg only and fish, preferably all raw  (i dont eat  meat) and i know the difference in having something raw and completely digestible or something else.. amazing ; ) so it makes lot of sense that, once the body is used to some very digestible and good food, something a bit heavier is perceived immediately..

oh well, thanks for the advise again, and all the best and thanks again!!