iPet’s Ally Weekly Q&A Round-up 08-11-20: Does Bone Broth trigger allergic reactions in Dogs?

How does L – Glutamine and L – Glutathione affect a Dog who is starting to throw up bile?

Glutamine can be actually irritating to the gut, assuming that you are continuing to have issues with your pups, and that one of them is starting to throw up bile. So, I would definitely take that out and stop everything as far as beef, bone broth, and anything that’s relatively new to their diet because pups are very sensitive. I would give it 3 days, see if that solves the problem or not.
And you’re having difficulty getting anything done just because everything is still way shut down there, what I would suggest doing is get an ultrasound. Ideally, before you start Ursodiol get an ultrasound to make sure that there’s no evidence of obstruction of the bile duct and also that it is needed as far as there’s sludging in the gallbladder, things of that nature and then if there’s just no way to get into town for an ultrasound, I would try the Ursodiol so the stop point would be if vomiting restarts. I hope that’s helpful.

Does Bone Broth trigger allergic reactions in Dogs?

Suppose that your dog has this brownish color around the outside of their vulva, that is often associated with allergies. Assuming that you had started bone broth and your dogs are starting to lick their paws that may well do it. Bone broth is sort of, if put out there, the best thing since sliced bread but it turns out that it can cause histamine release. I experienced this personally that is why I know about it. It’s something to do with the with the way that when you cook any protein, and pork which is typically associated as being the worst offender as far as for histamine release and that’s why it’s poisonous and toxic to dogs.
In general, with meats, if they’re cured, and or the longer they sit around hence bone broth that has cooked for 24 hours, the compounds that can create histamine release go up. So, again, stop the bone broth and see if that is the problem so I hope that’s helpful. And then if you have Quercetin, I would try bumping that dose up for both those girls, you could use 2 capsules up to 3 times a day safely without creating any problems and that should help with the itching too so see how that goes for you

What other products can help with Gastric Reflux symptoms?

There is a lot of people that use aloe juice and I think that it is something to consider but frankly, of all the things mentioned, I would start with Slippery Elm Bark. What I would do is mix something like a half a teaspoon of that with each meal and see if that doesn’t slow things down. If your pup is really an easy eater, you can also mix it up with some water and then maybe a little bit of some sort of a stock or something of that nature to get her to drink it half an hour or so before meals and see if that helps as well.
Some people use bread slice with ginger and manuka honey but no, I wouldn’t use that because the bread is going to give more stuff to deal with and it actually is broken down really quite quickly. Now, 4 meals a day instead of 2 big meals? Ideally, no, you would not do this because of the insulin spikes. If the Slippery Elm doesn’t work, then you can try that.

Is Marshmallow Extract good for your pets? And is Dr. Willard’s Water a good product?

Marshmallow leaf and roots are used for pain and swelling of the mucous membrane that line up the respiratory tract. Now, what I would do is to roughly start with 1 quarter of the human dose and then go with something like half of the human dose as your final dose.
Now, I had not heard of Dr. Willards Water, it’s kind of new to me but the ingredients are micellized stuff, basically some sodium, calcium, castor oil, and magnesium sulfate and then fossilized organics from refined lignite. Now, castor oil can be irritating to the stomach so I don’t know if I would use this product. There is another product available that Zach Bush created, used to be called Restore, it’s now called Ion Gut Health but it takes that same idea of these refined lignans. Now, what’s that supposed to do is help to improve the quality of the mucus in the G.I tract and essentially, act as what he calls a firewall for absorbing all the junk out there. I tried it. Personally, I didn’t find much help. I’ve had a couple of people try it but they also did have really not terrific results but this would be a product I would trust more than Dr. Willards Water.

What would be a good suggestion if your pets’ diet is composed of more leafy greens rather than things that are solid?

As a fur parent, there may be times where you ask if your pet’s diet has enough veggies in it. I think, it just depends on kind of what your pet started with. If you’re using a lot of leafy greens rather than things that are solid like zucchini, then what I would suggest doing is doubling the greens and or combining them with things that are going to simply bulk up a little bit more so I hope that makes sense

Is it good to give Digestive Enzymes to a dog with high amylase and lipase?

Here is the really super frustrating thing about amylase and lipase, they can be fairly elevated in perfectly normal dogs and then they can also be normal in dogs that have active pancreatitis and so what I would suggest is because pancreatitis is often linked to Cushing’s disease, I would start gently with some digestive enzymes and I think you need to think about why does your dog need digestive enzymes.
So, this used to be sort of an out hand response to any dog that had G.I issues and what I found is that they actually make things worse so to be scientific about it, you would have a Texas and MGI panel and that looks at TPLI which is, to be somewhat more accurate, that’s Trypsin – Like Immunoreactivity. I don’t remember how they get the pee in there but there you go that’s a little bit more sensitive as far as whether there’s some pancreatitis brewing and it also looks at Cyanocobalamin and Folate which may or may not be helpful. The other thing that they do test for is for insufficient pancreatic enzymes, and so if you’re finding that it’s really quite low then those are good reasons to start with digestive enzymes.
Having said all of that, there are always subclinical diseases meaning the test isn’t positive until you’re actually super sick so if you want to try a digestive enzyme, there’s one on the website that is made by Claire. I would start with something like a quarter of a capsule per meal. The concern with pancreatitis and the enzymes already being elevated is that what happens to pancreatitis is that those enzymes become elevated in the blood because the pancreatic duct is unable to get those enzymes out into the digestive tract and so there is some evidence that if orally, it can actually make that pancreatitis or subclinical pancreatitis worse. The deal is that there is some sort of an acute form where your dog is vomiting, has horrible diarrhea, and is in the hospital and then there’s chronic pancreatitis where they just don’t feel good and they may have some evidence of abdominal pain like licking their lips, stretching, things of that nature and that’s a situation where sometimes, I’ve seen the enzymes be helpful and sometimes not so I hope that’s clear as mud.

Is the reduced consult fee still available?

The other question about the reduced consult fee is, is it still available? And yes, it is. So, for all of you guys that are on Ipet’s ally the consultation fee is reduced to $100 and if you need help with that just message Hanna at the Dr. Ruth Roberts at drruthroberts.com address so she can get you an invoice for that so you’re able to get there and I’ll drop that in here for you.

Is there a way to amend the CrockPet Diet for a puppy’s growth?

Because the CrockPet is set – up for all life stages, what that means is that it’s going to be lower in calories and protein and things of that nature than a puppy food for instance so that can be useful but it can be difficult when you’re trying to keep up with a large breed dog that’s growing.
This I want you to keep in mind, for large breed dogs that are prone to joint issues like knee issues, hip issues, things of that nature, you want to keep them towards the lean side. So, on that body condition scale of 1 to 9 you want to keep them at about 3 and a half to 4 where you can just a little bit more than usual pick out ribs. Now, having said that, if your puppy is growing really well, you can do two things to bump up the calories and for a puppy, I would do both; One is adding in extra carbohydrates. So, for instance if you’re using rice or Quinoa or potatoes as a carbohydrate source in the diet. I would go just make up a little extra and add depending on your puppy’s size somewhere between a tablespoon and a quarter cup extra per meal. So, for King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, I would definitely work towards the lean side because that’s going to help them grow more efficiently and then the other option would be to add in a little bit of fat so I would say something like start with a quarter teaspoon work up to a teaspoon and a half per meal and do this slowly so we don’t upset the stomach.

Hoe does Protein affect a puppy’s growth?

The deal with protein, is that we’re not going high protein diet which used to be the big theories for puppies, because if the muscle grows faster than the joints then the joints end up being compressed more and bearing more weight could slow the muscle growth down so that the body growth sort of uniformly.
With King Charles Cavalier Spaniels, because they are more prone to heart disease amongst other things, these guys, I would definitely have a coq10 and some sort of taurine which you’ve got now in Holistic Total Body Support available to help that heart muscle grow as efficiently as possible. A lot of people like to throw in Carnitine as well which I think is not a bad idea.

If the rabies titer came back low, would the dog need to get vaccinated? Or is the condition enough to say no to rabies vaccine in a waiver?

Assuming that your dog had cancer or seizure activity and then rabies titer came back low, it means that the dog is not protected. Now, if the disease has been severe enough which will to what your veterinarian decides is okay or not okay, what they feel comfortable with those diseases. Personally, I wouldn’t repeat the rabies vaccine because I am concerned that the immune system is going to be over stimulated and create issues.Is there a liability to the veterinarian if they give a rabies vaccine waiver and your dog bites a human? No, there is none. They are exercising their medical judgement. I hope that is helpful. And again, I think we had posted some information about the vaccine and there is a link to the most recent rabies compendium so I think if you take that to your veterinarian, that may be very helpful as well.

What are the good ways to entice a dog to eat? And what treats would be recommendable when the pups have nausea?