Products we've been using/going to use

Excuse my lame title, I'm not feeling very creative today :)

So Mika and Wall-e have been getting a new joint supplement since April 30. It's called Lakota Canine Joint Care Formula. Wall-e has been on other joint supplements in the past for his old knee injury (Glyco-Flex I and Dr. Maggie's), but I have never put Mika on a joint supplement regularly. (I slipped her the occasional supplement as a treat when there were no other rewards around, but that's it.) I can't say if this supplement has been helping or not (and it's just a preventative for Wall-e anyway), but time will tell. It's meant for arthritis, but mainly because of it's anti-inflammatory properties, which works for Mika's sore shoulder anyway; and there's a good chance Wall-e could develop arthritis as he ages because of his old knee injury, so this supplement could prevent that.

I also need to get a harness for Wall-e; he's been coughing more often. Sometimes during training (not too often -- maybe once every couple of weeks -- but more than he used to), and after lunging at cars on walks. I'm currently walking him on a collar. I posted on a Facebook group asking for recommendations on harnesses for Wall-e, and these are the ones I'm now considering:

ComfortFlex 
Walkeez  
CTC Shoulder Harness  (couldn't find it on the web site, but found a picture of the harness on the Facebook page)

I need a harness that won't break, won't restrict his movement, and will encourage him to continue pulling for conditioning :)

How to make eggshell powder

(Eggshells, from left to right: almost-finished product, slightly crushed, whole eggshells)

I'm making eggshell powder today for the first time, thought I'd share.

I feed a raw diet to my dogs. On a typical day, they get either Tollden Farms frozen patties and/or various other foods.

I don't believe that a dog's diet has to be perfectly balanced every day; as long as they get a fairly balanced diet during the course of a week or even a month (although a week is preferred), they'll be eating well. I don't feed my dogs the pre-made patties day in, day out because dogs' bodies don't respond well to eating the exact same foods every day. My dogs get their patties several times a week, but the rest of the time they get various assortments of food. Also, both dogs get Prozyme enzyme supplements every couple days and a fish oil capsule twice a week. Wall-e has been getting glucosime every couple days since his injury in April (he used to get 125mg, but now I've upped it to 250mg because of his re-injury).

But even though a dog's diet doesn't have to be exactly balanced every day, they should be receiving a good calcium/phosphorus (Ca:P) ratio as often as possible. This is pretty important for dogs. The Tollden Farms patties have a good C:Pa ratio, but when I feed other foods, I still want my dogs to be receiving a good ratio. The recommended ratio is 1.2:1, but many individual foods have more phosphorus than calcium. What to do? Add a calcium supplement.

I referred to one of my favourite books, Dr. Pitcairn's Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, to choose which calcium supplement to use. I narrowed it down between bone meal and eggshell powder. I chose eggshell powder because I would have to buy bone meal, and when there's an option between buying and making my own, I prefer to make my own (when possible).

I'll put the instructions from Dr. Pitcairn's book in my own words, adding some tips that I discovered today while making the eggshell powder.

1. Collect at least a dozen eggshells. I collected two dozen.

2. Wash the eggshells.

3. Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. This makes the eggshells brittle and easier to grind, and also removes the coating that is sometimes added to the shells to keep them from drying out.

4. Crush the eggshells, as shown in the photo at the beginning of this post. This will make the shells easier to grind.

5. Grind using a mortar and pestle, blender, or nut and seed grinder. I chose to use a mortar and pestle. Grind to a "fine powder."

And you're done. Each eggshell makes about 1tsp of powder (1,800mg of calcium).

It's actually kind of fun to use the mortar and pestle. I'm only about halfway done making the powder, but it's going well. And soon I'll have some pretty powder to add to some of the foods my dogs eat.

Supplement ingredients...

(I'm copying/pasting this from something I posted in January on the forum I help moderate. I've been thinking about this a lot and am still undecided. (I always like to get a lot of people's opinions before making a plan.) The source of the ingredients is a BIG deal for me. I'd like to get Trixsyn because they've said that none of their ingredients come from China, but I don't know if that is completely true, since it's not very realistic for most supplement companies to not get any ingredients from China.)

I'd like to begin both of my dogs on a joint supplement in the spring, which is when the snow melts and they can have more exercise and do more agility. From April to October, Mika gets an average of 1 hour of daily exercise (hiking and agility). Wall-e gets an average of 2 hours of daily exercise (hiking, agility, playing, and chasing cars along the fence in the backyard...lol). So their joints are under quite a bit of stress....

At the moment, they get salmon oil twice a week and Prozyme (digestive enzyme) with food that needs to be cooked. I feed raw.

The main supplements I've been considering are Sashas Blend, Glycoflex I or II, Cosequin, and Trixsyn. But the biggest concern that I have is the sources of the ingredients. The 2007 melamine pet food recall gave a lot of people a scare. My dogs and my cat were thankfully not affected by it because they were eating a combination of raw and Fromm Four-Star kibble at the time, but I'm concerned about where the ingredients in dog supplements are coming from. I've read that a lot of glucosamine comes from China, and I don't want to give my dogs any ingredients from China that might have contaminants. Trixsyn *says* that none of its ingredients come from China, but I dunno....

I guess I'm just asking, do you think supplements are necessary for active dogs? If you supplement, what product(s) do you use, and what results have you observed? Do you think the source of the ingredients is a concern?

Joint supplements

I've been thinking of starting Mika on a joint supplement. She's getting closer to middle-aged and her conformation isn't as good for agility as Wall-e's is. I've been considering Sashas Blend -- they say it's natural, and I've heard lots of great recommendations on it. I haven't looked into it a lot though. Right now Mika and Wall-e get a fish oil capsule once or twice a week, and digestive enzymes at one meal every day, but no kind of joint supplements.

Does anybody who's reading this use any joint supplements?

~Nat