Probiotics

[Georgie]

I"m BACKKKKKKKK! The forum wouldn't recognize my old password and for some reason couldn't log on with my e-mail either; been suppppperr busy too. Lainie - give extra ground meat without bone in it, in addition to what you're feeding. Her stools are too hard - some dogs need VERY little bone. I learned this the hard way with Rivers back in March - was giving meat with bone, stools looked great, then suddenly became too hard and then he couldn't poop at all and had a major, very painful blowout. Felt horrible.Now he only gets meat with bone twice a week, period. 75% of his meals are ground beef (80/20) with beef heart; other meals are ground venison with some bone, eggs, yogurt, veggies, Pollock and salmon fish.

I thought you must have got lost from the crash - I even wrote in one of the threads here "Woofie isn't here". Just noticed you weren't around contributing to the diet and nutrition threads. You definitely took longer than most of us to work out there had been a rather big crash of the site. Many people thought it was just them and that they had been blocked. You will notice that all the old posts are gone and we all have started back to being new members from 2014. Good to see you back!!!

[Woofie]

yep....I did get lost in the crash; and just didn't have the time to re-register. I've been working 3 jobs, along with keeping 2 young dogs busy....hard.

[Lainie]

I"m BACKKKKKKKK! The forum wouldn't recognize my old password and for some reason couldn't log on with my e-mail either; been suppppperr busy too.

Lainie - give extra ground meat without bone in it, in addition to what you're feeding. Her stools are too hard - some dogs need VERY little bone.

You know, I thought about that & was scared if she didn't get enough bone then she wouldn't be getting enough calcium etc. Beef seems to bother her stomach & it is the easiest ground meat to get at a reasonable price around here. But I think I might give it another try as I can't get her turkey dinners without bone in it from my raw food supplier. She hasn't become constipated, yet, but once in a while she'll do a hard poo then immediately after, a really runny one. When I picked up her poo today, I could hardly squish it......ya, I know, too much information, but poo details just seem so important to us when it come to our doggies!

[Woofie]

Yeah Lainie - sounds to me like she's heading towards an impaction.

Can you get Pollock fish from your supermarket? We get Pollock (which is boneless) from our local grocery very cheap actually - it's a great addition for a twice weekly meal.

[Lainie]

Yeah Lainie - sounds to me like she's heading towards an impaction.

Can you get Pollock fish from your supermarket? We get Pollock (which is boneless) from our local grocery very cheap actually - it's a great addition for a twice weekly meal.

Haven't seen Pollock at the supermarket other than mixed to resemble crab meat. I will ask though.
I spoke to our food supplier about the hard poops & she says the dinners Jessie gets have very little bone in them & what is in there is needed for the right amount of nutrients. She suggested I add a few more fruit or veggies or some pumpkin to her meals. I'll try that for a few days & see if it improves....I think I'll start with adding pumpkin. If that doesn't help, then I am certainly going to cut back on the dinners that include bone. Jessie loves fish, so I am interested in finding Pollock.

[CaraDeo]

I add a scoop of plain yogurt, but I know a lot of people who have had success with FortiFlora from Purina

[Lainie]

I add a scoop of plain yogurt, but I know a lot of people who have had success with FortiFlora from Purina

Am going to pick up some FortiFlora next time I'm shopping....live in the boonies so shopping is a trek. Hope I can get it at the pet shop rather than having to go to the vet's, but whatever.
Meanwhile we were at the suppliers' & mentioned the hard poops & talked about cutting back on the meals with bone, as woofie suggested. They were adamant that the bone content was minimal & that Jessie needs all that is contained in that food for proper nutrition. They suggested reducing the amount of dinner by an ounce or two & adding pumpkin or more veggies. So I started with some pumpkin in each meal & it seems to be helping.

[SCDoug]

Am going to pick up some FortiFlora next time I'm shopping....live in the boonies so shopping is a trek. Hope I can get it at the pet shop rather than having to go to the vet's, but whatever.
Meanwhile we were at the suppliers' & mentioned the hard poops & talked about cutting back on the meals with bone, as woofie suggested. They were adamant that the bone content was minimal & that Jessie needs all that is contained in that food for proper nutrition. They suggested reducing the amount of dinner by an ounce or two & adding pumpkin or more veggies. So I started with some pumpkin in each meal & it seems to be helping.

We've had great luck with the FortiFlora. If you can't find it locally, you should be able to find it online. We buy it from Amazon at a better price that what our vet sells it for.

Amazon.com : Purina Veterinary Diets Fortiflora Canine, 30 Sachets Per Box : Pet Probiotic Nutritional Supplements : Pet Supplies

[Lainie]

We've had great luck with the FortiFlora. If you can't find it locally, you should be able to find it online. We buy it from Amazon at a better price that what our vet sells it for.

Amazon.com : Purina Veterinary Diets Fortiflora Canine, 30 Sachets Per Box : Pet Probiotic Nutritional Supplements : Pet Supplies

Amazon Canada sells it for $42.49 - 30 packets. Free shipping.....yay!

[SCDoug]

Amazon Canada sells it for $42.49 - 30 packets. Free shipping.....yay!

Glad you found it on Amazon. I don't think it's sold retail. We've been giving Lola one packed daily for about 6 months. We're thinking about cutting back to every other day pretty soon.