Anti-biotics and dogs

[Doggygirl]

One of our dogs is on a course of anti-biotics (again). He has had issues with his prostate and bladder/kidney infections since he was under a year old - most likely genetics at the root.

Mean time, he is on anti-biotics whenever he gets an infection. They are less frequent since neutering but he still gets them occassionaly.

I'm sure I should have him on a probiotic. Anyone know if regular human probiotics are OK for dogs and if so, anything about dosing? He is not supposed to have any dairy WITH the anti-biotics, but once they are done in a few days, I'm going to start plopping in some live culture plain yogurt for him and the other dogs too.

Looking for any suggestions from those who may have had experience with such a problem.

DG

[Margot 65]

I have never heard of any problems giving probiotics to dogs!

I have used both yogurt and the powdered form.

You might want to try putting some ACV in his daily water or food, that might help keep that infection at bay in the future

[fjeld]

Just time for a quick reply but using coconut oil and generally adding more fat to my dog's diet made a world of difference. He used to suffer terribly from furunculosis years ago -> endless, veeery expensive antibotic treatments which never helped longterm, but CO did.

I also wish I had known about the effects of iodine on prostate problems before my dog had to be neutered at the age of 8 due to a seriously infected prostate. (Neutering is generally not done in my part of the world).

I feed my dog seaweed every day and just like Margot suggested, he gets a slurp of ACV in his food once a day. (And egg yolks, and nettle powder and butter )

There is som very interesting research being done on iodine and it's effect on the prostate and breasts for ex, i e the reproductive organs. Or rather the health problems a lack of sufficient iodine in humans causes. Lots to find about it on the web.

Good luck in finding a solution for your dog DG.

[Doggygirl]

Thanks Margot and Field.

I can start sloshing some ACV in the community water dish (it's one of those self re-filling ones - we have 4 dogs) daily. Thank you both for that suggestion.

I suspect the great gals at the health food store will be able to direct me to a decent probiotic for them - might as well give that to all of 'em too.

We have used EVCO in the past for intermittent things - scratch and dent type stuff. They get Salmon Oil daily. Would you suggest giving them some of both salmon oil AND EVCO daily? While we feel alternative meats when we can, most days they eat chicken (bones and skin inc.) along with extra ground turkey that is the fatty cheap kind (important to give extra meat if you feed a lot of raw chicken to keep the phosphorus / calcium ratios right). They get a multi-vitamin recommended by the holistic vet, vitamin e (200 IU's each) to help process the salmon oil, and also a kelp and alfalfa powder. And a bit of veggie mix - mostly re-hydrated de-hydrated carrots.

Wanted to put all that in case it's important to the recommendations for the infection prone one especially.

Field, do you have any links or additional information on the prostate / iodine connection? Is that info even important since he has been neutered?

Thanks a million for your suggestions!!!

DG

[fjeld]

DG:
I'll PM you links on iodine since they are mostly to other sites and I don't know if they're allowed to be posted on LCF.

If iodine is important or not for dogs like ours that have been neutered, I don't know. But iodine and seaweed in general are from what I've gathered very beneficial on many different levels. For ex iodine is of great importance for women trying to conceive and who are pregnant. It's essential for correct brain development and even effects the IQ of a fetus/growing child.


About CO, I couldn't do without it. I eat it (but just a tbs a day), oil-pull my teeth in it, use it on my skin and hair and it literally saved my dog's skin health. I sound like some brainwashed CO addict in a TV infomercial, I know. But it works! It really, really works!!!

His furunculosis were so bad for years he had trouble walking and became depressed. It's the "antibiotic" effect of CO that works and it seems to have an overall effect on the body. It honestly only took a week before the furunculosis had healed after I first started feeding CO to my dog. Then it took some time for the fur to grow back but the painful, bleeding clusters of blisters were gone. And come to think of it, so were the constant ear infections he had since he was young. Now I just put about two tbs of CO in his brunch every day. I am no vet so these are just my experiences. But I would try adding CO to see if it helps your dog.

An example of a daily menu for my dog:

Brunch - Organic raw eggs, mackerel, fruit/veggies, CO, nettle powder.

Dinner - Veggies, raw meat, butter, some kind of carb (usually an ecological meatless brand), seaweed, ACV (which I've added earlier to the carb for easier digestion).

Evening - yogurth or kefir, fruit/veggies, a raw hide chewy stick.


I feed him bones when I can find ones with the gnarl (eng. word?) since they're softer for his teeth. He chewed a tooth off on a bonepipe recently. I add other stuff as well occasionally and throw in a little intermittent fasting from time to time.
Sorry if I didn't totally keep to topic