has anyone tried fibre additives?

[jgr789]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

I just started adding a little metamucil to Jenny's home cooked food because I've seen others on here have done it and it is sugar free. It's only been 2 days so no clue how it is affecting her yet but when I compared the fiber from my home cooked stuff to what she used to eat, I needed to increase it.
Jenny is 7 pounds so I'm adding half a teaspoon

Hi Judi,

I was just going back and re-reading some older posts and found that at the beginning May, you had just started using metamucil as a fiber additive.

Can you tell if it's helped at all? And do you just sprinkle it on top of the food or mix it up first and then put it on?

I'm considering adding it to Sadie's food to slow down her digestion at night and maybe lower her morning BG numbers.

Judy (and Sadie)
Still searching for the magic bullet!

[DocWatson]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

I've now read in a few places that foods higher in fibre tend to lead to more stable BG levels ie. no sudden spikes after meals etc. Also they tend to give dog's a feeling of fullness..

On average it appears that most commercial foods have about 6-7% fibre while some like Hills W/D had 16%

We're happy with our home cooked diet which includes vegetables that contain fibre so we don't want to switch to a commercial food but I'm wondering if we should try adding some fibre additives with water to perhaps try and stabilize our dog's BG levels (she tends to spike for 2-3 hours post meals)

On the other hand, I'm worried that any extra fibre additive might give our dog a stool that's too hard or too soft (right now with our home cooked diet the stool is always solid and regular)

Hi Delta,

For extra fiber I go to a health food store and get Flax Meal in bulk and add that to some 100% pumpkin (not for pie filling) and some steamed broccoli and green beans. I give my dog Watson 2 tsps of the Flax Meal and 2 tbsp of the veggies mixed in with 3 tbsp of pumpkin before I feed him his dry kibbles.

I hope this information is helpful.

[lab lover]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

Regarding Fiber -Konsyl all Natural -Walmart cheapest place to buy it.

I just wanted to let you all know we have been giving Baby, 1 1/2 teaspoons in am and pm for the past yr. It is called Konsyl we get it a Walmart almost liked Metamucil but, no sugar. 100% natural psyllium fiber and I think it has helped her readings a lot. Her stool is not loose on this too. We mix a little water with it when we feed her if you add too much water her food will become to mushy.

Sometimes I will increase it a little if her readings are real high since her surgery.

Hope this helps someone.

[DocWatson]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

Regarding Fiber -Konsyl all Natural -Walmart cheapest place to buy it.

I just wanted to let you all know we have been giving Baby, 1 1/2 teaspoons in am and pm for the past yr. It is called Konsyl we get it a Walmart almost liked Metamucil but, no sugar. 100% natural psyllium fiber and I think it has helped her readings a lot. Her stool is not loose on this too. We mix a little water with it when we feed her if you add too much water her food will become to mushy.

Sometimes I will increase it a little if her readings are real high since her surgery.

Hope this helps someone.

Very cool. I wasn't aware there were sugar free, or sucrose free fiber supplements.

I have been using Flax seed Meal which I buy in bulk at a health food store. That really has helped Watson as he became a bit constipated when I switched him to a high protein dog food. I also steam broccoli and green beans and then put them in the blender to chop them up in to tiny little pieces and scoop in 2 tbs of that mix in with the 100% pumpkin puree and the Flax Meal.

I found out raw vegetables are not really good to feed a dog, and it is better to cook them, so I opted to steam them, and of course no spices or salt added.

[delta]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

I'll really have to check out the local health stores to find some sugar free flaxmeal or psylium additive as the metamucil has sucrose in it so I never ended up giving it to our dog.

Ps. we don't have a Walmart here in OZ but thanks for the tip anyway.

Edit: one thing that worries me about adding this stuff on top of the pumpkin which we introduced last week, is that it can have an impact on oral meds and our dog is currently on phosphorus binders (1 1/2 tablets with meals) so I'm worried they won't work as effectively. I did ask the vet but he suggested we just use pumpkin - didn't really go into it too much as we had other issues to discuss at the time.

[SandyL]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

I've been adding 1 tsp of Metamucil to each of tiggys meals now for 1 year.... She won't eat ANY veggies mixed in with her food. She is much more regular, her glands don't fill as often, nd it has absolutely no negative impact on her BG.

After putting her wet food in the bowl, I add the metamucil, put a little water in and mix it up. I then mix in her chicken and pasta. Her meals are not soup consistency

Sandy

[jgr789]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

Edit: one thing that worries me about adding this stuff on top of the pumpkin which we introduced last week, is that it can have an impact on oral meds and our dog is currently on phosphorus binders (1 1/2 tablets with meals) so I'm worried they won't work as effectively. I did ask the vet but he suggested we just use pumpkin - didn't really go into it too much as we had other issues to discuss at the time.

So if you had a dog that was only getting insulin would you recommend using BOTH pumpkin and the Konsyl all Natural? Or would it be better to just use one or the other?

[farrwf]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

I'll really have to check out the local health stores to find some sugar free flaxmeal or psylium additive as the metamucil has sucrose in it so I never ended up giving it to our dog.

Metamucil Smooth Texture Sugar-Free Regular Flavor and Metamucil capsules contains no sugar and no artificial sweeteners

[BestBuddy]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

I used Benefiber for Buddy. It was from the supermarket or chemist depending on who had the best price. It mixed into the food really well with no taste so it worked for us.

Our supermarkets usually carry the plain Psylium Husks in the health sections.

Jenny

[jgr789]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

So it looks like anyone who uses either the Konsyl all Natural or the Sugar Free Metamucil sprinkles about a teaspoon on food and mixes it with a little water. Am I right?

Does this take the place of pumpkin as added fiber or would you also feed the pumpkin too?

[jjefferjo]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

i use both 1oz pumpkin and 1/2 tsp equate fiber additive sugar free add a little water

[Pennyloomum]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

I have used unflavoured Benefibre powder, 1 teaspoon in a little yoghurt mixed with food once per day on a regular basis and have found it really worked tremendously well keeping her bg readings stable and also she seemed to be fuller for longer.

[DocWatson]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

Does this take the place of pumpkin as added fiber or would you also feed the pumpkin too?

Keep the pumpkin. I use 3 tbs per meal. I looked up Metamucil and it does not report any grams of dietary fiber at all. I use natural flax seed meal, 2 tbs per meal mixed with the pumpkin and that has 4 grams of dietary fiber. I believe this helps my dog Watson very well as he was a bit constipated on the high protein food I switched him to when he was diagnosed, and since putting him on pumpkin and flax meal, before I feed him the kibbles, he has no issues with constipation and has very good stool movement and his stool is consistent all the time. I will make the argument for natural over processed material anytime.

Another benefit is low cost. I go to the health food store and buy in bulk and it is pretty inexpensive, about $3 for a pound, which is much less expensive than Metamucil or Konsyl.

But keep the pumpkin. My dog loves it. Just make sure you get the 100% pumpkin and not the pie filling pumpkin. About $3 for the large can at Walmart.

[Shellie]

Re: has anyone tried fibre additives?

Have to say that I do love the metamucil and it's effects on both Hank's stool and his bgs. But I think you need to try things and see what works for your dog since as we all know....every dog is different! LOL Let us know what you try and how it works for you..is always great to experiment!