I've never seen that listed on any dogfood. What kind of food is it?

 

Natures Logic and Natures Variety are two that I can think of off hand. There are a few others. There is also a supplement sold as "Red Desert Clay" that they sell as a health food kind of thing for animals and people. They say it will heal everything and more!:


RED DESERT™ "LIVING CLAY"–


100% Natural
Safe, Effective, Natural
Powerful Detoxifier
Cleanses the Digestive Tract

whether horse, fish, dog, cat, bird or reptile

* Quickly relieves diarrhea in 90% of all cases
* Detoxifies and Cleanses the digestive tract
* Safely, naturally remove toxins out of the body
* Strengthens Bones and Joints with absorbable calcium
* Aids Digestion and Metabolism
* Strengthens Immune System
* Increases Energy and Strength
* Healthier Teeth and Gums
* Improves overall Health
* Excellent Source of Essential Macro, Micro and Trace Minerals

 

Hmmm... sounds good, but after reading your first post I don't think I would want that in my dogs food or not either.

 

Sounds like snake oil to me.
Any product that says "Heals everything and more" is just that, ...... "Snake Oil". Stay away from it. If your dog's system needs cleansing, let your Vet prescribe it.

 

Yeah let them prescribe tons of drugs to treat ailments that are simply occurring because of the toxins in the dogs environment and being absorbed into the dogs body. Perfect case is environmental allergies. You could do benadryl and steroid shots every day for the rest of the dogs life, or you could detox the dog making it's body more able to deal with the allergies itself. No traditional vet knows how to detox a dog, holistic vets should.

The clay, i don't know anything about it. I've never noticed it in either of those foods and i carry both of them, but i certainly don't sell alot of them. So who knows what it does. However it can't be THAT bad since Nature's Variety is using it, and they're a very reputable company.

Nature's Variety's definition:
Montmorillonite is a clay that is primarily colloidal silicate, which contains over 50 ultra-trace mineral compounds including Antimony, Barium, Beryllium, Boron, Bromine, Cadmium, Carbon, Cerium, Cesium, Chloride, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Dysprosium, Fluoride, Gadolinium, Gallium, Germanium, Iodine, Lanthanum, Lithium, Manganese, Neodymium, Nickel, Phosphorus, Rhenium, Rubidium, Samarium, Scandium, Silicon, Silver, Strontium, Sulfur, Tellurium, Thallium, Thorium, Tin, Titanium, Vanadium, Ytterbium, Yttrium, Zinc, and Zirconium. Feed studies by the Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory at Texas A&M University have shown that Montmorillonite clays can sequester (bind) aflatoxins contained in grains and oilseeds.

 

It's definitely an interesting concept...is there anywhere you can find out more about it, reviews, etc??

 

<No traditional vet knows how to detox a dog, holistic vets should>

A bit of an overstatement , don't you think. First, the university research program is just one study that appeases the dog food company to allow them an edge over the competition. These types of research programs are dependant on financial help from the manufacturers. So they would have to be careful about the findings they present.
How many independant studies are there????
How many Vets will back up this additive?
Are we to believe that dog food companys have the dogs interests in mind, more then the Vets?
How about dogfoodanalysis.com or AKA or any other established organizations that have the dogs interests? Whats their opinion?

 

All I know is I feed NV and it's done well for all my dogs. And dogfoodanalysis.com gives NV Prairie a 5 star rating and Instinct a 6 star rating! So, they must think it's quite alright lol!

 

I have never heard of this. But it sounds EXPLOSIVE after you would give it to them! Sounds liek they would need to be outside for sure afetr that haha!
I wonder if its like activia for people haha!:wink:

 

pretty interesting but also a little risky imo. and yea...sounds umm really...explosive as Wags stated.

if you're already giving your dog good food whether it be kibble or raw, i don't see the need to use this, but hey...i suppose theres always special cases.

 

I think it's the same clay that is sold in powder form for people's health. I saw it on discovery or some such channel. You mix it with water and drink it.

 

Can animals eat clay?


Animals can and do eat clay all the time. it's a natural part of their ability to self-medicate. read the book, Wild Health, by Cindy Engel. In that book, she documents hundreds of clay-eating habits of monkeys, elephants, birds of all kinds, and many other animals. Elephants dig clay "licks" in Africa that are the size of small airports, just to ingest the minerals. Birds obviously have gizzards that not only allow them to eat dirt and clay, but they must do it. The famous Parrots of the Amazon are tourist attractions at the places where they eat clay. There's even a word for it: geophagy.

Research has determined that eating clay is natural because it is healthful, and animals know this somehow. They can remove toxins and intestinal parasites with small amounts of certian clays, and the clay often adds needed minerals to their diets.

Bentonite and Montmorillonite clays are commmonly added to animals feeds across the world.

 

I have used Bentonite and Montmorillonite clays in myself and my animals. They are an excellent source of trace minerals and have very low risk of environmental contaminants as opposed to kelp which is getting riskier in my opinion. I know several raw feeders who swear by it. I have a friend with Crohn's disease that has gotten tremendous relief using it. They are nothing new.

 

That is very interesting to me. Is it difficult to find montmorillonite clay to purchase? I'm usually successful finding unusual ingredients in my city if I have some kind of lead.

 

Clay is used as a stool hardener in dog foods. Any therapeutic value is unproven.

 

Your value to any of these threads is unproven.

 

We have used bentonite clay in a few instances and I will always keep it on hand as it's value is proven to me.

 

@PDXdogmom- I buy both forms at The Good Earth a health food store in Indianapolis- it is a wonderful store that has been there since the early 70s. I believe the brand I have bought there is Now.

 

Just saw this in the NV biscuits I bought for Silva. SO far no adverse reactions, and I have seen it listed in foods, and I know it is fed by some mushers too. I myself was not sure what to make of it, but plan to research it more in order to decide whether to keep feeding the biscuits. I have to check the NV canned food ingredient list because our guys get their meats, plus some other manufacturers.

 

stajbs- I will be really surprised if you find any reason to be alarmed by Bentonite and Montmorillonite. Please let us know what you find. My holistic DVM is the person who first exposed me to them. We were detoxing a rescue who had never eaten anything other than Kibbles and Bits his entire life. The DVM wanted the nutritional clays used in lieu of kelp because he felt they were "cleaner" which is his way of saying less contaminated and that the minerals were more stable than those in kelp.

Bentonite and Montmorillonite are not Kaolin which is the clay commonly used to mechanically firm stools and absorb toxins. I have read labels that suggest their use for such purposes but it is much larger dose.

 

My dog vomited after the first time we tried Instinct canned and we rotate dry and canned all the time between many different brands and proteins. This was the first time I can remember her becoming ill. Now, it's probably unlikely the clay had anything to do with it, but it's one of those things that I couldn't bring myself to trying it again. You know, kinda like if you get sick after eating something, you sort of get a mental block. That's my anecdotal contribution. :tongue:

 

Nutritive clays such as bentonite and Montmorillonite have been used for centuries by people in holistic, ayervedic and other traditional medacine cultures. I have jars of both in my herbal cabinet (and kaolin for making face masks, lol. Kaolin does not have the same benefit when injested, but makes a great detoxing face mask!) They contain many beneficial trace minerals, and are also used typically as intestinal cleansers. They are present today in many (and I mean many) popular herbal colon cleanse products. In my oppinion much better to get your trace minerals there then from synthetic additives. I can think of no reason why they would hurt your dog. I have ingested them myself and never had any bad effects.

 

You can believe what you want. They are used as stool hardeners. Bentonite is also used in cement and to line toxic waste ponds.

Sometimes they contain lead and mercury as well.

It is a gimmick.

 

Mushers use it to prevent Exercise Induced Diarrhea. It is a stool hardener. Soaks up enormous amounts of water.

 

MontmorilloniteFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pharmacological Uses

Montmorillonite is effective as an adsorptive of heavy metals, toxins, and hazardous chemicals.[5]

For external use, montmorillonite has also shown its effectiveness.[6]

 

Kaolin is the main ingredient in Kaopetake. Montmorillinite is also used to line ponds to stop any leaks. It has an incredible shirk/swell capacity.

 

I know so many people that swear by it for detoxing animals (whether it's horses or dogs), or themselves. I plan on getting some for Murph in the next month or so and trying it out.

 

Lordy be truthdog...first it's a gimmick, then you state mushers use it for exercise induced diarrhea. Come on now we both know it's used especially in mushing events where hundreds/thousands of dogs come together and diarrhea is often the result. For example the Iditarod, the Quest or some of the other two/ three day events. Stress induced diarrhea being one use, but once you get all those dogs pooping on the trail I bet it comes in handy to assist with firming the stools even if the dog has caught an intestinal bug which is not uncommon in these long distance events. Bet the creator of Annamaet may even have used it when he runs his dogs. Maybe ask him sometime if he's ever heard of it or used it. Just a mere suggestion of course.

 

You are another one that cannot read. MC is a gimmick because it is marketed as a cleansing product. It is not a gimmick as a stool harderner, yes cement does work to harden stools.

The companion animals on this website certainly dont need it for SID.

It is stool hardener and that is all it is.

Got it now!!!!

 

Truthdog,

Direct insults to others are most unbecoming.
However I thank you for the kind words, perhaps I'll go back to college and tell my professors to teach me again to read.

Have a wonderful day!