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Your pet’s health can only be as good as its digestive system

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Plagued with gastric ailments for as long as I can remember, I know how much a healthy digestive system can affect a person’s health as well as your pet’s.

Allow me to auntie complain for awhile

Basically, I’m experiencing bloating that never goes away and it seems like my meals are taking a long time to digest. Gastroscopy shows that I have an inflammed stomach lining with no H. Pylori bacteria. So doctors put me on a double dosage of Omeprazole (a drug to suppress gastric acid) for months, which did as much as help as asking Alan Garner (Played by Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover) to plan my wedding.

Getting self aid help online

Even after consulting different specialists, TCM practitioners, went through months of medications, strict diets and spent how much money I don’t know, nothing seemed to work seemed and totally solve my problem once and for all. I then started to self medicate and tested different theories and methods – Manuka honey, alkaline diets, apple cider vinegar, ginger tea, green papaya, probiotics, etc. but yet, nothing works.

Also, information found online are often contradicting, like how two different diseases can produce same symptoms. That’s why even doctors take a trial and error approach don’t they? Hence recently, I went for something more straightforward and tried tackling my problem one symptom at a time.

Finally something after years of struggle

Since I reckon that my bloating is caused by indigestion and having too much or too little gastric juices can cause indigestion, I tried using digestive enzymes to speed up the digestion. And guess what? Although not fully cured, it’s the first time I truly felt better.

It was then I remembered that many animals also suffer from digestive problems and even with supplements and probiotics, they can’t seem to gain weight, they over eat, have large stool, or vomit and have diarrhea frequently. Although I don’t have concrete research with me, I believe that if the body can’t absorb, it can’t benefit.

One for you and one for me

Even though there’s digestive enzymes for pets out there, as with most pet supplements, to make measuring simple (imagine scooping 500mg of flour) and to create the impression of ‘Value for money’ manufacturers bulk it with fillers. That’s why I’m using NOW® Super Enzymes, which has worked great for myself and it’s the same formulation from Mercola. I’ll break a capsule into 10 servings of Seacure and a probiotic capsule on top of that. But because the digestive enzymes are quite sensitive to heat and moisture, you can stir in 1/8 tsp of calcium carbonate to act as a desiccant, or simply, put it in the fridge.

Even if you or your pet doesn’t have any digestive issues, I believe it’s a great supplement to boost your pet’s overall health. Here’s a good article on the need for enzymes. I’m not promoting any products in the link, neither am I carrying their products, but I just find it informative. For more info, you can also read this article from www.goodpet.com or The Whole Dog Journal.

 

 

How to remove urine odors naturally and effectively

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How to remove urine smells

If you’re unlucky enough to have your pet pee on upholstery and carpets, you’d realize that as much as you try to blot or
wash the fabric, you could never seem to remove the smell and even if you think you did, you’d still find your pet going back to pee at the same spot, even on easy to clean hard floors! The only thing I hate about their acute sense of smell.

And I hate that their skin seems to allergic to everything

You can try bleach, Dettol, Febreze for all you want, but it’s not going to do a thorough job and worse still the chemicals used might cause adverse skin reactions in pets with sensitive skin. On a side note, most pets are sensitive to synthetic phenols in detergents and disinfectants so if there’s a need to use surfactants on the floor, add a little dish soap into the water used for mopping the floor and mop as usual. Following that, add around 2 tablespoons of vinegar to a fresh pail of water and mop the floor again. This will neutralize the soap and at the same time deodorizing and disinfecting the floor as well!

Instructions:

  1. If the accident is on your your bed, carpet or sofa, first try to blot the fresh stain with dry cloth and continue until you’ve removed as much of the stain as possible.
  2. What I like to do with soiled fabric is to wash it with normal soap first. From experience, skipping this step and going straight to deodorizing agents wouldn’t work quite as well. Mix dish soap with water into a spray bottle and try this mixture on an inconspicuous area to make sure the fabric is colorfast. If the color doesn’t run, spray on the stained area and blot it up again. Do it a few times.
  3. All purpose enzyme cleaners, found in organic stores are usually great in removing smells. You can spray onto the stain and leave it to dry. Enzyme cleaners are also usually safe on fabrics, but as a general precaution, it’s always good to spot test. If your pet goes back to pee at the same spot, repeat steps 1 & 2, and proceed to step 4.
  4. Mix a solution of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide and baking soda and again do a spot test first. Then spray onto the stain and let it do its work. The mixture works with the urine and releases oxygen which cleans and deodorizes, works very much like Vanish Power O2.
  5. When the surface has dried, you may want to spray a diluted solution of white vinegar to neutralize any leftover alkali and odor.
  6. With hard floors, it’s much easier as you’d only need to wipe up the stain and spray with deodorizing agents like Enzymatic cleaner, Hydrogen Peroxide and baking soda mix or vinegar and leave it to dry. However, if you’re using a cloth to wipe up the stain, remember to soak the cloth with any deodorizing agents afterwards.

*Warning* 

Whatever you do, don’t be Kiasu and add whatever you can find together thinking that it’ll give it extra cleaning boost. Combining Hydrogen Peroxide and vinegar in particular produces a strong oxidizing agent known as Peracetic acid and produces toxic fumes which is harmful to the lungs with long term exposure. However, spritzing one after the next would not produce any harmful byproducts. Chemistry.

Here you go, no need to be spending $15 on a small bottle ‘urine odor removal’ or whatever from pet shops. Let me know how it’s working for you and leave me a comment if you have any questions!

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