Yogurt vs Kefir

V

VallejoSheltie

Forums Enthusiast
Hi All,

I've only seen one thread related to this, so is anyone else feeding their dog Kefir? We've been getting our puppy onto Canidea from Wellness since we got a bad bag and he had squirts something awesome. I was out of yogurt, and decided to give him some of my Lifeway's lowfat Kefir. I'd say that within a day, day and half at most everything pretty much just stopped and he's gone to normal BM's.

From the reading I've done,

http://www.kefir.net/kefiryogurt.htm

http://www.drharveys.com/blog/tag/148

http://friendlygrove.com/Notes/archives/290

http://www.lifeway.net/CustomerService/FAQ.aspx

Kefir is far superior to yogurt in that it is much better at colonizing the GI tract compared to yogurt. Apparently it contains not only beneficial bacteria, but also beneficial yeasts, enzymes, etc.

While I'm not too sure about the amount of sugar, everything else seems like it would be OK.

Any thoughts?


Pasteurized Cultured Lowfat Milk, Nonfat Milk, Organic Cane Juice, Strawberry Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavors, Red Beet Juice For Color, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D3, CONTAINS MILK, GLUTEN FREE

NUTRITIONAL FACTS
SERVING SIZE 1 CUP (240mL) SERVINGS about 4
Calories
Vitamin A 10%, Vitamin C 4%, Calcium 30%, Iron 0%,
Vitamin D 25%

All Lifeway products contain seven to ten billion CFU's of the following 12 live & active Kefir cultures per cup:
• Lactobacillius Lactis
• Lactobacillus Rhamnosus
• Streptococcus Diacetylactis
• Lactobacillus Plantarum
• Lactobacillius Casei
• Saccharomyces Florentinus
• Leuconostoc Cremoris
• Bifidobacterium Longum
• Bifidobacterium Breve
• Lactobacillus Acidophilus
• Bifidobacterium lactis
• Lactobacillus reuteri
 
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Kefir is known as the "Champagne of Yogurt". I too have been having some little challenges every now and then with Toby and loose stool. He's been on Nutro Natural Choice.

Maybe I'll go buy a bottle of Kefir and see what his GI tells me about it :o
 
I would just give the dog a probiotic supplement instead of buying the expensive Kefir.

There are so many probiotic supplements available on the market.
 
Well, I agree there are many supplements on the market. However in reviewing a few sites, they all seem to be really expensive on a per unit basis.
I can get a 32 oz. bootle for about $4. At 2 tablespoons per ounce, that should be a month or two of supplements. I do have some decent human-grade (Trader Joes) adicopholous(sp) which is stronger per serving however it only has 1-2 strains and not the 12 in the Kefir. its also more expensive on a per unit basis, and its rather cheap compared to many.
Compared to the probiotics aimed at the pet market, TJ's seems to be much more reasonable, though not sure how varied the ingredient list is.
Yogurt is somewhat cheaper than the Kefir, but has only 4-5 common strains.

For the price of one chew, I can get something to add to his daily food for at least a month that he simply goes bonkers for especially when added to his kibble.

The interesting thing is I remember when my mom used to make her own yogurt in some appliance, and it seemed pretty easy. As I understand it, its just as easy to make ones own Kefir, with the added benefit of being able to keep the starter culture alive and productive for years. Just add milk on a regular basis.
The DIY crowd around doing this is pretty decent, and many feel you get a much better product with more 'good stuff' like the enzymes,etc doing it yourself.
The cost/unit doing this should be simply your milk cost, unless you go with something called water-kefir, which is even less expensive and by some reports, even better for you.

Since I want to lose some weight, I am planning on jumping in feet first and start to make my own in the next couple of weeks. So I'll use myself as a guinea pig to see how things go before I start considering supplementing of Boots in any regular way.










danisgoat said:
I would just give the dog a probiotic supplement instead of buying the expensive Kefir.

There are so many probiotic supplements available on the market.
Click to expand...
 
It seems as though your mind is already made up then!

Go for it, as long as you don't mind the sugars. I'd say make sure you do some daily teeth brushing because you will definitely end up with tooth decay adding something that has sugar in it everyday.

I didn't realize that a bottle of Kefir kept that long opened. I thought it was only good for one week after being opened. I guess I was wrong!
 
I have given my foster Kefir a couple times because he's on an antibiotic but I agree with the other comments about the sugar. I wouldn't just give it to my otherwise healthy dog. The sugar will definitely get their teeth and brushing doesn't do too much good b/c it's really flossing they need and if you dog lets you floss its teeth, then I'd be surprised LOL That's why raw feeding is so good for their teeth b/c you give them huge hunks of roasts/steaks etc and the joints/tendons act as floss for them. The bone scrapes of what has collected but the meat, big pieces that is, keep it from collecting. :)
 
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