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When “Imitation Chicken Flavour” is a Good Thing

When “Imitation Chicken Flavour” is a Good Thing

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I’ve eaten more crow in the last 12 months than in my whole life before that.

*sigh* Life has a funny way of doing that doesn’t it. If you’re lucky, you live long enough to see all those things you swore you would never do come true.

 

I said I would always be the kind of person who walked their dogs, no matter what.

We have a deck potty and I couldn’t love it more.

Making Midnight Potty Breaks Safer with a Deck Potty

I was an advocate for letting dogs be dogs, not babies.

My dog has a stroller.

They see me rollin’, they hatin’

 Now I’m eating crow again. I’m kind of getting used to it. It’s nice with wild rice.

You guys know me. I can’t say enough good things about sharing fresh, real food with your pets.I want my dog food to be made with meat, not meat by products. I want my treats to be made of things I recognize, not a list of things I can’t pronounce and I want any flavours to be REAL.

Well…I usually do. 

Ever since Felix tore his ACL last summer, we’ve been looking for ways to provide his body with everything he needs to heal and stay healed, with the goal of hopefully preventing a blow out on the other ligament. One of the first things our veterinary specialist recommended was a supplement to help support joint and connective tissue function, while also making Fe’s joints feel more comfortable. Sounds awesome right?

Yeah, I was psyched too, until I found out that it comes in a great, “highly palatable chicken liver flavour”. 

WHOMP WHOMP. Oh hey! Awesome joint supplement? Meet Felix’s ridiculous allergies. If I’ve learned one thing in the 7 years Felix has been with me, it’s that chicken, chicken flavour and chicken in pretty much any form is going to turn him into a walking, scratching hot spot. The idea of giving him a supplement with chicken in it every day filled me with dread and anxiety. It took us forever to get Felix’s allergies under control and make him comfortable. Ruining all that work was simply not an option.

Still, after our vet explored alternatives with us, we were convinced this was THE supplement. All the other product options had chicken flavour in them as well and the vet just wasn’t as convinced that they were as effective. We started a two-pronged approach, alternating being the chicken-flavoured supplement Felix’s shouldn’t have and a home mixed custom supplement that I made by cracking open human capsules.  (Note to self: Handling powdered green lipped mussel, powdered shrimp & powdered crab when you have life threatening shellfish allergy is incredibly stupid and I’ve done it 4 or 5 days a week for the last 9 or 10 months. I’ve only broken out into allergic hives a few times, so you know, no big deal, right? Man, the things we do for these dogs!) This kind of worked, except that most days, I had to fight Fe to take his homemade supplement mix and a lot more days, I had to fight Kol to keep him from taking Fe’s supplements for him.  These battles were waged with varying degrees of success. (Let’s just say I am not overly concerned about Kol’s ligaments. They’re getting plenty of support.)

We would have kept on this way forever, until I met someone from Vetriscience at BlogPaws.

We got to talking about Felix and his allergies and how I thought there was a real market out there for supplements that are allergy friendly and flavoured with a novel protein. As we talked, I learned something that kind of rocked my world:

That great supplement my vet recommended? It doesn’t just come in a chicken liver flavoured chew. 

Glyco Flex also comes in a chewable tablet flavoured with imitation roast chicken flavour.

DSC03508

That sound you hear? It’s a canine angel chorus howling in celebration.

I’ve never been so excited to hear the words “imitation” and “flavour” used in the same sentence.

The imitation chicken flavour in Glyco Flex isn’t chicken flavour at all, it’s a vegetable based flavour that they somehow magic into a chicken-y taste. HOLY WOOF! ISN’T THAT EXCITING?!

I still love real food.

When I have a choice, real is still almost always better. Almost. Not always though. If imitation chicken flavour allows my Felix and dogs like him to get the support they need to stay healthy and active, then I am going to jump on board. If that imitation chicken flavour means Fe and I can cancel our nightly WWE Smackdown so he can take a tablet he happily chews up and I don’t have to worry that he’s not getting what he needs, then I am all in. Ideals are good to have, but we can’t cut off our nose to spite our face. 

Fe has been taking the Glyco Flex II tablets for two weeks and I have already started to see subtle changes. Tonight on our walk, Fe wanted to turn it into a run. I’m still concerned he may be injuring his ligament in his non-injured knee and it may be too late to fully stop that, but I feel good knowing that I am doing something and I feel good knowing that Glyco Flex has a proven record of helping pets with mobility issues move easier. Seems like a little artificial flavour just might be worth so many potential gains.

Now, pass the crow. 

Have you ever had to relax your ideals to do the right thing for your dog?

 

Kol’s Note: We were given a bottle of the Glyco Flex II Chewable tabs by Vetriscience at BlogPaws. We were not asked to write about it or share our experience, in fact, on arriving home, I realized that we never even exchanged information. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.

 

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Achey Breaky ACL: Conservative Management Take 2 - Kol's Notes

Sunday 2nd of November 2014

[…] lots of great supplements out there and it was so hard to settle on just one. In the end, we choose Glycoflex by Vetriscience. He also gets supplements for inflammation. We frequently give trachea chews as treats, which are […]

Jessica Rhae

Saturday 31st of May 2014

I can't really think of a situation where I had to relax my ideals for Chester & Gretel. They don't have allergies though, or health issues that require treatment, so I think my ideals are already more relaxed than mine. Well...wait....maybe. I don't like to give the pups meds if they don't need them but I have snuck Gretel a little doggyy prozac once or twice. THAT I feel bad about but it was a lifesaver for the situation.

KolchakPuggle

Sunday 1st of June 2014

Anxiety can be tough on a pup! If you were going somewhere you knew would stress her out past her comfort level, I think it's great you took steps to help her keep her cool (and it's not like you drug her all the time to keep her docile! Don't feel bad!)

Alfie Entlebucher

Saturday 31st of May 2014

I'm on a similar treatment as Fe, trying to heal my achy breaky ACL. My human has got me some supplement that includes chicken egg membrane and lots of other good stuff, plus she's gonna look into making bone broth which is also great for healing...

KolchakPuggle

Sunday 1st of June 2014

We LOVE bone broth Alfie and it really is great (and ridiculously easy to make). Both dogs here get it and they think it's a crazy good treat, so don't tell them it's good for them, OK?

Maggie

Wednesday 28th of May 2014

Wait, wait, wait. OK. How do you know if a flavoring is imitation or not? Like, will it be spelled out? You know my struggles with Cooper, and this post just BLEW MY MIND. (He doesn't need joint care, but as far as other supplements... seriously. Mind? Blown.)

KolchakPuggle

Thursday 29th of May 2014

On this supplement bottle it clearly says "imitation chicken flavour" but I didn't really know what that meant. Luckily, I was able to chat with them at BlogPaws and get a better explanation. I would suspect that if it isn't a naturally based flavour they would have to declare it is "imitation" or "artificial" flavour on the bottle.

Miss Harper Lee

Wednesday 28th of May 2014

I just love what we're willing to do for our dogs, including eating crow!

KolchakPuggle

Wednesday 28th of May 2014

I would do pretty much anything for my little Fluffball. He has his paw placed firmly on my heart!

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