# Electrolytes



## Patrick Murray (Mar 27, 2006)

Have any of you used them? Were they beneficial or detrimental or couldn't tell? Thanks.


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## Anne Jones (Mar 27, 2006)

I use them in the hot weather months. I use stressdex the same as I give my horse. I just add about 1/2 teaspoon to their food every couple of days. My dogs work all year round equally hard & I feel that this just replaces some of what they loose. My dogs are also on a raw diet & due to that fact they get alot of fluid in their food but the stressdex just adds that little bit beyond the fluid alone that they need in the hot weather. I have not noticed any illeffects from doing this.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Patrick Murray said:


> Have any of you used them? Were they beneficial or detrimental or couldn't tell? Thanks.


One thing I have read is that many products contain sugar, so I'd check the ingredient list carefully.


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## Anne Jones (Mar 27, 2006)

I do believe that stressdex has dextrose in it, but since I feed only a small amount approx 1/2 teasp or less depending on how hot it is & how much work my dogs are doing & only ever several days & only a couple of months of the year...I don't worry too much about it.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Nothing to verify it, but I've heard that dogs don't use electrolytes in the same way we do. 
Anybody heard this?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> Nothing to verify it, but I've heard that dogs don't use electrolytes in the same way we do.
> Aanybody heard this?


Yes, I have heard it. I'll find the URL I saved. Might take a few minutes.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> Nothing to verify it, but I've heard that dogs don't use electrolytes in the same way we do. ...Anybody heard this?


QUOTE: I notice that some people give their dogs electrolyte supplements at tournaments. Is this beneficial for the dogs? 

At last year's meeting of the International Sled Dog Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. William Beltran from France reported on studies that he did on the electrolyte requirements of sled dogs. In his opinion, according to a news report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, properly trained and conditioned sled dogs maintained on high-quality diets and not affected by vomiting or diarrhea do not need electrolyte supplements. 

Now, dogs competing in flyball are working hard, but they are not expending anywhere near the energy that sled dogs are. (In a study by Dr. Hinchcliff and colleagues, marathon racing huskies were using 11,200 calories per day during competition. That amounts to about 20 cups of a premium dog food for a 40 pound dog.) If these marathon huskies do not require electrolyte supplementation, it is a pretty good bet that flyball dogs do not either. 

The most likely explanation for why dogs do not need electrolytes and people do is that people thermoregulate by sweating, dogs thermoregulate by panting. Human sweat contains electrolytes (that's why sweat tastes salty), and the electrolytes in sweat are lost to the body. Panting does not result in large losses of electrolytes. END QUOTE by Kurt Matushek, DVM, MS at http://www.flyballdogs.com/electrolytes.html


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Hey Connie! Has anybody told you \"YOU ROCK GIRL\"! 
You pull up these sites like a magician pulls rabbits from a hat. :wink:


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Yeah, Bob, it's all smoke and mirrors!! LOL!

May I return the compliment by telling you that I LOOOOOVE your new thread about earth dogs!?


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Jones said:


> I do believe that stressdex has dextrose in it, but since I feed only a small amount approx 1/2 teasp or less depending on how hot it is & how much work my dogs are doing & only ever several days & only a couple of months of the year...I don't worry too much about it.


I wouldn't worry either, in amounts like that. 

No, I was thinking of those bottled drinks for dogs that are almost like Gatorade.........lots of sugar. Some of them are close to being soda for dogs.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Hey! When I find a subject that I'm familiar with, I can have ya saying \"UNCLE\" in no time. :wink:


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