Collagen is a Wonderful Supplement for All
There are many different brands of collagen on the market right now. Collagen supplementation is one of the most popular current health trends! Collagen powder is derived from several sources: bovine hide, chicken cartilage, fish skin and egg shell membrane are the most common resources. Each of the different sources of collagen yield a different type of collagen with some overlap. The type of collagen and the manufacturing process are the factors that determine retail cost, solubility and taste of the end product. The most affordable/soluble/ tasteless and clean are the hydrolyzed bovine collagen or eggshell membrane.
Close attention needs to be paid to where the company sources the ingredients and whether or not the product contains undesirable ingredients, pesticides, fillers, etc.
My Experience with Collagen
I have seen amazing results with collagen supplementation in pets over the years. I have seen dogs start bouncing around again, stop getting sick, going for longer walks, stop getting skin infections, stop breaking nails, etc. I could, legitimately, recommend it to all of my veterinary and human clients as it has such broad reaching health benefits and no negative consequences. I do not as a practice recommend collagen supplementing to every warm body walking through the doors… but I could! 🙂 I highly recommend it to all of my elderly dogs with arthritis or trying to prevent it. It is good for stamina, maintaining strong ligaments and joints and it is good for the gut. I recommend it for all dogs going to doggy day care for immune boosting. I recommend it for dogs having trouble with “hair, skin and nails,” especially those dogs prone to brittle broken nails. I recommend it for all healing needs, post TPLO, post trauma, etc. The list is really rather endless.
Collagen is the second most abundant substance in our bodies next to water. So you can imagine that your body needs to keep it in ample supply. If you are not eating a diet that provides all the constituents to make collagen your body will naturally draw it out of your skin, aka wrinkles. This is obviously not of concern to your dog but it is still important to know.
Collagen Recommendations
Dr. Hunter endorses Ancient Nutrition brand collagen available through her website marketplace via Fullscript. The two collagen products she recommends are: Collagen Peptides unflavored = bovine hide and eggshell membrane Or Multi Collagen Protein which is bovine, chicken, fish and eggshell membrane.
Shop Ancient Nutrition Collagens at a special discount through our Fullscript store front today! Sign up for an account here: https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/animalwellnessveterinaryclinic/store-start
Recommended Dosage
These are human collagen supplements and therefore do not have a dog or cat dose on the bottle. The dosing is 1 teaspoon per 10 lbs body weight per day. Remember 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon. I usually recommend 2 tablespoons per day for dogs over 60 lbs. If they are trying to heal from an injury or illness I will often double the dose.