Dr Brady’s Dental is a vital addition to the canine dental market. As more and more seaweed-based supplements hit the market, not enough care is given to seaweed quality. Quality and effectiveness aside, seaweed can be notoriously high in iodine and can bind a considerable amount of heavy metals, a concern when these products need to be used daily for 8 weeks to get the desired effect. We resolve these issues by using carefully handled organic seaweed (a first for the market) as well as iodine and heavy metal binders. The net result is a safer clean that not only freshens their breath but may even work on staining.
It contains seaweed which studies show removes tartar from your dog’s teeth in 5-8 weeks, reducing odour from the mouth. However, the concern to date has been the high heavy metal and iodine contents of such plants, both fluctuating with where they are harvested. In terms of heavy metals, we have found the cleanest source of hand-harvested, organic seaweed possible which we verify for you in the lab (see www.dogsfirst.ie for results of your batch). To this we add pure, organic EU Chlorella which helps bind most remaining heavy metals in the gut. Activated charcoal inhibits much of the iodine being absorbed while naturally derived selenium methionine boosts thyroid function. In this way, Pro Thyroid is expected to have the lowest heavy metal and thyroid impact of any comparable product on the market.
This product is safe to use in hypothyroid pets but note it may reduce their need for thyroid medication. Please monitor with your (natural) vet.
Benefits:
Ingredients
Organic Atlantic Irish Seaweed, organic EU Chlorella, activated charcoal. selenium-enriched inactivated Saccharomyces, organic peppermint.
Nutritional Content
Dosage & Feeding Instructions
The product is added to their food, working from the inside out (through their saliva). While most pets love Dr Brady’s Dental it’s best to start with a smaller dose and build slowly. Eg, if on 2 scoops, start with half a scoop and get up to full dose by meal 5.
Iodine & Their Thyroid
First, you must understand the problem with our current understanding of iodine in dogs…
I assume if you’re here looking for iodine information, you and your vet will appreciate this explanation below! It will hopefully reduce some of the fear that made you click this tab in the first place!
Everything we assume we know about iodine in dogs is based on studies of conical flask iodine (iodide) and kibble-fed dogs.
Like every other mineral (calcium, phosphorus, zinc, iron, magnesium, manganese, copper), the isolated, artificial, conical flask version is handled very differently by the body. The problem is artificial minerals are not chelated (bonded) to a carbon molecule. This the body does not like. Minerals are INorganic, meaning not from the land of the living. The body knows and trusts the carbon molecule; they’re invited to the party, and the attached mineral gets in because they’re with him.
Eg dogs absorb about 10% of the zinc or iron oxide fed to them. This is why AAFCO’s pet food guidelines say we must give dogs lots, but this is incorrect. You need much less of the real stuff.
On top of this, when you read the iodine content of a supplement or food, that is the TOTAL iodine present in the food per 1g or 100g. But natural iodine is bound up in the food, not all of which we can digest, particularly in fibrous seaweed cells, where iodine is found.
In fact, in vitro (done in a laboratory) digestion studies have reported the bioavailability of iodine from seaweed to be as follows: Laminaria spp (17%–28%), Sargassum fusiforme (12%), Palmaria palmata (10%), Undaria pinnatifida (2%–12%), Himanthalia elongata (4%), Porphyra spp (5%) and Ulva rigida (2%). In other words, only a small fraction of the iodine present is available to consumers, at most a quarter.
The net result is less iodine is absorbed into the bloodstream and what is absorbed is absorbed slowly, over digestive time.
This is not the case with isolated, conical flask iodide ADDED to pet food. Hence, studies of dogs fed either kibble OR real food supplemented with conical flask iodide develop thyroid issues.
How much iodine is in Dr Brady’s Dental…
You can see from our nutritional information that the iodine content of Dr Brady’s Dental is 0.07%. This means each 2g scoop contains a maximum (there will be seasonal variation here, but this is measured at the highest point of the season for safety) of 0.0014g of iodine or, more accurately, 1.4mg of iodine per 2g scoop.
The recommended iodine intake for dogs (which are based on virtually zero science of any value whatsoever) is apparently 15 µg of iodine per kilogram of body weight per day. So, for example, a 10kg dog would need approximately 150µg (or 0.15mg) of iodine per day.
As we recommend a 10kg dog gets 1 scoop (1.4mg of iodine), it would appear dogs are getting 10 times their RDA for iodine each day.
But how much iodine is your dog actually absorbing?!
Again, these figures are based on TOTAL iodine in the food. But as we established above, digestion studies reveal that, at a max, only 20-30% of the stated iodine figure is actually available to us, and dogs and cats can’t digest plant matter like we can.
This instantly drops the above figure from 10 times their RDA to 2-3 times their RDA. Not so scary. Especially when you consider Japanese folk are happily consuming 8-20 times their RDA of iodine from seaweed and fish each day, with no problems at all. If anything, they are the healthiest among us.
In fact, a study of dogs fed 15g of Ascophyllum per 1kg of dry food (which is around our maximum dose) for a month found the dogs showed “good health conditions throughout the study“, affecting neither faecal microbial parameters, intestinal immunity or nutrient digestibility.
And that’s at the max dose. We also add activated charcoal to the mix. Not only can it whiten teeth but activated charcoal is known to bind iodine. We have included enough to bind approximately 50% of the iodine present out of the mix, meaning even less is available to your pet to absorb. Very clever.
Iodine, in conclusion…
Remember, the figures your vet, pet food company and even canine nutritionist are depending on (if using AAFCO’s figures…they’re all we have!) are based on conical flask iodide, that is, iodine not bound up normally in food. You absolutely need to be careful here. However, natural iodine does not work the same way. You cannot absorb all the iodine on the label.
But still, if you’re concerned, go with a half dose of 1g per 10kg of dog. Dr Brady’s Dental will still work, it will just take longer.
My dog has hypothyroidism, what will happen if I give him this product?
Thyroids need iodine to function. That’s first. It’s a very vital nutrient. However, you don’t want to get toooo much of it. We make sure your pet won’t absorb too much via the inclusion of activated charcoal.
We also include extra ingredients to help that thyroid along – selenium methionine from killed yeast is vital for thyroid function and EU organic chlorella will bind any heavy metals out of the mix, another win for thyroid that are so negatively impacted by them (hence they always get damaged by radiation).
Thus we do expect this product to boost their thyroid function, thereby reducing your need of thyroid meds. You need to monitor this with your (natural) vet.
FAQ
What is the difference between Dr Brady’s Dental and Canident?
Both contain Irish seaweed but there the similarities end. Unlike Canident, my new version contains organic seaweed, handpicked and washed in freshwater, which will reduce the salt content. It’s also cool air dried <39oC, hopefully better preserving the good bits compared to normal animal feed. Unlike Canident, we add in some extra ingredients – activated charcoal, which will help reduce iodine absorption, Chlorella which will help bind any heavy metals present and therefore reduce their absorption; and peppermint, which kills off the biofilms in the mouth, improving odour. All in all, with hopefully less iodine and heavy metals and as we also add selenium-methionine from killed yeast, we expect this to be the most pro-thyroid seaweed-based pet supplement on the market, by some margin.
